Hello friends,
A little over 1 month and a half ago, I purchased a 2004 E320 (4 Matic) for $1500.00 (CAD).
Joining the Benz family really felt great (although I knew the car wasn't perfect). I really love the look of the car.

Recently, I noticed the front driver's side was a little lower than the rest of my car.
So what did I do? head to my local Mercedes Benz independent mechanic.
I asked him to perform a general inspection and he provided me with the following list:

Front Coil Springs Replaced (2)
New Mufflers (2)
New 3rd Brake Light
Short in Trunk Light System
New Front Suspension Top Plates (2)
New Shock Absorbers (2)
New Front Axles (2)
New Front Ball Joints (2)
Rear Exhaust shield covers (repaired)
New Trunk Lock Mechanism
Short Circuit in Passenger Seat

He provided an estimate of $12,000.00 (if not more).
Of course, i'm not paying that amount.

My goal was to drive this car for a year or 2 and then buy something better(newer).

For an individual who does not have much experience repairing cars, are any of these repairs DIY? I am also guessing each repair may not be mandatory.
Right now, i'm thinking I may not have any other choice but to scrap the car.(or maybe get another opinion). Pretty depressing...

 

Hi Natural6527, that list is most of it maintenance and here in uk, i would spend around £800 to get all done by my self, the things i would get replaced is shocks,top plates,coil springs and ball joints as this can be done in the same job, the other things i would do when had time,also is better do on this one, and you know its done,if you get other one you will have to do it at some point in time.

i will leave my YouTube channel as i am doing related mercedes and other brands, repairs videos, maybe will interest you at some point in the future.

 

Did you not look the car over prior to buying?

3rd Brake Light, Trunk Lock Mechanism and Light, Passenger Seat short? These you for sure should have noticed. Unless you did, and did not care?

$12,000 seems absurd.

Go to www.mbpartscenter.com and price the needed parts, that shall give you an idea.

There is a saying, "Nothing is more expensive than a cheap Benz".

How many miles are on this car?

 

Thanks for the advice @Eddy001 .
I have actually started looking into tutorials and used parts to lower the cost. I'm a little nervous about the coil replacement though, seems like if not done correctly, it could be deadly...

I joined your channel. it's very informational.
Here is my channel in case you are interested : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRP...hZvDnJ03pRdU5w

 

Thanks for the comment and website @S70Houston .

• 3rd Break Light - Previous owner had heavy tint on the light, I also figured it was disconnected
• Trunk Lock - I missed this one
• Passenger Seat Short - I was aware, but figured I could fix it

I knew the car had problems, but figured I would use it as a project to learn a little more about vehicle repairs and maintenance, but not at the cost of 12 K.
There are currently 374153 km's on the car (232488 miles)

 

That is a main dealer or garage cost,when done by your self it will go less than half, mine is a 05 plate 270 cdi with 195000 miles on it, i have change the rear airbags, main dealer ask me each one without work £810, i bought both from ARNOTT for £480 and then i put them my self, saved over £1200, sometimes if you know what you doing, cheap cars worth buy, because many people sell them because their garage quote them a lot of money for the work, so they sell cheap, if you are able to put yourself the work is always a good deal, just my thoughts :-) , i subcribe to your channel, nice one.

 

Good luck.

 

That's really high on the suspension. I just had mine redone and probably around $650 in parts although mine is the face lift so I don't know about the parts for your older model. Looking online, it looks similar but doesn't list too many options for the spring for some reason. I basically got mine from all over. The Bilstein struts from rockauto was cheaper than the MB ones or Sachs, about $120 each, but they don't seem to carry the ones for your car, FCP has them for $155 if it's a standard suspension. There's the strut mount and a rubber piece underneath, not sure if that's what the guy refers to as the top plates, otherwise there is a metal plate at the very top, but I just reused my old one. There's also the bumper stop and the cover, got a set from FCPeuro which had a sachs kit for mine for $30, cheaper for the set than from MB. We'd need the vin of your car to figure out the right spring for it. I ordered the coil spring and the mount/rubber piece from the site below, they had the best shipping price as they are close to me, other places were a tad cheaper but charged more for shipping. FCP also sells a kit with the mounts and covers, you just need to get your own springs and struts. Those vary depending on if you have the standard or sports suspension. My mechanic had a coil spring compressor but if you bought all the parts separately, you could take it to a shop and have them compress the spring for you to put it all together as you wouldn't need anything from the old car. But you do need the old strut to make sure that clip that controls the right height is in the right spot. If you don't adjust it, it would be too high. You basically just match it up to the old one. Then it's just a few hundred in labor to remove and replace. You mind as well get the ball joint at the same time as it had to be taken apart to replace the strut. Oh and find another place, that guy is way too high and probably using all MB parts at list price plus maybe a markup. I could go on, if the CV joints aren't making noise, you could just replace the boots instead of replacing the axle. You could pop the axle out too when you do the struts so you could do it all at the same time. The boot kit from MB I think was in the $40 range, an OEM axle can be 1k. The aftermarket ones can be $100 but be careful and save the old one in case you get a vibration from the new axle.

https://parts.mercedesbenzofwappinge...ion-components

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mer...der-2113200026

 

You have to decide what You want to do. It's a 1500 car. So entry level price. Do what you have to do to make the car safe and to keep it on the road. At that price point you can't effort to keep it perfect. I would do some of the small things yourself.

 

i have done coil overs on a few different vehicles, I use three compressors simultaneously (two kits) for safety. OEM TOOLS 27036 MacPherson-Spring-Compressor

what is Much more deadly than coil over work, is using those plastic Rhino ramps, got them from Home Depot, their weight rating is way over inflated. It was a hot morning in Texas, 92F Sept 2016, was going to do some work on a 2002 Seville, put the car up on those plastic 12,000 lb ramps, With guidance from a friend, on nice flat concrete Outside, then went to go get parts, gone for an hour, came back and one ramp had collapsed! It would have killed anyone underneath. Returned the $50 POS ramps, now only go underneath on homemade solid wood ramps and jack stands.

 

Thanks again for the support and the sub
Love the new face lift :-)

 

Thanks @Ls1toAMG
That's what I was thinking. Prioritize the items that are essential and work my way through the list.
I'm thinking I will work to keep it on the road. Each year there are less and less of these vehicles on the road.
In 3-5 years, it will be nice to say that I have one.

 

Oh my God...
It really was not your time to go.
Thanks for sharing, as a newbie to DIY, it's really good to know.

 

Thanks for the comment!
I actually do find it a little odd, there are not many options for struts for my vehicle (2004 Mercedes-Benz E320 4Matic Sedan 4-Door 3.2L 3199CC V6 GAS).

I found the following for Bilstein, but would definitely like to find cheaper (Please keep in mind, I am Canadian) :

• http://www.bilsteincanada.com/produc...oducts_id=4635
• http://www.bilsteincanada.com/produc...oducts_id=4644

Here are a few SACHS, but not sure if they would fit my car

• https://www.ebay.ca/itm/2-Front-Shoc...cAAOSwAO9ZOu1R

I'm still trying to determine how I would be able to complete an installation by having my mechanic do the compression (Purchasing the parts separately) . Especially in the case they would need to adjust the ride height?

I actually started looking for other mechanics, we have a few options here in Montreal.

If you don't mind, could you let me know the sound that I would expect to receive with the CV joints? I experience a noise when turn the steering fully in either direction. I also experience a clunk when driving over bumps, not sure if it's related...

 

There were too many options so not a lot of aftermarket part makers to account for all the options. You basically have sport and luxury suspension and also throw in AWD and RWD into the mix.

On the Bilstein, the ride height is controlled by a clip on the strut. There's basically 10 settings on it. You match up the new strut with the old strut to make sure it's at the same level. Because there's luxury and sport, it's not clear the exact setting to use, but it comes at the top most ring by default so people who forget to adjust it end up with the ride height way too high, it's between the 2nd-4th ring depending on how people describe it.




The above is the part numbers for your car. Not that good with EPC so that's a cut and paste of a screen grab. Not sure if you need all the those parts, probably at least the spring and strut and depending on the old strut, you can reuse some of the old parts. Like I don't know if your shim is in good shape or not. I think the spring retainer is basically the strut mount so that normally gets replaced when doing struts. If you just buy all the parts, you can just have the mechanic assemble the spring/strut and put it in the car. The rubber bumper and boot isn't that expensive. The shim and retainer might be available as an aftermarket. Check FCPeuro to see what parts they have that will match up to the part numbers listed above.

As for the CV joint, normally you take it apart to see if the joint is destroyed or not. The noise could be from anything, sway bar links, sway bar, control arms, ball joints, etc. That's one of those things that can't be diagnosed online, need a mechanic to get under there and look around. Normally if the joint is gone, I think it's a grinding noise when turning. Sounds like you might be able to get away with a boot kit.

 

I chased the clunk when driving over bumps for a couple of months, on a 06 E320 rear drive. it was the sway bar link upper bolt, just slightly loose. its a 12mm allen head. I found it by beating on suspension parts with a rubber mallet.

 

Yesterday, i backed out of my driveway and as i went over the little lip i heard a big clunk.. then a dragging noise.. I said wow..what i found when i pulled back in was a broken stut and and broken coil spring. yeah, not good.

I had replace both of front shocks/sruts along with new spring in July 2015. Not a hard job.. any way Bilstein is suppose to have a lifetime warrenty on the struts/shocks. called the people where I had bought to see if they had a record and yes they did, they sent me to bilstein for a warranty return, .. bilstein sent me back to the retailer. and basically said i could take a flying leap.. so my thought is they should last more than 5 years and i have only put 15k miles on car since i re[;aced, now I am on the hunt for some sachs and new benz springs.

It's not a hard job just takes forever removing the old spring so you can get the rubber bump stop and the spacer..

 

Why are you warranty in your shocks if you have a broken spring? Your car doesn't have struts.

 

Well yes the suspension is a coil over strut. These were replaced in July 2015 so not even 5 years ago, and not very many miles on them. now what I know as of today. First I have not removed the strut at this time as I want to have another in hand so i don't leave my car on stands for a week getting new parts in. What i can tell you from the pics taken is it appears the bottom of the shock broke from the mounting point to the suspension and in turn the spring broke as well. Now which came first is pure guess on my part. I may know more once I pull it apart, however determination will likely be a pure guess either way I do know it was a Bilstein shock with new Mercedes spring that were put in in July 2015. Either way I feel bilstein should stand the replacement of the strut or both struts as Mercedes and all recommend to replace in pairs. I will eat the cost of the springs as it turns out Mercedes has a very limited warranty on their parts it's like 1 year maybe 2. On top of having to do it for the second time in 5 years.

 

NO the suspension on the W211 is not a strut. A strut combines both suspension and steering into one component by bolting the spindle directly to the bottom of the shock absorber. The shock absorber in a strut turns with the steering. The w211 does not. The W211 has a multilink front suspension with a simple coil over.

 

Doesn't sound all that bad , dont just go with the 1st shop estimate , call around so atleast you can have a better idea. 12k is way to much though , possibly take care of the more serious problems 1st if you are on a budget

 

The list of items in the original post identified by the mechanic are entirely normal for any vehicle with 234,000 miles.

The price/cost for the list of repairs is subject to negotiation and DIY abilities.

All of the items do not need to be done right away, or at the same time.

 

you are correct it is not a strut vehicle it is a multilink suspension.

The whole purpose of my post was to say when you pay more for quality parts and receive less. than the best it is time to tell people of your experience. nothing more , nothing less. so it is always buyer beware.

Man I hate trolls ..
So here we go smarty pants... time for some schooling from a phd mechanical engineer and electrical engineer.. buckle up butter cup I want to add to your vocabulary of "would you like fries with that"

Some time people use terms like coil over shocks in place of struts, it is common, on occasion even Benz parts house do it. So for you enjoyment here are 5 common suspensions.

Engineers must work within the constraints of the basic suspension arrangement dictated by packaging requirements, budget, and the vehicle architecture. But there’s plenty of tweaking to be done: After collecting benchmark data from the kinematics-and-compliance machine, engineers define a set of K&C targets for their car. They then collaborate with suspension designers to create front and rear geometries that mimic those attributes, altering mounting points, bushing stiffness, link and arm design, and other variables. Here are the five most common suspension configurations found in today’s vehicles:
Using the axle housing to locate the wheels is as durable as the idea itself, which is why this ox-cart technology persists in off-roaders, pickups, and commercial vehicles. The obvious flaw: a bump at one wheel also excites the opposite wheel. When a solid axle connects two driven wheels—also known as a “live axle”—the axle shafts, differential, and housing all contribute to unsprung weight, affecting ride quality and aggravating axle hop under acceleration and braking, particularly in high-torque vehicles.

Apair of lateral arms, sometimes called double wishbones or A-arms, offers better control over the kinematics than a strut-type arrangement. Among the benefits: an upper arm that’s shorter than the lower arm to optimize the orientation of the tire contact patch as the body rolls, increasing lateral grip. Control arms also require less height than a strut suspension—the better to slip under the low hoods of sports cars such as the Acura NSX and the Chevrolet Corvette.

The greatest sophistication and tuning flexibility comes from using a combination of links and arms, or just five individual links. One common arrangement includes three lateral links for side-to-side wheel location, one longitudinal link for fore-aft restraint, and a toe-control link that effectively makes minute steering adjustments as the suspension strokes. The multilink approach allows for higher lateral stiffness and the desired toe change with appropriate vertical and longitudinal compliance. Multilink setups can also be designed to better resist dive and squat under braking and acceleration, respectively. Put simply, multilink suspensions offer the most separation between handling and ride-quality attributes to reduce compromises.

Frequently found at the rear of economy cars, this arrangement uses trailing arms integrated with a crossmember that is designed to twist as the wheels move. While the torsion beam or “twist beam” isn’t as compromised as a solid axle, neither is it a truly independent suspension. Stiffer bushings can compensate for the torsion beam’s inherent side-to-side compliance, but that comes with a toll of greater impact harshness. (Some vehicles use a Watt’s linkage or a Panhard rod to improve lateral stiffness without compromising ride quality.) Low mounting points along with springs and dampers that are mounted farther outboard than in other arrangements create more interior and cargo space.

In this, the most popular front-suspension setup, a beefed-up damper (typically with a concentric coil spring) serves double duty, acting as a locating device while calming vertical movement. Strut configurations are commonly chosen for their simplicity and cost, and they’re narrower than control-arm and multilink arrangements, making them ideal for transverse-engine cars. However, the strut design limits an engineer’s options to optimize camber as the wheel moves vertically.

Hope you learned something there scooter..

 

Thank you. Here this should help you with your butthurt.

 

I wouldn't spend any money on a $1500 car.

Drive it until it dies.