Hi all. I'm starting a thread so I can document the rehabilitation of my old Benz. I purchased this car used in 2005 with approximately 50K KMS (~31,000 miles). It has been a pleasure to drive. No major issues. I do my own synthetic oil changes twice a year. Added a few modifications over the years which I will details below. The car was an all year daily driver. Up here in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada we have about 7 months of winter, and lots of sand/salt on the roads so the body has taken a **** kicking over the last few years and some rust spots began to appear in the obvious areas. In 2017 the vehicle approached 200K (~124,000 miles) and I needed something built more for the winter so I picked up a 2017 GMC Sierra All-Terrain and it has become my daily driver. Ever since that time the CLK has been parked in the garage awaiting this rehab which will include lots of preventative maintenance and body work. It has sort of turned into a hobby car and since I'll never get back what I already dumped into the car, I've decided to keep it and restore it to like new condition. I started last week on the engine. I have bought a bunch of parts during sales over the past 2 years and need to start installing some of these parts. First off, wanted to tackle the spark plugs and wires. The plugs had never been replaced and while I had not cylinder mis-fire issues I thought this would be a good place to start to ensure longevity. I picked up Bosch Platinum plugs and also decided to replace the wires with Beru brand wires. The wires looked a little worn so I thought what the hell. Plug and wire replacement was pretty straightforward. A couple of tight spots but nothing a angled wrench and set of extensions couldn't handle.

List Of Current Mods & Mainteance:
- Bilstein Shocks + H&R Lowering Springs
- Aftermarket 18 inch wheels.
- Aftermarket front bumper.
- Double din stereo conversion. (with active steering wheel controls).
- Projector Headlights (halo disconnected)
- C350 yellow fogs
- HID and LED lights all around including interior
- Blue glass side mirrors with LED turn signal
- New Valve cover gaskets (2018)
- New Battery (2019)
- Pixel repair and chrome guage rings (2018)
- Stoptech Crossdrilled fron and rear rotors.(2017)
- New front brake pads (2017)
- Transmission fluid and filter change (2018) used Valvoline ATF
- K&N air filter (2018) cleaned in 2019
- New ball joints (2018)
- New steering dampener (2018)

Things to still do:

- Install new idler pulley
- Install new rear EBC Red brake pads
- Install new serp belt
- Install new waterpump
- Install new thermostat
- Install new voltage regulator on alternator
- Replace rear differential fluid
- Replace brake fluid.
- Install stainless brake lines to caliper
- Paint/polish brake calipers
- rust repair/paint



Old plugs. Gross.

2 down, 14 to go.

New wires are shiny and pretty.

Halfway there!

The workshop.

This tool saved made spark plugs replacement a breeze.

Used this extension to remove coil packs.

Used this wrench to pry off some of the stubborn plug wires.

Current state of the CLK.

 

I'm now onto the front of the engine to do waterpump, idler pulley, voltage regulator, thermostatand new belt. I decided while I was in there to also replace the belt tensioner as it looked a little worse for wear and I really did not want to have to go back in here once I was done. I also picked up a new style key, as my other key crapped the bed. $350 Canadian from the dealer but oh well. It's new a shiny and now I won't get left stranded.

Got halfway to removing everything last night. Have about 4 bolts left and the waterpump can come out.

Stay tuned for more updates! Hoping to finish up all removals from the front part of the engine tonight.


Startig to take the front end apart. LED city lights on.

My tickle trunk of replacement part collected over the past few years.

More tickle trunk items.

New belt.

New voltage regulator.

New thermostat.

EBC red pads

EBC red pads 2

NEW key!

Other side of new key

Hood cable housing has began falling apart. Did not see this originally as the only sections that are deteriorating are the ones that run under the rad support.

Housing falling off..this is where is starts.


Taking things apart.

Old serp belt was actually still in pretty good shape.

New belt part number.

 

UPDATE:

Finished installing spark plugs and wires and took apart the front end to install new waterpump, thermostat and serp belt. Started off by removing the idler pulley, thermostat, hoses and serp belt to get to the waterpump.

Had some issues with getting to the waterpump. The fan is difficult to disconnect without a specific set of tools and having the fan on prevents the removal of certain bolts. Ended up trying a bunch of different tools that either didn't work or kept slipping. There is almost no room to work in there. I bit the bullet and bought the special tool for 75 dollars (Canadian). It is a full fan clutch removal kit for BMW and Mercedes. Once I got this, the removal was a breeze. It ends up being a 36mm skinny wrench and a three bolt fan pulley holder. After that the waterpump came off quite easily. Replaced the gasket and started to re-install. There are so many bolts on this waterpump. And all at different lengths so making sure you remember which specific hole they come from is crucial.

Also removed the alternator and replaced the voltage regulator. To my surprise the old one had quite a bit of life left as you can see from the pics below. Going to give the alternator metal frame a bit of a polish before I pop it back in as it has seen better days. Hope to have everything back together before the weekend and move onto replacing the fuel filter, brake fluid, restoring/painting calipers and installing new rear brake pads. Also need to pickup some new coolant.

Please feel free to leave any comments or questions. Anything to keep me motivated. It's -5 C outside so I only get a few hours out in the shop at a time LOL.


Front end is coming apart nicely.

This fan/fan clutch was a pain in the ***.

New thermostat installed.

Thermostat gasket.

Alternator getting a quick polish and new voltage regulator.

Tool kit for waterpump fan removal.

This tool broke. While trying to secure the pulley on the waterpump. Supplier will be sending me a new one.

This three bolt holder worked like a charm.

36mm skinny long wrench. Required IMHO.

Fan off!

Waterpump off!

New waterpump on.

Old waterpump still in decent shape although the pulley was beginning to rattle/wobble a bit so good time ot replace it.

Close up of the 36mm waterpump pulley bolt.

New voltage regulator installed.

Old voltage regulator versus new voltage regulator. Was surprised to see how much life was left.

 

Hey, how's it going?
Any updates on this project?

 

Awesome to see another member taking time for their W208! Recommend a deep cleaning after (abeit it's -5).
Looking gud so far, and cant wait for the finished project. Keep grinding Jack!
R,
2Merks

 

Oh boy let me tell ya this one fell off the rails...

First I had a screw shear off on me while trying to reattach my water pump. This caused me a significant delay as I researched replacing the entire timing cover (huge job) or trying to extract the screw (tried everything, didn't work) and heli coil in a thread. After finding out the scale of the timing cover job combined with the cost ($450 CAD + $200 threading) I opted for the heli coil.

The job was a pain and cursed from the get go. After pushing to hard trying to drill the son of a ***** M screw out I ended up breaking a diamond bit off in the middle of the screw...which made extraction a pain. Ultimately, I had to go it with ceramic diamond tipped tile saws (with hole in the middle for broken carbide drill bit) to get it out. That process *******ized the existing threads so I bored the hole out and put a heli coil in. Fingers crossed it would hold...

I put everything back together and no **** the ***** ****a is leaking right from that spot where the heli coil is. Just not enough pressure I guess to keep the pump gasket tight against between the timing cover and water pump facia. I was gutted. Under the knife again...

I decided to do the job right and order a new timing cover. The final nail in the coffin was when my alternator screw broke off in the timing cover too taking everything apart again. I guess working outside in the cold is not great for these type of jobs...or I'm ****ty with screw tension.

New timing cover is gorgeous. Can't wait to have it installed and have this part of the rebuild behind me. Right now I'm almost done taking the old one off. It's hard to get at and you need to remove the following items to take the timing cover off, in no particular order:


front grill air filter ducting
coilpacks
valve covers (to access screws)
horn
serpentine belt
water pump
idler pulley
fan / fan clutch
fan shroud
bunch of coolant pipes
various sensors / cables / ground wires
belt tensioner
thermostat
alternator
radiator / ac system
power steering pump
ac compressor
lower oil pan

It's been a trip but luckily this is just a project car for me and not my daily. It has a spot in my shop and I can chip away on it between trying to parent a 3.5 yo and 11 mo. I could probably pass the official MB mechanic exam at this point with this car. I've almost done it all besides physically replace the engine.

In other news the front bumper has been repainted and brand new Hella fog lights just came in. I'm going to throw some yellow krylon on them and then cover them with some Laminex. The last ones got destroyed due to rock chips due to winter highway driving. The car sits so low with the Bilstein / H&R lowering kit. Some other body work is lines up including taking care of some rust spots. Right now the goal is really to get it operational again. I've also ordered a new harmonic balancer with a new timing cover seal since I was in this far. New idler pulley as well. I never want to do this again once it's rebuilt. Once it's all together it will have anew life with no outstanding maintenance woes.

I'll try and get some more pictures up when I have a chance. I've also been working on running a gas line out to the garage and insulating / installing a heater. This will help me greatly with working towards completion.

Appreciate you guys checking up on me. Keeps me motivated. It's been a struggle but I'm sooooo close...


Heli coil that didn't end up holding. Getting to this point itself was a pain in the ***...never mind where I'm at today.

New Harmonic Balancer test fit. Loos sweet.

Better days. Tring to return to form.



Did some carbon wrapping on the interior too and programmed the double din finally.

Also fixed all the pixels and added chrome rings to the cluster

 

The project is looking good! Keep it up. I'm following right along. Have a few questions.

Where did you get the projector headlights? DIY?
Which Bosch spark plugs did you use (part number)? I'm finding different part numbers for the same brand that may fit our vehicle.

 

What head unit did you go with and what did you use for steering wheel controls? How complicated was the install?

 

Nice touch on the bezels! Sweet

 

Questions…

What torque specs did u use for the water pump bolts?
Also
did u use sealant when installing the pump or just just gasket itself?

 

Well finally have an update....

After letting the car sit since 2019 due to a purchase of a new truck I started at it again as I wasn't getting what I wanted part out wise or outright sale wise. Figure why not give it another shot.

Finally got the old timing cover off. Let me tell you this is a huge pain in the ***. The old timing cover had a heli coil in it for one of the waterpump bolts...it held together ok. Although when I tried to put one of the alternator bolts back in, it got cross threaded and broke off a key piece of the timing cover. I got a brand new one (wasn't cheap) and finally got the old out yesterday. I did make one more mistake taking it out though. I forgot to take out the timing chain tensioner bolt and it ended up cracking one of the guide rails for the timing chain. Ooops. Not that big of a deal though...a new one is only 90 bucks Canadian and while I'm this deep into the engine I may as well replace the timing chain since I have such good access to it. Will likely bring some new life back into the car. Also started cleaning some of the older parts that got covered in dirt / oil over the years so i'll shine it up nice and make the engine bay look as good as I can. Some pics below of where I'm at. Old timing cover with heli coil install & broken alternator bolt port. New timing cover, new waterpump, new idler puller, new thermostat all coming soon.

Have a question for anyone that may know...although I'll likely start a different thread on the topic.

Do you have to remove the valve covers to replace the guide rails? Or just the chain? Should I just put a new pin in the timing chain? Or replace the entire thing? Chain still appears to be pretty stiff with little to no play. Can has about 140,000 miles on it.

 

Sorry for the late reply. I am not planning on using sealant. It just came with a flexible metal gasket. The torque on the bolts will be higher than normal as I have to tap them into the aluminum casing of the timing cover. New timing covers do not come with pre threaded bolt holes. So I got to be careful to avoid a repeat scenario. I might take it to the dealer to have them install the bolts to play it safe...

 

Long story short my last time cover cracked I have a 02 clk 430 it was the daily still currently is just not at the moment because of timing cover so any way I have what I believe to be everything off I can take pics tmr for yall how can I take it off it just doesn’t move