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Initial recommendations from first visit to the shop, 2003 CLK 320, W209
My biggest issues, all of my warning lights (ABD, ESP, BAS, check engine) remain open. They said there was water in the computer and they are sending me to some electronic specialist to clean out the box. The box that showed me with water at the bottom was what I thought was the fuse box in the engine bay in front of the windshield on the driver's side. Because of that they said they could not hook up a scanner.
Everything else, I believe some of it with my prompting.
Oil and Filter Change
Transmission Fluid Change
Transmission Electrical contact replacement
Some kind of sway bar, not clear which one
A bushing under the right rear wheel which makes the back end sound like a squeaky mattress.
The Serpentine belt, and one pulley. (I assume the idler pulley.)
I feel pretty good about this shop. They have been an independent Mercedes service place for at least 30 years. They have over 200 local reviews on Google that are mostly pretty positive.
Total parts cost will be $270 USD, total labor will be $250 USD. There was no charge at all today for the diagnostics.
Monday I will hit the electrical place they are sending me to. That should be interesting. I don't understand how I have water in the bottom of my fuse box.
Fix THE WATER FEED ASAP before dealing with the consequences...
Right now your roof drain or windshield are channeling water into your Front SAM.
The last step is to deal with actual water damage to smart fuse box (SAM).
Most of the chassis power is managed by that module besides other fuse boxes.
This repairs needs to be a job well done.
New/used replacement necessary.
Last edited by CaliBenzDriver; Oct 25, 2024 at 07:04 PM.
Fix THE WATER FEED ASAP before dealing with the consequences...
Right now your roof drain or windshield are channeling water into your Front SAM.
The last step is to deal with actual water damage to smart fuse box (SAM).
Most of the chassis power is managed by that module besides other fuse boxes.
This repairs needs to be a job well done.
New/used replacement necessary.
Agreed. The crazy thing is we drove the car home 1100 KM in heavy rain the whole night. I had just washed the car earlier before I went to the shop. In a way it's good because they saw it as it has been dry here for 10 days.
This is where they are sending me. They seem to specialize in automotive electronics and boards. They said they may need the car for 2 days. https://rschiptuning.com/
In the US, the transmission service alone would cost more than that. Almost worth shipping the car to Europe to get it serviced.
Low cost is one of the few benefits of living here. You should see the medical costs. A few years ago my 3-year old son broke his arm. We went to the fancy private hospital that caters to foreigners. They called in an orthopedist at 9 PM. The doctor examined him, accompanied him to x-ray, and set the arm in a cast. Total cost $150. Another time at the same hospital I had some breathing issues. They said they wanted to do an EKG and I thought it was going to be a "Fleece the foreigner" moment. I said how much is an EKG? It was $10. Haha
So I dropped the car off at the electrical place today. They had several older Mercedes they were working on at the time.
I gave them my list of warning lights, and they knew about the water in the box, and the non-functioning top. They said it could take a couple of days.
Towards the end of the business day I texted them to see if it might be done today and I was told:
"No, it won't be done today."
"I don't know when it will be finished."
"Because it's really hard to find parts for this model."
So I responded, "So you know what's wrong?" but got no reply. It was too late.
Needless to say I will be driving over there tomorrow morning to hear what they discovered, and where I stand.
I picked up the car from the electrical shop today. There were many issues according to them.
The water leaking into the front electrical front SAM was due to clogged drainage holes nearby. So they cleaned, irrigated, plumbed, roto-rootered, whatever you call it all of the small water drains.
They repaired my front SAM. They repaired the rear SAM in the trunk. They found a bunch of wires (I think around the right rear wheel well) that had been chewed through by a rodent. So they fixed that.
All of the dash warning lights are now gone! No more ABS, ESP, BAS, Brakepad Wear. No more Check Engine Light, No more little amber brake light. I am so relieved!!!
The only thing that remains an electrical problem are the remote door locks. However, they work up to about 2 feet away. They tried but could not fix them.
With respect to the top. It may work now. They were not getting any top errors from the scanner. They did not try it because they are not a top place and did not want to deal with a top they might not be able to close. I am waiting until Friday to try it when my friend who has closed it once manually will be around.
Total bill for all of the electrical work, $325.
Interior and top detail on Thursday.
Back to regular shop on Wednesday the 6th for all of the stuff in my initial post in this thread.
I picked up the car from the electrical shop today. There were many issues according to them.
The water leaking into the front electrical front SAM was due to clogged drainage holes nearby. So they cleaned, irrigated, plumbed, roto-rootered, whatever you call it all of the small water drains.
They repaired my front SAM. They repaired the rear SAM in the trunk. They found a bunch of wires (I think around the right rear wheel well) that had been chewed through by a rodent. So they fixed that.
All of the dash warning lights are now gone! No more ABS, ESP, BAS, Brakepad Wear. No more Check Engine Light, No more little amber brake light. I am so relieved!!!
The only thing that remains an electrical problem are the remote door locks. However, they work up to about 2 feet away. They tried but could not fix them.
With respect to the top. It may work now. They were not getting any top errors from the scanner. They did not try it because they are not a top place and did not want to deal with a top they might not be able to close. I am waiting until Friday to try it when my friend who has closed it once manually will be around.
Total bill for all of the electrical work, $325.
Interior and top detail on Thursday.
Back to regular shop on Wednesday the 6th for all of the stuff in my initial post in this thread.
This shop is precious! The true specialists that work there are in short supply elsewhere.
FYI, parking over the sidewalk curb literally kills the front wheel ball-joints + bearings on any cars except perhaps trucks.
Try to use any type of ramp or wood post to help your front wheels transition to sidewalk height.
2015 SL400 (M276 Turbo), 2014 C350 Sport (M276 NA), 2004 SL500 (M113), 2004 Audi TT225 (BEA)
Originally Posted by CaliBenzDriver
This shop is precious! The true specialists that work there are in short supply elsewhere.
FYI, parking over the sidewalk curb literally kills the front wheel ball-joints + bearings on any cars except perhaps trucks.
Try to use any type of ramp or wood post to help your front wheels transition to sidewalk height.
It's a Europe thing. One of the reasons the low-slung SL has the ABC suspension is so the car can be raised when traveling Old World towns and cities. I remember the narrow and cobblestone streets of Stuttgart many years ago, but I had my tank-like Volvo 245 station wagon, thinking how ancient these towns were. ABC was standard on the R230, but now is optional on the R231. I'm sure it is market-based and the demand has shifted.
This shop is precious! The true specialists that work there are in short supply elsewhere.
FYI, parking over the sidewalk curb literally kills the front wheel ball-joints + bearings on any cars except perhaps trucks.
Try to use any type of ramp or wood post to help your front wheels transition to sidewalk height.
Good to know thank you. That's one of the better curbs here. It's an interesting neighborhood I just moved to. Very fancy, a lot of foreigners, embassies, and rich locals. The whole street does the sidewalk thing here. Usually it's 2 wheels up and two on the street. I assume if they tried to change things the well connected here would object. I am trying to get a garage, or at least a proper off street parking spot but it is tight here. The last building I lived in was built 3 years ago. It had 24 units, and only 8 parking spots. Pretty typical of the new buildings, and the older ones are even worse.
Those electronics guys were great. I thought they were going to charge me much more.
Really beautiful car! Timeless classic beauty. So glad you got her fixed.
Thank you. I started out just looking for a daily driver. I was looking at those C coupes, and then I found out for a little bit more, I could find a rag top that needed some TLC. They were all W208's with 230 Kompressor motors, and then this jumped out of me with the first line "Top does not work." Especially here, for what I paid, most cars are smoked in clap traps. Tiny cars often with diesels. I am so glad I reached for this.
I am a car guy and I have a bad habit of saving cars that make no sense financially, so I am very pleased so far with the bills. I had joked I will put 20K into this and it will be worth 10K when I am done.
I brought the car back to the service shop this morning. They did all of this from my initial post here:
Oil and Filter Change Transmission Fluid Change Transmission Electrical contact replacement Some kind of sway bar, not clear which one A bushing under the right rear wheel which makes the back end sound like a squeaky mattress. The Serpentine belt, and one pulley. (I assume the idler pulley.)
I also reminded them to change the air filters, and disconnect the alarm siren. They forgot to do the latter. I changed the cabin air filter myself which was beyond filthy.
However, I did get a call in the afternoon that there was oil leaking into my transmission ECU. I have not had any transmission issues at all. He said it needed a new electronic board. I said how much is that, and he said about $240, so I agreed. I still don't understand how I can have oil on my transmission ECU and no symptoms. He said they saw it when they pulled my transmission connector plug.
Total bill, parts and labor was about $775.
The car drives much better and no longer sounds like a squeaky mattress in a hot sheet motel over every bump!
He said my radiator was a Behr, but I want a second opinion. My car was produced in June 2003, prior to the September cutoff on the service bulletin.
Mainly on to cosmetics now.
I think the only known mechanical issue I didn't change was the Crankshaft Position Sensor.
At 11 minutes 37 seconds, this mechanic calls it a "Rosebush." I assume this was mine as well based on his description of the sound. I left my paperwork in the car and I will see if I can pinpoint a part number/name tomorrow.
Looking at my bill, I think this is the rear bushing they changed, and matches what they show in the video above at the time I cited. My bill just says "Kugla Plivajuca."
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