Hey everyone,

I just bought a 1998 CLK320 with 70K on the clock, silver/charcoal, all options except heated seats. Had some questions....

1. Shimmy at 50-70mph, what to do??? Tires are balanced.
2. Occasionally rough engine idle, usually notice once car is warmed up, at stop light?? Any comments?
3. Could No.2 be caused by non-synthetic oil use?
4. Took off gear shift knob, can't get the "collar" back on...
5. Anyone know how to get the sun roof interior sliding "vent" panel out? There are leaves caught in there that I cant get out, and I would like to clean it.
6. Could those heated seats be retrofitted??

Thanks for any help, I love the car its very smooth. Had a BMW 528i that was great, but mileage was adding up and I have had my eye on the CLK for awhile.

Rick in Maryland, USA

The shimmy more then likely is coming from bad shocks. I say go ahead and bite the bullet. Install the eibach and koni setup. H&R kit is to stiff for my liking. You might like it, but that is totally based on what YOU like.

Cant help you with the rest, except your Air Mass Sensor (find new ones on Ebay) might be a start for the rough idle. All in all, you probably need to get it into a dealer for a checkup and tune up. Expensive, but I would sleep better knowing it is a sound car.

for the rough idle... consider some fuel injection cleaner...

the collar at the bottom of shift knob should twist right back on... in the opposite direction as when you turned to remove it...

Heated seats can be retrofitted in... but not by the dealer... contact steve, mbworld id "MBenzNL"... he is the Euro Pimp that can retrofit anything into anything that makes sense...

He flies in to the states from the Netherlands to do the installs for you... talk about service...

Would a car with 70K already have bad shocks? I was told that the shocks last at least until 100K. Did your car have the shimmy problem with the bad shocks? Also, it seems like you went from stock to the eibach/koni setup. How did u find the difference? I've been considering for a while on changing my shocks coz I want it lowered, if its not too comfortable, and I get that shimmy problem too. Thanks...

I love the lower profile look on my ride and the suspension feels great. It made a difference from stock. As far as your problem, I would get it looked at by a front end specialist. Regardless, if you want to lower it, a good spring and shock setup will make a difference.

So I found out that the tires are shot, they have "feathered", don't know why but I do know that I need to get new tire to solve the problem. Shocks are fine at 70K according to MB techs. Bottom line, want to get the tires and want to keep the car stock. If anyone can tell me how to take off the sunroof vent cover I would be a happy camper.............

RVP

I found out at the dealer that my shocks were replaced at 37k miles???I too thought that shocks were good for at least 100k miles.