hi, i'm new here, my brother just bought a used 1999 CLK 320 and cars are all greek to him, i just want to ask you guys if i can ask you questions from time to time about this car as i will drive it too from time to time and i love cars and know a bit more about them than my brother

a few questions / probably not necessary to start a new thread for each of them,
one - the drivers' head rest is loose - any experience with that? easy to fix?

the xenon headlights / not sure if they are original but look a bit weird even cheap together with the small yellowish lights - the smaller round ones next to the big ones / what kind of bulbs would make them look all cool and not cheap?

the central plastic case with the gray lid is kind of squeaky, i guess no way to be fixed, maybe remove the lid? mercedes interior should not squeak even after 11 years, do yo agree?

rear tires are something like 224 , bigger than the front 205 or something, what does ti mean in real life driving? more stable better handling in corners?

and the last one / the previous and allegedly only owner had the car serviced only every other year, don't you think two years are too long even if you don't exceed the engine oil mileage? i mean you drive only like 10 000 miles within two years?

otherwise the cars sounds and drives ok, seems no big problems for now

thanks for tips and replies

 

most questions you have can be answered by using the Search function

 

ok, i have been searching and searching and mostly you only get some kind of related answers, not direct answers specifically to my questions but anyway, some tips and explanations worked fine

the only question I have not found any answer to at all is the loose headrest

I think that has to be fixed in a good garage, it is manual, not electric

 

Your brother has good taste!

You can remove the head rest and see if the rail is broken or not. There's instruction in the owner's manual. Mine has a slight rattle so I just turn the music up a notch, rattle no more ..hahaha

I don't think they would be xenon headlights. I see a lot of CLKs driving around with yellow-ish headlight covers, I think it's from over exposure to the sun. Mine is always garaged and as such, it doesn't suffer from this problem. My guess would be that both headlights would have to be replaced, if you want them looking like new. There are plenty of these on ebay, check them out.

Fatter rear tyres always make the car look that much better.

Some people just don't drive that much. 18000km (12000miles?) is the recommended service interval, under normal driving condition. Mine's done 8000Kms in almost two years. It just went in today for a quick oil change and health check.

 

thanks millions, joelp

btw is it true that to change oil for such a car is much much more expensive than for an average hatchback like say honda civic or ford focus? is it supposed to be twise as much or even more?

 

You're most welcome. My MB knowledge pales into insignificance compare with other gurus on this site. I'm sure others will come in with more concise answers.

I've had a few civics in my time too and I seem to recall they were at times more expensive to service than Mercedes. This is becaue they have this silly 5000km recommended service intervals or you might void your warranty. You do the sums, 3 service vs 1, it adds up real quick.

When I picked up my 55, I had the oil, oil filter, brake fluid changed, radiator flushed. All up it came to about A$700, pretty reasonable I thought. I'm not sure what this service will cost as yet. It's with an independent MB service fellow that I've used regularly. I've asked for the spark plugs to be changed, which will cost me a bit but I don't really care. I'll find out in a couple of days when I go and pick it up (busy till Friday).

Mobile1 is the only oil suitable for my 55. I can't remember what oil they used on my ex-CLK230 or what is suitable for your 320. Mobile1 is expensive but it's not outrageously expensive. I know some folks on here change theirs at 5000miles interval. I personally think that's way too often. Synthetic oils don't break down like the traditional version. If you enjoy tweaking and working on your cars, oil and filters aren't hard to change. I'm now too old or rather lazy to do such things.

Happy driving!

 

I recommend using Mobil1 0W40 and a fleece filter. The Mobil1 oil will keep very expensive parts from wearing themselves out. Some people have tried using cheap dino oil with *unfortunate* results. The fleece filter will allow you to go 10,000+ miles between oil changes. A cheap filter may come apart and may do more damage than the car is worth.

The FSS counter will tell you when the oil change is due.

 

thank you guys - the oil changed, for about 300 US dollars (equivalent) i hope they used the right filter, they said they used quality oil having bad experience with clients who wanted cheap oil and later had problems with the engine

 

some more questions / i didn't find the answers through searching through the forums

Is it total nonsense to use 1,2,3,4 that are offered with the automatic transmission, My bro says you can shift manually using those gears if you want, for example for exiting a parking lot or intersections, even driving through the country - I think its nonsense, i believe those gears are there only for steep downhills / although I don't know what that 4th gear would be good for.

As for the kick stuff when you need to accelerate hard. One thing that doesn't seem to be so great is if you suddenly need to accelerate and press the throttle to the floor, it takes about 2 seconds before the car is finished with the automatic downshifting and it feels as if it hurt the car / but in fact when using a manual transmission we also have to downshift first and lose those two seconds so this question is probably stupid.

It s just that when I was on the motorway today and wanted to immediatelly accelerate away from the car behind me that was pushing and waiting to pass me, it seemed like it would be more impressive if you could accelerate immediately, just adding more throttle rather than the kick stuff. Maybe it needs some practice to learn how much throttle is the most before the downshift is engaged. Ah, actually with manual transmission, before passing, you have plenty of time to downshift, then without any extra throttle wait and then whaaaaaaaaaaaam and you are away just the moment you decide to go, unlike the automatic kick stuff. So that's the point I think.

 

Your bro is right. It's the poor man's triptronics I used it all the time in my old CLK230 and worked just like a manual car, though I never did get down to 1st gear.