Little Dragon

I am quite surprised I have not noticed this car before but it seems to be quite the all-around winner with power, comfort, luxury, and classy looks. Only bad thing that I've noticed is that its quite a pig when it comes to fuel.

I am obviously trying to find one of these gems for a good price but need some advice/tips.

Some problems with the C32 that I've found while lurking on this website are the following:
- electrical gremlins particular the seat heater, seat adjustment, and sunroof
- issues with glycol getting into the transmission fluid (is this correct?)
- intercooler pump failing
- front lower control arm bushing going out on some cars

My questions:
- What are some extremely obvious things that I should be looking for in a used C32?
- How can I check the whole glycol deal in the transmission fluid without draining the entire fluid myself?
- Obviously the lower mileage the better but at what point should I stay away from buying a certain C32 AMG? 50K? 60k? 70k? Reason I ask this is I know people stray away from the M3's after 60-70k's.
- Since I dont have a MB manual in front of me, when are the "MAJOR" maintenance scheduled?
- How much does it cost for MB to do a full inspection before buying?
- Extended warranty, is it worth it?

If there is a thread answering all of these questions please point me to them. I know there was a thread around August 2008 but it wasn't very specific...

Thanks in advance.

jturkel

wow. thank you for some some searching beforehand.

to address the questions you have that i know the answers to:

certain C32s have "bad" radiators. i believe it was mostly an issue in 02s or 03s. I don't recall the date of manufacture that the radiator produced was good after, but i believe if was 08/2004 or 08/2003. if you're looking at an 04, you're fine. and yes, the issue is that glycol leaks into the tranny fluid. way to test this is to have someone to a glycol contamination test. i think they run 150 or something at a MB dealership (meaning you could likely get it elsewhere cheaper)

obvious things? like options? or other problems to look for? or previous mods?

i would check into the complete service history of the car to see if the seat modules have been replaced (main electrical gremlin)

Navigation sucks and isnt worth it. everyone here agrees with that.

I have 85K on my MB right now and havent had a warranty for over a year and I'm good. There are currently two of the strongest (in the country) and best taken care of C32s for sale in the Mercedes Classified's section right now (and one of them is one of our main tuners' car)

MAJOR maintenance? the car will let you know. i dont recall off the top of my head. Do a search in the W203 (non AMG) section further down on the main page and there are TONS of threads regarding the services, which are A, B, and C (so you would search for "service A", etc)

Warranty........most think its worth it. I would probably say to do it because parts can get expensive. I've had my car for 60K so I know what has gone wrong and have taken good care of it, so I trust it without a warranty. Buying a higher mileage C32, I would probably recommend an aftermarket warranty.

Also, take into consideration, for the warranty, if you want to do modding. Might be more difficult for your warranty to be granted if you start putting aftermarket parts on there (though that never stopped me when I had the factory warranty)

hope that helps!

cam911

Dragon

I'm new to these cars myself, but I can share a couple of things I've learned.

High mileage for a Merc is not an issue unless the car has been neglected. My brother (the mechanic) drives an SL with over 400K on the clock! An abused car with 25k miles may have a much shorter life. The best thing you can do is insist on buying a car with its complete service history documented.

Before purchasing, take the car to an independent MB shop and have a complete inspection done. Plan on paying for about two hours shop time. If you take it to a dealer, you will not get an objective report. They want to sell you a car too.

My car had just over 80k on it when I bought it. Inspection showed brakes and control arm bushings needed. Did that and replaced the radiator and all fluids as a precaution.

This car is a lot of fun to drive. Good luck!

loungn14

I think josh pretty much killed it with his post.

I would not worry about milage on these things. The engines are pretty close to bullet proof, and very reliable.

If you are looking at a modified car, make sure the parts were professionally installed (engine wise)

Most electrical gremlins are easy fixes for the diy, and there are also some quick fixes on the boards for things like the seat control modules and hooking up relays.

Mad props for searching and doing your homework!

Little Dragon

Thanks for the replies and advice. Reassures me on buying this car at about 50-70k miles or so, since most of these car are selling in that mileage range.

I try to do my homework once in a while! I've been mostly interested in Honda and am now attempting to broaden my horizon as my profession doesn't quite fit the boy racer crews anymore! I had some experience in rebuilding motors, turbocharging it, and tuning the hondas myself.

Are these motors belt or chain driven? When do these need to be replace? Also how hard is the seat module to replace? How much?

c32used

My research thru forums lead me to decide on extended warranty keep that in mind.

02C32guy

Hi Dragon, They are belt driven and basically people seem to replace them when they start to see signs of wear. I know some have changed their's at lower mileage than I have, but I have 96K on mine and the belt looks fine. Of course, I'm not sure if it was changed before I owned it. It's a pretty simple job though.

The seat module fix we have on here is a cheap fix, but you do need to have a little experience with soldering to complete it. If you search on this forum for it you'll find a nice diy.

Also, I saw that you were worried about the fuel consumption. It really all depends on your driving style. If you drive the car hard all the time the mileage goes way down, but if you take it easy, people have documented averaging as much as 28 mpg. I usually average around 22-23.

OverDrive

The C32 has a Timing Chain, Also take a look at the Valve Cover Gaskets, Those tend to go bad after a while, Its a very Easy DIY as well. And like 30 bucks for the part

tozlakes

If you are interested in one I am looking to sell a brilliant silver one for a very fair price.
The goods:
-Around 60k miles on it.
-Body is near perfect with one slight 1/4" scratch on the rear qrt panel.
-Clean interior
-Super cahrged

The bads:
-Navigation system seems to be useless as everyone here talks about. I would like to replace with an aftermarket but no one in my area wants to touch it.
-Has a "clicking noise" in the dash area when powering up that the dealer says is a flapper valve for the heating unit. Just have not had any time to drop off for repair.
-Tires are at 50%

Interested? I can send pics. tozlakes2003@yahoo.com

moosejaw

Those are flapper valves are expensive. 8 hours in labor alone.

firstshadow

A supercharged C32 AMG? What is this blasphemy?!

ML500K

i had those replaced, stupid plastics, cost 200 dollars of labour, parts was cheap though...but it was done in about an hour.

SilverBulletAMG

I had to replace mine as well, under warranty at least. Bill would have been around $600-$700 if I remember right. I know mine took them way more than an hour to do though. They had to rip out the entire dash to get to it.

c32used

Look at link in sig for aftermarket headunit installed and yes that clicking noise is expensive but due to whole dash having to be taken apart to get to it...very labor intensive...GL

moosejaw

yes one hour is very suspicious.
Are you sure its the same job?
Mine took 8 hours at the stealership under warranty.

One hour to take out the dash no way....

jturkel

i had my flapper valves replaced under warranty as well. i don't recollect how long it took the dealership.....but i would imagine it is not exactly the quickest job

320 dreamer

just buy loungn14's c32 and be done with it!!

ML500K

Yep, it was about an hour or so, 2 hour Max. two guys were working at the same time. 8 hours sounds crazy! but as we all know, the stealership charges outrageously. The whole center console was out. The sound came from the passenger side so they didn't take out the dash from the driver's side. maybe that is why it took much less time. And i was there watching them take everything apart....When they were gonna replace the part, it was this little white piece of plastic, looks like it snaps to the valves...i was like crap #$%^@!! Well we could be talking abut a different job, but before i got it fixed, it made these clicking noises right after the engine is started, then goes away after clicking for 10-15 seconds...

*AMG123

Hi guys,
I am still an owner of an e55 amg(w211)
I love my car and i didnt have a big problem.
However,i have to sell my car. I have some economical problems.
I think to buy a c32amg,i never drive it before.
Would you tell somethings?
If anyone used an e55amg and a c32amg,what is the differences?
Of course there are many but i need to know specially,will i really miss the performance of e55amg? how the fuel consumptions change? or will still be the same? comfort? and service?
At last,before i buy an c32amg, what and where should i look and check?
thanks!

tw2

You will miss the power but fuel consumption will be much better. Comfort will be slightly worse especially if you still had the airmatic. Servicing charges will be slightly less but mostly the same procedures. Look for a spotless maintenance record.

ACIDFIFERames

Makeitrain63

Hey D did read your questions and wondered if you found or learned anything that could put them to rest,
I say if you still doubt your experience with these cars then go and test drive as many as you can, feel them and study every corner of each one for it's good and bad. They are timeless,if you dont see that Mercedes is the only one to keep which that were built in the 80s 70s and 90s on the rd,
then I dont think you live in major city,they are wonderful car feel engines talk and there electrics share it's own history.
the interior will give you and idea of how she was treated as well as mechanical history,
good luck with everything Salam