Hello all,

I purchased a 2004 CLK55 AMG Coupe a few months back. 60000 miles and in excellent condition. Previous owner had all maintenance records and got it serviced every time something came up so it's been well taken care of.

Just got around to working on it to fix a few small things. Gave it an oil change, fixed a cracked washer reservoir cap (where the coolant lines come in).

Driver headrest was stuck in the up position. I yanked the motor, hooked it up to a power supply and got it to move down all the way. Reinstalled and it now works both ways. PM me if you want details as this seems to be common.

My other two things I'm working on

1) not critical as i live in AZ but the driver heated seat will not turn on. I'm going to try to cross connect the passenger plug to the driver control module under the seat and see what i can find. I did get the switch buttons to light up ONCE yesterday but then could not get them to come back on.

2) This one I could use an answer to. The knee bolster on the passenger seat was not working. I looked under the seat and the air supply hose from the switch was pinched at 90 degrees. I managed to unbend this and zip tie it to one of the other air hoses and it works now but not all the time depending on how low the seat is.

Is this line under much pressure? Is it something replaceable or can I somehow cut it at the pinch and splice some other vinyl tube in there? I'm not opposed to cutting it and sliding over a slightly larger diameter hose and super gluing it in place (kinda like a sleeve coupling on copper pipe)

the others things on the list now are all of the rubber (suspension etc) on the car, being it's 10 years old now

- bilstein hd shocks
- h&r springs
- all new suspension bushings
- flex discs (if needed)
- steering damper or whatever it is
- motor / tranny mounts

any other rubber or age related wear item i should be looking at?

thanks

 

Congrats on the purchase. Being in AZ, AutohausAZ might be a good parts supplier for you. I'm going to guess you have the regular FSS schedule and know when the coolant and brake fluid is due to be swapped. Same applies for the fuel filter, engine air filters, and cabin air filter. One thing that is commonly overlooked is the steering gear bolts. Those bolts take all of thirty seconds after the wheel has been removed.

Other than that, keep the AC on and enjoy the new purchase.

 

yes. i plan on not taking this to the dealer but doing everything on schedule myself

i have already ordered hood dampers and tranny mount from autohaus. i gotta order my engine mounts too but waiting to pop a door panel to see what kinda clips i might need later on as the dealer said 7$ a piece. this is for when i upgrade the audio.

i will look into the steering gear bolts.

thanks

EDIT: just realized those were links... much thanks

 

I probably should have added something that said those were links.

Here's an audio upgrade where the BOSE amps and speakers are retained link. If you're doing a full system change (replacing the BOSE amps and speakers) that same link may be handy in that it explains how to keep the steering wheel controls.

 

This is great site Marcus, i think it's yours isn't..?

as you know, our FPR comes with fuel filter, is it 3.8 bar..?

ZAYED,,

 

Whoops.

It just occurs to me that excelon969 has a W209.

Sorry, all those links are for a W208. There are no steering gear bolts on a 209, the fuel filter is different, as is the stereo, and I have no idea how the cabin filter goes in. I'll go sit quietly for a bit.

@ZAYED, yes. That's mine. I took a lot of the info I had accumulated and stuffed it into a website. There was a sister site with review material, but I pulled all that and will put it into the Southwest Star as time allows.

 

no problem marcusf

i am well versed in audio install. i know i have to remove _everything_ since the bose system is fiber, and i'm ok doing this. i dont care much about the steering wheel controls as i mainly run through my iphone

EDIT: rather, i want to use aftermarket amp and speakers... i see the pac adapter will work but i dont want the crappy bose stuff anyhow

i will figure out the cabin filter and the one behind the battery. my a/c smells musty the first couple seconds it kicks on

 

I guess we'll have to work on our cars together! sent you a PM on benzworld.org

 

I made a thread on my heated seat problem recently. Have a look for ideas if you are still fixing it. There are heaps of threads on Benz world also. You take the vacuum line off, no problems. Don't put the key fob in the ignition with the seat unplugged.

 

can you get to the vacuum line within the seat itself? i see where it connects at the switches...

in any event, this is the next thing i need to take care of. the holes where the pins go through to secure both side trunk panels to the rear plastic cover are both ripped on the sides... my golf clubs and sliding stuff in the trunk cause the panels to move too much...



any good way to fix these rips?

 

Yes the entire seats can be dismantled but it is a lot of work. You can trace the vacuum hoses to the bottom seat cushion and up the back into the back support.

Just for interest I have used the metra axxess ASWC to retain my steering wheel controls on the two benzes I have owned when switching to an aftermarket head unit. Fairly easy to use, you can program the buttons to do whatever you want. I use the pick up/hang up phone for track next and previous since I ripped the phone out.

 

congrats!
it's a GREAT car, and CLK55 is probably my favorite daily for comfort/feel/style...and you sound like you're very handy, and also got a "good one."
PL

 

yes. i did discover one big issue however.... prev owner said car had been in fender bender, rear passenger side. had repair paperwork. this might be related...

5th time running through costco car wash, noticed a small amount of water dripped into trunk. after taking off rear shelf trim and running it through again, noticed rear window was leaking at the bottom in 3 spots, on the collision side. it only leaked under high pressure though. there was one spot about a minute into the car wash where the high pressure jets went over the car. saw tiny amount of water squirt in at that very instant but no other time. in fact i drove in rain and no issue... resulting water when dripped down the holes in the rear shelf metal

anyways i looked into replacing the window to maybe get a better seal and the damn thing with labor was 1100 from and indie shop (less labor charge) and almost 1500 from dealer. not to mention the dealer then tried to tell me i would need a new antenna booster cause 'the wires would rip' at a cost of another 1200 (big lie)

two 5$ tubes of high flow silicone up in that area seemed to seal it right up. cant even see the stuff. it'll hold me over for now. worst case (and better option really) is i just wash the car myself

 

going to revive my original thread. a lot of things came up in the meantime but i'm now working on the car again.

i did get motor mounts / tranny mount replaced a year or so ago and it's been so nice.

anyways i'm halfway into my stereo installation and ive got the rear seat side panels (upper and lower) off.

i noticed that the material on the lower panel around the deep pocket and around the window switch is coming loose. what would be the best manner to get this taken care of? i know i'd have to match the material and maybe just get it SEM dyed. the curves are extreme at some points...

or maybe just leave it alone since it's just the rear seats....



by the way if anyone is looking for part 0069884378 for the rear panel clips, they have been superseded by 0119887678, door clips, can get them under a buck a piece at autohaus or on ebay

 

OP, if you are going to lower your car, I would suggest Bilstein B8 shocks. They're designed to be paired with lowered springs. The HD shocks are designed to be used with OEM springs.

 

next issue.... fixing the vent motors/flaps/whatever. dont know till i get in there but air always flows to the footwell

i've download all the WIS on dashboard removal and i have the center stack out and i'm working on the glove box removal but i'm stuck on the last step of the lid removal

just says to fold lid down to the stop and then remove.

i cant get it to budge. do i just pull really hard directly back towards the seat? i really dont want to break anything and i can only find one image of this part on ebay and i cant make sense of it.

anyone do this and can tell me if i just need to pull hard or if there is another trick?

 

never mind i'm a donkey. i got it. usually happens right after i post =)

 

issue: i have the luxury climate control (pre-facelift) and the directional airflow works on both sides to properly move air to the windows and to the upper vents. i did notice that the footwell airflow on both sides was always on no matter what.

so yes, i've googled and googled and i believe most people are having problems with the motor linkage. (also most posts are for w203) ok so...

ran the 'resync' on the control panel. no luck, leds keep flashing forever (let ran for several minutes) during which time i can feel the air to the footwells come and go (so something is working and not just frozen) but i really dont know what exactly the resync is supposed to do in terms of the sequence it is trying to follow. so...

began the dash removal. passenger glove box out, center console out, center stack mostly out (shifter trim, ashtray, radio bezel, climate control, radio), passenger side cover out.

so i can see the motor/arm for the passenger footwell i believe and it indeed moves and such during the resync but when i select the upper vents or window vents on that side during normal use, it does not move at all

i also noticed that after i hooked up the control panel again, now i do not get any airflow out the driver footwell when previously it had been always on.

this led to some 4 letter words and now i'm wondering if it's possible that the climate control panel is bad and everything else is ok...

i have not seen that resolution in any posts thus far. should i just get this thing to a STAR machine? if so, how much should i expect to pay for this?

i'd like to investigate this before i pull of what seems to be the rest of the dash to get at any of this.

thanks

 

Honestly I feel you'll get a better reply for the ac issue in the regular w209 forums...they have some really active and knowledgeable guys there and the non amg uses the same system

 

Congrats on the car. I have the same one and my driver seat headrest just got stuck- on the high position. After blaming my wife, I decided to check here and see that it is a common issue. Looks like I can at least disable the motor to bring it down so the seatback will move forward without hitting the roof liner. Someone said there were only two screws to do that, but I don't see any.
Any ideas?

thanks

 

^^ there are 2 small torx screws at the bottom of the seat-back. You'll probably have to sit in the back seat to see them.
Take them out and the whole back of the seat should come off. Should be able to see the headrest motor once that's off.