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I'm making this thread to document the 'rebirth' of my 2001 CLK55 AMG. In addition to my DD '12 C300, I thought this would be a fun car to wrench on during the spring. We'll see if this was a good purchase decision in about 4 months
Background:
I was between an E39 M5 (ideal choice due to V8, sedan body, and manual transmission), W210 E55, and E46 M3. Long story short, rod bearing issues scared me away from both BMWs in addition to the subframe/valve adjustment/SMG pump on the M3. I was fixated on a gorgeous W210 with suspension, Kleeman header/tune, and other mods, and would've flown out to buy it, but this W208 came into the picture by chance, and I jumped because of proximity as well as price ($1,500 less than the W210).
Buyer's Luck or Buyer's Remorse
I found this specific car through Craigslist , and set up an appointment to take a drive. Upon arrival, I noticed it was for sale at a body shop and immediately started looking for signs of prior accident damage. I scoured the door jams, the crash support, the spare tire well, the underbody, and looked for any misaligned panels. The car looked great with NO signs of rust and perfect paint. In fact, I thought the paint looked fresh, and the shop owner (seller) confirmed he had painted the vehicle within the last year. Awesome, no highway chips, etc. I ran a Carfax and saw an accident back in 2004 that listed the vehicle as functional (able to drive away) after the crash. I was content with that.
Long story short, in addition to the paint, the car has new tires, fresh oil pan gasket, new oil level sensor, recent tranny service and pilot bush, and aftermarket navigation. It drove well, and seemed to have the power appropriate of an M113 AMG. I was sold, and the seller insisted no expense was spared as this was his personal car. I saw some smaller issues, but figured I'd fix them as I went (mismatched wood grain pieces on door uppers, ugly center caps, broken cup holder, non-functional dash power outlet, blown amp -seller is replacing as part of deal- and non-functional windshield washer spray). Minor issues. The bones were good, and that to me is THE most important criteria in a used car (body, etc).
Here it is during the test drive:
I took it home that night, hammered it on the highway and was promptly told to add 1 quart of oil . The oil change was recent, so I understood that some non-dealer shops don't always top up as they should. I put in half a quart and have been fine since.
What honeymoon phase?
The next day I returned to the shop to get the vehicle registered and through emissions. It ran perfectly on the ride back. I went to the local DMV, got my title, went to emissions and passed with no problems, then drove back to the DMV to finish the order for my personalized plate.
Hopefully E46 owners don't get too upset :
As if by fate, the check engine light goes on and the car starts to jerk and eventually locks into 4th gear. Great... the pilot bush is new, and oil leakage on that part wouldn't cause a CEL, but maybe jerky shifts, so it's likely the conductor plate. What a fantastic way to start my ownership experience! The Mercedes Gods taketh as well as giveth. I parked it at home and decided to get the codes read the next day.
All Aboard the Stealership Express!
Hopeful that the CEL would just go away, I woke up and was promptly greeted with 2nd gear limp mode. Starting and restarting the car yielded no change, and the P0715 code, among others, indicated that it was likely a speed sensor, or some other fault in the conductor plate. I 'limped' to my local Mercedes dealer since the indy shops were snail-like in returning calls for quotes, and threw my wallet at the service writer. $1138 later I had a new pilot bush (another one), a fresh OEM conductor plate, oil pan gasket, and some pricey MB tranny fluid flowing through my slushbox. While the car was up on the lift, I asked to take a look, and the tech and I noticed the car eventually needs lower control arms, and has a leak coming from somewhere (PS pump?). More on that later. The chassis was spotless with no rust (Florida car), the brakes lines were immaculate, the exhaust system was even clean, and the only other thing I'd address is a diff. fluid flush. The drain bolt didn't look like it had been touched in some time. Also, a code indicated the brake light switch would need to be changed soon. Fine.
I left the dealer happy the car was running well, but disappointed I got screwed in under 24 hours of ownership. I bought into the seller's claim he 'pampered' the car. With this expense, the money I saved over my dream E55 was virtually gone. With some remorse, I realized I should've taken my time with this decision.
Here are some photos I took that afternoon:
The UPS man comes, and Failure as a buyer
When I took home the CLK I went online and bought some items to make it mine.
-Air filters (Mann)
-Silver center caps - to replace the nasty black pastidipped set on the car
-AMG valve stem caps
-Rubber floor mats
The air filters, center caps and stems caps came last night, so I took the opportunity to put them on. Boy, if I was upset after the conductor plate and the discovery of the lower control arm wear, I was really, really, upset now. I found a coolant leak pooled at the bottom of the under tray as well as one seriously dirty set of filters. I mean FILTHY. These still had sand from the Florida beaches stuck in the pleats. Who knows when they were last replaced. The soot seemed to extend through to the 'clean' side of the filters too. This eroded any confidence I had left in the seller. He also claimed to have recently done all of the plugs. To me, it looks like those coils haven't been taken off in a while.
Here's what I found in the airbox:
Old filters vs. New filters
Coolant leak:
Back together... I seem to have an orphan car:
This is what the car looks like with the new center caps. Much better.
Old center caps. Yuck.
Unfortunately, this caused me to go on a rampage. Here's what's coming to ensure the car is right. I refuse to skimp on maintenance. I'll deal with the smaller issues as I have time:
-OEtuning tune
-Spark plugs (Bosch)
-Fuel filter (Mahle)
-Brake light switch
-Cabin air filter
-Coolant (2 gallons - OEM MBZ)
-Oil filter (Mann)
I'll run a little Seafoam through the fuel tank, and oil, then do the plugs, fuel filter, and an oil change before I throw on the tune. I want to make sure the car is ready, mechanically, before the extra power. Why a tune? I need some security in case someone wants to challenge the S54ETR license plate. Also, I ordered an oil analysis kit from Blackstone, so we'll see how this M113 is running. I've done it with other vehicles before, and it's always helpful, but I am unsure how many mile are on the current fill. We'll see what happens. I'll post results.
Stay tuned as parts arrive. I'll be sure to update this thread.
Last edited by 03basesedan; 01-27-2016 at 03:55 PM.
great info.
makes me happy i paid the $130 to have the last one i looked at from a used car dealership that i had inspected at a MB dealership.
just as you the used car guy said the car was perfect, immaculate, etc... dealer found a cracked spring, well overdue brake pads and calipers, a couple minor engine leaks, etc... long story short the $130 saved me from buying a car that was worth far less than the dealer was trying to sell it for.
the air filters dont surprise me, just because its about a 30 min job to replace them on these cars vs a 2 minute job on pretty much any other car. still easy to do but people are just lazy.
Wow, that's a bit of a bummer. At least they're a great model so hopefully you're through the worst of it. I've had a few cars (ok, lots) and one or two stand out. I bought a 'cheap' one-owner SLK230 and despite the PO running an auto repair shop I don't think it had ever really been serviced, as my wallet later found out...
I was just about to sell my car when the transmission popped out of gear a couple of times. I have decided to keep it and ordered a conductor plate and a whole pile of things you have on your list as well. Not nice but at least you won't have to worry about the transmission again. Hopefully coolant is just a leaking hose.
16 plugs?! How did Mercedes think this was a good idea? As you can see, the plugs looked like absolute crap. The left bank looked like they had not been replaced since the car rolled off of the assembly line. Again, I was seriously offended. The factory zip tires were still present on the connectors leading to the coil packs. The car ran MUCH smoother after these plugs were changed.
Fuel filter:
This one was fun! It took about an hour. I had my mechanic help me (he did the whole thing) over the weekend. As with the spark plugs, this filter looked to be absolutely original from 2001. People are crazy. I could've done this on my own, and the part is less than $30. How can you NOT replace it in ~15 years. The car runs the same, but I feel better.
Brake light switch:
I am still waiting to do this. Maybe this weekend?
Coolant:
So far I've used about half of a container. The leak seems to be coming from either the hose connecting to the top of the radiator, or the side of the radiator itself. The previous owner claims that the upper coolant hose (one huge piece) was just replaced. I need to investigate further. I'm happy it doesn't appear to be the water pump!
Blackstone container:
I will change the oil in a couple of month and send a sample out to Blackstone.
OE tuner (MyGenius):
I decided to use OEtuning because I have their tune on my C300, and they have been very responsive throughout the communication process for both vehicles. Jeremy and BJ helped with some dyno charts as well as a 20% repeat customer discount. As before, the tune is loaded onto the ECU through an OBDII flash utilizing a Dimsport flashloader. I went with the flashloader, versus the Android app, due to difficulties connecting with OE on the C300.
One first reads and IDs the ECU through the flashloader. Then this file is emailed to OE. The tune files are emailed back, loaded onto the flashloader, and then onto the ECU. The process is simple, but I recommend reading the instructions.
As with the C300, the tune seems to require some time to adapt. I took the car out for a 50-60 mile drive (abuse session), and it behaved differently at the end compared to the beginning in terms of smoothness, power, and shift points. Based on my butt dyno, I could see around 15whp more. The adaptation day was about 30 degrees warmer than my baseline, so while the car felt quicker, it's likely even quicker in comparable DA.
[B]
Rubber mats:
Some cheapie mats to preserve my cloth mats during the winter months.
CEL fun:
This light came on and then went off after a restart at a traffic light. The joys of 15 year old Mercedes electronics! This is likely tied to the brake switch?
I got this one on the way back from the previous owner's body shop after the amp was installed. Pulled over, cleared it, and it hasn't come back. Again, thanks Mercedes!
Oil pan:
No leaks here. The oil level sensor was replaced and the pan was resealed. I do spy coolant, though!
Personalized plate:
I'm sure you all can guess what this means :-) E46 M3's should take a second look before disregarding the W208!
Next on the agenda is lower control arms and a rear diff. fluid drain and flush. I will likely do the flush before the control arms. At some point I do also plan to track down the coolant leak... meaning before a longer trip.
Stay tuned!
Last edited by 03basesedan; 02-02-2016 at 09:31 PM.
picture where you are under the car replacing your fuel filter looks very scary!!
you lift the car with a jack but no extra stands?
if your car dropped on you falling off jack, you'll be in a bodybag.
don't do it again!!
make sure you secure your car before you work under it.
05 CLK55 AMG (1 of 247) Cubanitsilber designo series
Looks like you have a lot of crud around your crankcase breather boxes. You might want to think about resealing them and checking the breather hoses for cracks and breaks, and verify that the small breather port on the passenger-side box is not plugged.
kowalski That's actually not me. It's my mechanic, and I agree, but he seemed to think it was fine
floridawriter That's a fantastic idea! When you say reseal, you mean purchase a new seal? Excuse my ignorance, but where are they exactly in relation to the valve covers?
05 CLK55 AMG (1 of 247) Cubanitsilber designo series
The crankcase vent boxes are on top of the valve covers. On the driver side, the box is much larger and the oil fill cap is part of it. On the passenger side, the box is smaller. Resealing means removing the top covers, cleaning everything and reinstalling using Mercedes approve RTV sealant. It's important to check how pliable the vent hoses are as they will harden and crack. Also, the passenger side box has a tiny exit hole that tends to clog up.
Last edited by floridawriter; 02-03-2016 at 11:48 AM.
kowalski That's actually not me. It's my mechanic, and I agree, but he seemed to think it was fine
floridawriter That's a fantastic idea! When you say reseal, you mean purchase a new seal? Excuse my ignorance, but where are they exactly in relation to the valve covers?
last week some guy died in my city the same way your dumb mechanik was under the car.
car fell on this guy and smashed his head to death!
The valve covers share some of the same bolts. Remove the valve covers, clean and replace the seals and then reseal the breather covers with "seal in place" gasket maker. Only buy mercedes branded valve cover seals, aftermarkets ones will leak.
As floridawriter pointed out, most of the hoses going to/from the breather covers are dry and perished, I would replace them while you are at it.
Last week was pretty busy, and snowy, so I didn't accomplish much with the AMG. That said, it has adapted well to the tune, and is running noticeably quicker than stock. I am unsure if the transmission is any more responsive, but the motor feels a bit uncorked. Almost like pulling torque management on a GM vehicle.
I recently drove the CLK and the C300 back-to-back. The C300 sits in a garage, so it hasn't seen much meaningful road time since the middle of December, and, I'll tell you what, the W204 chassis is nice! The car is a 'Sport' model, so it has slightly larger sway bars, etc., and something about it causes me to drive it like I stole it. Maybe it's the AWD safety net, but the C300 does seem to handle better than the CLK. Of course 15 years of wear, and 100k miles, will dull the new-car luster of the W208 AMG chassis enhancements, but it's evident tech has moved forward within the past 10-15 years.
The one area where this is most apparent is the interior. The W204 is much, much nicer. In fact, the materials are of higher quality, and the fit and finish is tighter (I have an LCI model). A quick Wiki search reveals that the W208 was introduced in Europe in 1997, so the cockpit was designed in the mid-90s, and it shows. I don't miss the tech, but maybe there is some merit to the idea that quality went down with the W210 and W208.
One component that doesn't show the negative effects of aging is the motor. The M113 is a total gem. Talk about over-engineered in this application. Forged internals, hand built, composite intake manifold optimized for power throughout the rev band. I am impressed. I had an opportunity to play in the snow, and the M113 was a great companion to my right foot.
01-27-2016, 03:31 PM
Project W208 CLK55: Maintenance *****
. The oil change was recent, so I understood that some non-dealer shops don't always top up as they should. I put in half a quart and have been fine since.
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