jspbtown

So two nights ago my 2007 CLK550 with 60k miles had a no start. It would crank but no fire. We have had some crazy heat here and it was about 3 hours after an hour long drive. The motor was still silly hot. I ended up running a hose over the CP sensor area and I eventually got it to fire and it ran fine. I bought a new crankshaft position sensor from MB ($63.00) and installed it yesterday. Took off the MAF and it wasn't that bad. No way I was getting my forearms down to that thing without the MAF coming off. It now runs just fine.

So my question.....my son has a 2005 CLK320 with about 50k miles on it. Runs great (I LOVE that engine) and he has had no issues with it. He lives about 2 hours from me and is a recent college grad so funds are tight. I was thinking I should just replace his CPS while he is home for the 4th holiday. The CPS from MB for his car was well over $200.00. A Bosch replacement is about $30.00. Replacing a functioning MB part with a $200+ part seems silly. Being proactive and replacing it with a Bosch $30 part seems to make some sense if it will be reliable.

What is the consensus.....leave it be and hope for the best with the original 13 year old MB part or swap it our proactively with a new Bosch unit?

Thanks for the opinions.

Rudeney

I would not bother to replace it pro-actively. Also, don;t buy the $30 eBay/Amazon part as it is likely a fake. You don't have to buy from the dealer, but at least get a genuine Bosch from a reputable store like AutohausAZ, Rm European, Pelican, etc.

jspbtown

Thanks for the response. So I guess its not one of those "not if it will fail, but just when it will fail" type parts. I am slightly concerned with it being 13 years old and having gone though so many heat and heat soak cycles that its just a matter of time and when that happens it will cost me $500 instead of $30 by doing it myself now.

Also...as a side note...The genuine Mercedes CPS that I got from my dealer said "Made in Romania" on it. The original that I replaced said "Made in Germany".

Rudeney

It may never fail. My C240 went 180K miles on the original CPS. As for country of manufacture, MBZ has several global plants and suppliers. In fact, my C240 was manufactured in Brazil.