Hello MBWorld. I have just joined because I have just become an owner. I bought a 2005 CLK500 Cabriolet/Convertible. I took a leap and bought it sight-unseen from a broker in Florida and had it shipped to NC. It has 58k miles on it. This picture is just after we got it inspected after it arrived. We drove it to NJ the next day over the July 4th weekend. It is a wonderful car to drive. I don't know much about it's maintenance history other than it was maintained at a Mercedes Benz dealership in Naples, FLA. It has a few issues that need to be worked out. I plan to do the maintenance and repairs on it and post my efforts so that any other owners can see what's going on - and so that I can get help with the work, which I'm sure I'll need!

 

Congratulations and welcome! Looks great.

 

One of the issues that it had was a persistent CEL. The inspection showed the above code. After a quick check of this forum, I found that the most likely and easily fixed issue was the leaking factory sealant on the Fuel Tank Pressure Sensor. I removed the seat bottom of the driver-side rear seat (two snap on "screw cover" trim pieces, two nuts, and simply lift out the seat). I then removed the access panel (six hex-head machine screws, and lift off the cover which has some sealant around the perimeter). I could see that the top of the fuel tank sending unit was showing the signs of fuel seepage - some "shellacked" sticky fuel residue and dust/dirt that had adhered to it. This made me think that this was going to be the issue causing the CEL for sure. I unplugged the electrical connectors and left the fuel line attached. I did the best I could to clean the fuel residue and dirt off with rags, paper towels, and Windex. Once the area was cleaned, I mixed up some Marine grade JB-Weld (as suggested in another post on this forum related to the same issue) and applied the JB-Weld to the seam all the way around the Fuel Tank Pressure Sensor. I let it set up over night. I reattached the electrical connections and I restarted the car the next day with the sending unit still exposed so I could look for any obvious signs of trouble. All looked OK so I put everything back in reverse order. After a couple of trips, the CEL has gone out and, so far, has not come back. The nice thing about this fix is that it is cheap and easy and it doesn't prevent you from replacing the part altogether in the future if you decide to/need to. I didn't take any pictures of this job but there are others on this forum. Next, I'll be doing the leaking PCV breathers/valve cover gaskets. There are plenty of how-to's on this one, too, but I'll take some pix and post 'em anyway.

 

welcome aboard...