Drkhse

Hi everyone, I'm a new guy here and do not yet own a benz, just a lowly e46 m3... it may be wrong to say here but I love the car. I am however sick of fixing the damn thing. It's a SMG and that just means See Money Gone when it comes to this car. I hear that 90's mercedes are quite reliable. I have found a 98 c43 amg that has 116,000 miles on it, has all service records and never seen a snowflake for a pretty good price. Apparently it has already had it's transmission replaced and it basically all original, it's a pretty clean looking car. It has a fresh safety inspection which is mandatory here to get registration on a car, so that would mean all the running gear and brakes would be good as well. Anything I should watch out foe on this? I have heard by reading around online there are quite solid. Any tips for me to watch out for? If I am getting rid of my beloved m3 I want to be sure it just isn't another money pit. Thanks!

speed43

Buy it!!!!
I'm sure others will tell you what to look for. I bought my 98 and paid very little. Had to do regular maintenance stuff but worth every penny. Once you own and drive a c43 it's hard to drive anything else. At least that is how I feel.

mickey13

i'd say buy it but these cars do require regular care and theres always something to replace. i dont know if i'd call a C43 a money pit, but it requires money and time to keep it running in tip top. nothing lasts forever including many many parts on this car.

so buy it if you want a reliable car that is really easy to repair, but do not buy it if you think it is going to run forever without needing care or repair.

hookah

That sounds like a solid car, Buy it! thats low mileage too. My friend, once you drive one of these AMG's you will understand, its a car that feels very special every time you drive it. It may not handle like your M3, but it can do pretty good and its really a culmination of all the little things that make it very enjoyable to drive. Repairs are not bad at all, most parts are pretty reasonable and they are solid cars aside from the transmission, and that was mostly because mercedes had advertised it as a sealed for life, never service trans. which was not true.
I speak from experience, Ive had two E36 M3's in my past. Great cars to drive, but they dont last for Sh%t.
Once you start up that C43 V8 and make a pull from 60 to 100 mph, you will not regret buying it

Drkhse

Well coming from all these bmw's I am no stranger to maintenance and care. Unfortunately in my experience the car itself just seems to constantly implode, ad given the expense of the parts and the constant pricey computer programming that the car requires when routine maintenance is performed almost makes it impossible to work on yourself. I have built full race cars with one off parts in the past, so working on cars is a bit of a hobby, and I am pretty much unable to do anything to my M3 without first obtaining a masters degree in computer programming... what would you say is the cost of ownership on the c43? I love my m3, but I can honestly say the car is a money pit.

hookah

In the 3 years I've had it, aside from regular oil changes, tires and upgrades I did, I have probably spent less than $1000 per year. Some of the work I've done myself. These cars are easy to work on, and have just enough electronics to keep it that way. It will be a lot better than your M3, I can assure you that.

mickey13

+1

have done all the work on my car myself except the 5.4 swap (only because i didn't have a garage!)

nkctb7

Hi and welcome to the forum. Test drive it and you'll for certain, purchase it. I wouldn't trade mine for my wife's 335I as there's a vast difference in the overall quality. The C43 is a very special car and built like a tank. I'm currently in the middle of a 55 swap but when my car was running I spent less than $400 per year on maintenance. I perform all of the work myself and sourcing parts is never a problem.

Sulaco

The e46 m3 is its own brand of amazing but not an apples to apples comparison with a C43.

that c43 you're describing sounds tip top. 116k miles is sorta low on these cars. They are such reliable, comfortable, and fun daily drivers that people put TONS of miles on them.

go drive it. I can assure you it won't be 1/10th the money drain and everything on it is an easy diy.

KJI3jflarryfe93

there are a few disadvantage on the C43 AMG that you might dislike?

# steering is not rack n pinion on C43, it's old skool recirculating ball.
driver's feel is not up to BMW M3 class.
rack n pinion came on w203 AMG cars, but they are way inferior in build quality MB cut a lot of costs in build quality, performance and power was much better.

# if you are into high speed cars, the C43 with the 4.3L engine won't match the M3 coz it had the automatic.
you have to rev it a lot for engine to wake up from slumber party.

# C43 have a sporty suspension but is a phat boy compared to M3.

the C43 is great but more of a GT cuze cruiser driven on Autobahn
drive the car and see if you like it or not?

C43 is a lot cheaper to maintain than an M3.
this car will be a good compromise for you.

Drkhse

Do you daily drive it all year round? With $1000 per year i would hope so. If i were to buy this one it would take over my m3s role of prettying up the driveway(next to my beast of a truck, and my wife's pedestrian nissan), going to the golf course, out to dinner with the wife, and maybe the odd trip out to the lake (270 km each way) and hibernate all winter in a sealed storage container. So i would doubt it'd see much more that 1000km per year.

Drkhse

Thanks for all the replies, I already know from the specs ive read that performance wise the c43 and th e46 m3 are vastly different animals. I have just a few more questions. Just how different is the ball rack?, one of my favorite roads has some nice tight twisties and I'd really hope that the car can do that (since the demise of my smg system, ive had to make due with the nissan) Im pretty sure the car has aftermarket suspension in it (owner retained the stock parts as well) so i would think that may have improved thr suspension feel. I would also like to know what the regular fail points are, and anything I can look at to maybe save myself some headaches down the line? I do really like the look of this car, and the 4 doors is appealing as I have a kid and another on the way, which is the other reason I need better reliability and can't fork over 6000 every couple years for this stupid smg.

mickey13

i wouldnt say these cars have a common fail point. there are things that sometimes go like crank position sensor and MAF.

you should check to see if the car is affected by the harmonic balancer recall, also something to watch for is the bushing on the transmission plate. some old bushings allowed oil to seep into the computer from the wiring harness.

my observation is that the car is pretty reliable on the most part but some suffer from different ailments, i'd say its less of a manufacturing problem and more of a previous owner problem. my c43 had major oil consumption, towards the end it was a quart per gas tank. i've seen other cars here with individual problems so i would suggest you do a PPI for a hundred bucks or whatever if you really want to be careful take it to someone that knows benz really well.

Drkhse

So a bit of an update, I went and viewed the car today. It is a nice looking car and sounds like a solid runner. Unfortunately it's not currently registered so I couldn't drive it. The car has a few cosmetic defects to it. Mostly in the interior, (not really that clean, broken door trim, and a sagging headliner on the sunroof cover) it was recently repainted in the original black, not a spec of rust and stone chips at a minimum. A few dings here and there but for a car of this age that's to be expected. Only things I saw that were a bit troubling were there's oil around the valve covers, is it true that they seem to sweat a bit of oil? Or is this something that should be replaced? Also when the car was first started (needed to be jumped as the battery didn't have a charge) the was a buzzing, almost electronic sounding for about 30 seconds, didn't sound like too much of a problem, but Was a little odd. Overall the car seemed pretty good. I was Talking to him about the price and tentively agreed to 6500 Canadian. I haven't made a deal with him yet on it.

mickey13

sunshade and headliners routinely fall and need to be replaced. (MB used some kind of biodegradable foam backing on the vinyl that hasnt held up over time i believe) OEM replacement is available but very expensive, you can probably have it done at a shop using generic material for $300 or you can do it yourself for maybe $45 of material. door trim is usually repairable. gaskets on the valve covers can be replaced, but i would clean around the heads a bit and torque those valve covers down to the proper spec before replacing, they may just be a bit loose.

there is usually buzzing when the car starts, from the rear is the vacuum pump that fills the seats, pops the trunk etc. if you hear a ticking from the front, that is most likely the ABS pump if im not mistaken.

nkctb7

The only flaw to these cars is the fact that the breather covers don't have a gasket but use a silicone sealant. Over time the sealant fails and they have to be re sealed. Whereabouts in Canada are you located?

Drkhse

So it's like a regular rtv sealant?

nkctb7

That's correct! You can buy the Mercedes sealant that comes in a syringe type dispenser or use rtv sealant. All gaskets deteriorate over time but it's the breathers that fail more often. There's a total of five one time use aluminum torx that hold the breathers down. They're inexpensive and the sealant is as well.

nkctb7

Just keep in mind that the valve covers are magnesium and using any type of metal shim or pry bar will damage them. It's best to heat the valve cover to soften the silicone before trying to pry them apart.

nkctb7

It's an easy fix and nothing like my wife's 335 vcg that I recently did.

cm60k

You're absolutely correct D.,

valve covers are "Magnesium", as well as the intake manifold..!,,

that's why didn't able to porting it to go with bigger TB..!!

-;ZAYED;-

speed43

Zayed I ported a lot of the intake manifold. I ported the throttle body openings a lot than matched the intake manifold opening. See pics how I opened the intake. Left side ported right side not. Had to make custom gasket after all done. Amazing how the car runs....

nkctb7

Nice work Jeo! You're a brave man machining an $1800 USD tb!

cm60k

That's Fabulous Geo.,

you porting it to use stock (74mm) TB..?,,

cause i'm always thinking about (80mm>>82mm) TB's..

-;ZAYED;-

speed43

Thanks. Pj and I made some bartering so price was right.