girlpower

'm new to this forum. I need sound advice. I have a 1999 C230 Kompressor with 92K miles. I got a new head gasket last March 2008. The day after I got my car back, I had to return it because of the slight vehicle shaking when the car is on idle. And for me, it's most of the time since I drive on side streets. I've brought it back to my mechanic three times (which he kept at least 1 week at a time) and still the car has the same shaking problem. He swore that the car is fixed everytime I get it back. So finally, I gave up going to him, since he hasn't solve the car problem. I eventually went and paid $84 to get a diagnostic test at the MB dealer. And here are the following codes they found:
00110 Intake air temp sensor incomponent B2/5
P1519 Variable camshaft timing malfunction
Performed compression test on all cyl. Good 1:170 2:170 3:175 4:175 PSI
Sparkplugs Good
Checked found intermittent misfire on all cyl.
The dealer is asking $1700 repairing the above codes. Can anyone please tell me what to do.

To top it off here are the added recommended work ($3000) that supposedly the car needs since it is close to 100K miles:
Motor mounts and Trans mounts
Flex Disc
Rear Brake Pads
Power steering shock
Trans service
Filter fuel

Will it be worth it to do all of the above work, or should I just move on and get another car? I do love this car that's why it's so hard to let go. How long will this car last me if I do all the work? How much more money will I have to spend in maintenance as my mileage increases? Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Help! Thanks for reading my post.

whoover

Only you can determine whether you want to do the work or trade it in, but those sound like things that the car could reasonably need. In fact, a rough idle on a Mercedes is almost always collapsed engine and transmission mounts. You have some engine problems too, but the mounts hide a tremendous amount of imbalance in even a normally running engine. Worn flex discs need to be replaced, or they can come apart and do a lot of damage and possible cause an accident.

You should find out what all this stuff will cost. It will be more than the engine work. When you see the total estimate, you can make an intelligent decision. Unfortunately, without the work your car has minimal trade-in value. You'll never get the value of the maintenance and repairs back in resale, but any buyer will discover this stuff.

brakel8

If it were me I would have the cam timing checked by some one who knows what they are doing. The intake cam has a variable adjuster that needs to be turned clockwise when setting timing, I suspect that your intake cam is retarded by 1 tooth. The engine will run, will have rough idle and low power. Hope this helps.

alpha2

I know this post is an old thread.. but to all the new owners of a 1999 mercedes c230k..
if you experience shaking while your in idle, it means you need 1 or 2 new coils. I took my car to an experienced car repair guy, who ran the codes and took a good look at it, and in less than 5 minutes he knew what was wrong with it. He replaced 2 Coil's under the hood. (Coil Ignition) You can grab these at autozone for only $120 each. He replaced both coils on mine and voila. the Shaking had stopped. The Check Engine was on by the way. he cleared it after he replaced the coils and about 100k miles later, still check engine light!

WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!