So now that I've had the C36 for a couple weeks, I've come up with the following list of questions whose answers I couldn't find in the owner's manual. Any help is greatly appreciated!!

1. ASR light suddenly came on and stays lit, even though I didn’t touch the button. Can’t turn it off with the button either. Any ideas?
2. Can the W/S button be pushed while driving the car?
3. What would be the cause for the cruise control working erratically? I push the stock either up or down to set the speed, but it won’t work. However, if I hold up the stock for a couple seconds, the vehicle will accelerate for just a second, but then cancel. I think this is more than a simple fuse issue. Any ideas?
4. Does the car come with factory spring pads on the stock suspension? If so, what size are they?
5. Are Bilstein or other aftermarket performance shocks actually strut inserts for the front or rear? Or whole replacements altogether? (for my M3 they are strut inserts, which are a pain in the *** to replace)
6. Other than for the factory jack points (holes on side of car) using the supplied jack, what are some other appropriate jack points for using a conventional hydraulic jack? Anything on the sides? Cross member bar? Rear diff or subframe? Etc.
7. Where the hell is the oil filter located? Lol (my M3’s located at the top in front of the engine – easy replacement!)
8. What type of oil do you guys use/recommend? Mobil 1’s 0W-40 synthetic designed specifically for MB application (Mercedes MB 229.5)?
9. What kind of sparkplugs do you guys use/recommend? I’ve read that some of you use platinums? Owner’s manual says any of the following:
o Bosch F 8 DCO
o Beru 14 F-8 DUO
o Champion C 10 YCC
o Gap – 0.032 in (0.8 mm) – does this differ w/ different plugs?

 

Can't answer all, but here's a shot at some of them:

2. I've pushed the W/S button while driving, I don't think it matters?
4. I believe factory spring pads are #2s, but not definitively. Guess not a very helpful answer.
5. Car has shocks, not McPherson struts - so you remove the old shock and replace with another one. No rebuilding using old components required.
6. On my C43 at least, there are rubber jack points on the chassis, just behind the skirts, very close to the holes for the jack in the trunk. I've jacked it up there and have rested the car on jackstands there, or put the jackstands under the control arm mounting points.
8. Isn't the Mobil 1 0W-40 recommended for all AMGs?

 

Oil filter is the odd looking black cap in the back right corner of the engine

Is it the center ASR light, or the ASR malfunction light on the right side of the cluster?

I have a hunch that the ASR and the cruise issues may be connected

 

ASR and CC issues sound like the ETC (electric throttle control) needs a new harness. Has this 36 been gone over harness wise? Otherwise you are in for a world of hurt.

 

Don't these cars have a very well known harness issue? It's the only major fault of the C36 if I remember correctly.

 

Based on feedback from members of this forum, my understanding is that the wire harness issue was something prevalent among the early model year (95 to be exact) C36s, and that this issue was resolved by the factory by the late 96 models. Since mine is a 97, I don't believe this is an issue, but I could be wrong?

 

That's why get the C43 instead. LOL!!!

 

whatever it is, my car sits like an suv. i'm guessing it has the thickest, and thus may not be universal in thickness from the factory.

 

Factory pads for the U.S. spec C43 are #2 (9mm) I believe, not sure about the C36 though

 

I'm going to have to agree on the cruise control and ASR issues being related. Do you have stock size tires on there? If the ratio between the front and rear tires is too far off from stock, the cruise control won't work and that could also impact the ASR. Could be bad wheel speed sensors? Unfortunately, you could throw parts at it or you could send it to a dealer/indy shop and perhaps their computers would make solving that issue easier.

 

See signature.

 

So I found the oil filter, but I need to prop the hood to its complete vertical position to access it. Is it simply a twist off cap? I don't see any nuts/bolts to loosen.

Regarding the ASR light, it went away when I turned the car off and back on again, and hasn't come back since. It was the ASR light along the left side of the cluster.

And looking at responses regarding the ASR/cruise control issue, this doesn't seem like a friendly DIY. Any idea how far I'm gonna have to bend over to get this fixed?

 

So I talked to Serge at Hyevon and he says the erratic cruise control is most likely caused by the fact that the previous owner of my car mounted the wrong size tires on the rear wheels (245/45-17 as opposed to the correct size 245/40-17). Could a 5% difference in tire profile really cause this?? If so, then I guess all C36/43 owners on this forum w/ non-stock wheels (including E55 monoblocks) have no functionality of their cruise control???

 

The tire issue would completely disable your cruise control as the car would simply think the wheels are slipping all time due to different rates of rotation.

It acting quirky simply means the ETA (or more) wiring is bad. Look at my signature for pictures. It's pretty easy.

 

Yes, I had the same sizes and same problem. Cruise would work below 40 mph. You can use larger sizes, it is all about the ratio between the front and the back.

 

It is a simple twist off cap as much as a "simple twist off cap" can be on a mercedes. Sometimes you can get lucky and get a good enough grip to twist with your hands, but for me it was on tight. It's an odd size, so the local generic parts stores didn't have an oil-cap remover that fit well enough to break the seal, so I had to get a spring loaded universal oil cap remover tool that fits on the end of a ratchet. It still slips off a lot, but I can get it right after a few tries to loosen it, then I just do the rest by hand.

Concerning the asr, when does this happen to you exactly? I have had problems where I will try and start the car when its cold, it won't start, try again and it starts but the ASR/ASR malfunction lights are on, so car won't move unless I floor it, and then I will start again and it will be fine for the rest of the day. But then again, I'm also quite used to the ASR/ASR malfuntion light coming on while doing 80 on the highway and braking the car unless I floor it or get the f*** off the road to restart it.
If a simple ASR system can do that on a 15 year old car, I'd hate to have a 2011 S or E-class in 15 years. With the adaptive cruise and self-parking blind-spot sensing self braking steering-wheel shaking systems and all that stuff, who knows what the car would do by itself when it goes haywire.
Have you experienced any issues like mine, or is it something different with your asr?

 

Naw man, mine is nothing like that. The ASR light came on once while sitting at a Burger King drive thru, and stayed on until I turned the car off. Later that day, when I was leaving work to go home, I turned the car back on and the ASR light didn't come back. *Keeping my fingers crossed*

 

You can order a metal oil cap removal tool from mercedes, I think I paid around $30. Fits on a socket wrench and works like a dream.

 

Or you can go to Autozone and get the same filter removal cap for $5. Which is where I got mine.

 

What size did you get? All the ones I tried never fit

 

I bought one, didn't work. Got the smaller one. Worked.
Quick google search will tell you: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...d=370447886383

 

Meh doesn't have the two bolts to help push out the cap when done; you get what you pay for.

 

That's right. You don't get the $25 dollar bolt to help push out the cap.

 

No, you don't get 2 bolts to help push out the cap; considering where the filter cap is I think it's worth it.

 

I have a 95 and as you pointed out it is a prime year for wire harness issues so I probably have ran the full gambit of the various ways the electronics on the c36 can "flip out". I've had the same ASR issue and the wiring going to the ignition coils was the culprit in my case. Their placement under that cover on the top of the engine puts them in a prime place to get worn out since they are basically in a little engine-heated oven under that cover. I couldn't guarantee in your case that is where the problem is but I can say that it is probably the most worn part of your engine harness and that is exactly the part that caused essentially the same issue in mine. I thought I saw a post referring to the wiring off the throttle actuator and that's what you'd expect since when the ASR really starts to "flip out" the throttling becomes very erratic, but the weird throttling is actually more from the transmission having increasingly delayed shifts up in gear all the way to the point of just refusing to shift when this error reaches its height.

Turning the car off and back on as mentioned does return the car to normal operation and when driving if the ASR suddenly comes on, which is usaully followed by the exclamation mark flashing randomly and the shifting starts to get later and later, you should pull into the first parking lot and turn the car off and back on. This is a temporary fix and the ASR error will increase in frequency until the underlying issue in the harness is patched up. If all you're having is infrequent instances of that one problem you probably don't need to go all out on the engine harness, try pulling those ignition coil wires out from under the cover, cut the insulation off and either reinforce the wires by trying to re insulate the individual wires (I wrapped each of them individually with electric tape then electric taped the pairs together.) as a quick temporary fix, or permanently fix it by splicing/sauntering new wires in to replace the damaged wires from the point that they emerge from the bulk of the harness all the way to the connectors that plug into the ignition coils.

I made a thread here a while back with pictures when I did the temporary fix with electric tape and the car went from daily occurrences of the ASR light coming on eventually resulting in the car refusing to shift any higher then second gear until turned off to no occurrences of the ASR error ever for at least the entire next month. Like I said its a temporary fix but I'd suggest doing it first just to confirm it as the location of the faulty wiring before doing the work of replacing the wires.