Another C220 CDi question

[PJQ]

I posted a few weeks ago asking for stuff to look out for on a C220 CDi as I am (considering buying one). The one I am looking at is an 11 plate with 30k on the clock, FSH and been an ex Company vehicle as most of them are. It looks very clean with no marks on the bodywork or interior other than general wear so overall it's impressed.

The question I have relates to ongoing costs of ownership. I understand (it's an Auto) that gearbox oil needs changing every 40k or so and I'm wary about buying a 3 year old car if it's likely to be troublesome and costly.

Generally how reliable are they if they have been serviced from new?

Are the servicing and general maintenance costs for stuff like brakes/brake pads expensive?

Is there anything on the car that's a known weak point (apart from the DPF) that may jump out and surprise me?

Any pointers and views would be appreciated as I have read some views that would put me off buying it in terms of both the repair costs and the standard of service from dealers.

Thank you.

 

[GottleibDaimler]

Does the car have eco stop-start? If no, it is every 3 years or 31,000 miles. If yes, it is every 5 years or 77,500 miles for gearbox oil.

£34/month for servicing, front pads and discs are around £400 at a dealer.

Engines are pretty reliable but have had injector and coolant leak issues during warranty period.

Oh, and if it was a company car, and especially a lease car, EVERYTHING will have always been done when it needed it.

 

[PJQ]

Yeah it has Eco stop start and an up to date service schedule - it looks pretty clean all told.

I take it £34/month is a service plan cost? If I wanted to pay outright how much are they generally at dealers and Indys?

Anything else I should look out for?

Thanks again.

 

[PJQ]

Just a further question - the car was first registered in April 2011 but didn't have it's first service until September 13 and then again this year.

Is that anything to be concerned about?

 

[davemercedes]

Does the car have eco stop-start? If no, it is every 3 years or 31,000 miles. If yes, it is every 5 years or 77,500 miles for gearbox oil.

£34/month for servicing, front pads and discs are around £400 at a dealer.

Engines are pretty reliable but have had injector and coolant leak issues during warranty period.

Oh, and if it was a company car, and especially a lease car, EVERYTHING will have always been done when it needed it.

Sorry, but that's only true for general service items. If a vehicle is out of warranty and nearing the end of the lease/hire contract, the company will often not authorise a job.

Been there/done that: Example - I bought my company car for SWMBO when the lease (to be precise it was contract hire) finished at 3 years.
I then found the exhaust was "purring" through a tiny puncture and found out that the lease company had refused to authorise replacement. In fairness, it took another 18 months to become a problem. I did very well on the purchase price so doing my sums on maintenance (SWMBO did very little mileage) I was still happy that I had done the right thing.

If you're buying the car from an MB dealership PJQ, I presume it is coming with a full 12 months MB warranty (not a Mickey Mouse insurance warranty!)?

 

[PJQ]

Sorry, but that's only true for general service items. If a vehicle is out of warranty and nearing the end of the lease/hire contract, the company will often not authorise a job.

Been there/done that: Example - I bought my company car for SWMBO when the lease (to be precise it was contract hire) finished at 3 years.
I then found the exhaust was "purring" through a tiny puncture and found out that the lease company had refused to authorise replacement. In fairness, it took another 18 months to become a problem. I did very well on the purchase price so doing my sums on maintenance (SWMBO did very little mileage) I was still happy that I had done the right thing.

If you're buying the car from an MB dealership PJQ, I presume it is coming with a full 12 months MB warranty (not a Mickey Mouse insurance warranty!)?

Yes it is through a main agent but, as per my last post, I am more concerned about the 2.5 years between first registered and first serviced.

Thanks for the comments btw - very helpful.

 

[GottleibDaimler]

Sorry, but that's only true for general service items. If a vehicle is out of warranty and nearing the end of the lease/hire contract, the company will often not authorise a job.

Anything that needs doing at the time the vehicle is at the dealers is done, pretty much without exception, on a lease car, unless it's cosmetic/down to driver damage.

Perhaps the dealer didn't fight hard enough.

 

[benz_all_the_way]

Pads & discs will set you back ~ £250 for aftermarket parts, or £350 for OEM parts. Dealer will want 3 hours (at £100+ ph) to fit them. Expect 30 - 40k miles life.

Took me 3.5 hours, including working out where to jack (Hint: it's marked on the undersheet near the front axle line - just jack onto the undersheet with a trolley jack) and how to get the brakes apart.

Wiper blades cost a fortune, and those are the only things I've had to buy (apart from service items) in 6 years and ~ 60k miles. Oh and tyres - about £100 per corner, unless you've potholed it on Saturday evening, and want new ones on a Sunday - then it goes up to £140...Hopefully the Council will be making a contribution).

Just had it serviced, and the dealer (MB in Stoke) tells me it needs a new widget. Sounds like a "voluntary recall" type issue.

Now waiting to be told when the "Electronic unit" that requires replacing is in stock - apparently mine is within the VIN range, and so must be changed. Don't know what it is yet, but I suspect it's ABS.

David

 

[st4]

Early OM651 engine. I'd be inclined to say the odd injector issue, but the older pre 09 non be OM646 was a very strong engine with no issues.

 

[GottleibDaimler]

Pads & discs will set you back ~ £250 for aftermarket parts, or £350 for OEM parts. Dealer will want 3 hours (at £100+ ph) to fit them. Expect 30 - 40k miles life.

Took me 3.5 hours, including working out where to jack (Hint: it's marked on the undersheet near the front axle line - just jack onto the undersheet with a trolley jack) and how to get the brakes apart.

Wiper blades cost a fortune, and those are the only things I've had to buy (apart from service items) in 6 years and ~ 60k miles. Oh and tyres - about £100 per corner, unless you've potholed it on Saturday evening, and want new ones on a Sunday - then it goes up to £140...Hopefully the Council will be making a contribution).

Just had it serviced, and the dealer (MB in Stoke) tells me it needs a new widget. Sounds like a "voluntary recall" type issue.

Now waiting to be told when the "Electronic unit" that requires replacing is in stock - apparently mine is within the VIN range, and so must be changed. Don't know what it is yet, but I suspect it's ABS.

David

I take it you're talking about pads and discs all round?

Front wiper blades are £34.00 including VAT. Bosch ones are £27.50 on ECP so not a huge deal of difference!

The control unit is for the SRS system; there is a worry that some of the defective units may cause an SRS warning to indicate in the cluster for no reason other than a defect in the control unit - therefore potentially obscuring a genuine airbag or seatbelt fault.

 

[geraldrobins]

Does the car have eco stop-start? If no, it is every 3 years or 31,000 miles. If yes, it is every 5 years or 77,500 miles for gearbox oil.

£34/month for servicing, front pads and discs are around £400 at a dealer.

Engines are pretty reliable but have had injector and coolant leak issues during warranty period.

Oh, and if it was a company car, and especially a lease car, EVERYTHING will have always been done when it needed it.

Can someone please clear up the manufacturers recommendations on auto transmission oil change intervals? My local dealer told me last year that it was once only and at 3 years or 36000 miles. Have just looked up the online ESS sheet and its saying once only ay 31000 miles or 3 years. I have BE with stop start, so there is conflicting views here.
My car has done 34000 miles and a service is due in about 8 weeks. when I tried to book online to get a quote there was no mention of an ATF change.

 

[GottleibDaimler]

Can someone please clear up the manufacturers recommendations on auto transmission oil change intervals? My local dealer told me last year that it was once only and at 3 years or 36000 miles. Have just looked up the online ESS sheet and its saying once only ay 31000 miles or 3 years. I have BE with stop start, so there is conflicting views here.
My car has done 34000 miles and a service is due in about 8 weeks. when I tried to book online to get a quote there was no mention of an ATF change.

As previously stated, your as your vehicle is equipped with eco start-stop, it has by necessity a low-friction version of the seven speed gearbox (a NAG2+). Because it is a low friction box, the interval is longer, and is 77,500 miles or five years.

MyService will know your transmission number and option codes from your registration, hence why it will not show a gearbox oil and filter change as being due.

Sadly, even most of my colleagues are unaware of the distinction between intervals and would have to look up the information.

 

[Dave100]

Hi,
I have a C220 CDI sport blue efficiency with 57k miles on 2010 plate.
When it is cold it is lumpy when idle until warms up, then runs no problem.
Was told the error codes were for faulty oxygen sensor and electrical loom to all 4 cylinders.
Had oxygen sensor done & full service.
Still lumpy when starts from cold but this now lasts only 30 seconds & garage said fault only shows electrical fault to number 1 cylinder so they said they need to order the wire from Merc for this. This wire fits under a cover to the cylinder. Apparently a common fault in older Mercs.
Anyone come across this? Paid out lots of money so far & not confident this will fix it. They have not given me the error code.
Thanks for any advice.
Dave


Now got the error codes they are:-

PO2EF49
Injection Valve (cylinder 2) has a malfunction. There is an internal electrical fault
PO2EE49 same for cylinder 1 as above
this is repeated for each cylinder

 

[PJQ]

Thanks for all the replies to my original question. I actually missed out on the car but am now looking at a 12 plate with around the same mileage. I test drove the original one and, to be honest, wasn't blown away with the drive - it didn't seem as dynamic or to have as much feel as the Passat I have. Maybe it wasn't a great example so I plan to go and drive the newer one on Friday if I can.

 

[geraldrobins]

I changed from a Passat to a c class, partly because there is more choice if you want auto. I think the Passat is a great car but the VAG autos also need regular oil changes. Vw are less to service than merc in my experience.
But the merc feels nicer and has more torque.

 

[benz_all_the_way]

I take it you're talking about pads and discs all round?

Front wiper blades are £34.00 including VAT. Bosch ones are £27.50 on ECP so not a huge deal of difference!

The control unit is for the SRS system; there is a worry that some of the defective units may cause an SRS warning to indicate in the cluster for no reason other than a defect in the control unit - therefore potentially obscuring a genuine airbag or seatbelt fault.

Yes, £250/350 for all 4 corners.

£30 for a wiper blade is an absolute fortune!

Still waiting for the dealer to call about the "widget upgrade". Thanks for heads up about SRS!

David

 

[benz_all_the_way]

If you are looking for an auto, avoid the 5 speed like a plague of pestilent things.

The engine/trans match is the worst I've come across in 25 years of designing engines for OEMs. Peak torque is ~ 2000 rpm, and falls off a cliff below that, whilst the coupling speed for the converter is about 1600 rpm, so on a standing start, the engine goes to about 1600 rpm, where it doesn't make any significant torque, and you can use a sundial to measure the acceleration.

Once it's moving, it's quite good, but the 0 - 10 mph time is so slow that it makes you think twice about how big a gap you really need to get into traffic.

Shift quality is ok, shift pattern could be better (changes 2 - 3 to early, but all OEM's calibrate their trans this way for fuel economy on the MVEG cycle), general response of trans to torque change is sluggish (too slow to change down on tip in, too slow to change up on tip out).

In short, I hate it...

Should have paid the extra for the 7 speed!

Happy weekend, David

 

[st4]

5g is amazing, i loved mine

 

[GottleibDaimler]

Vw are less to service than merc in my experience.

Headline prices, maybe, but not really in my experience. Servicing is every 10k not 15.5k. £180 for a minor service, £300 for a major. £80 brake fluid change on top of that every two years. £400-500 every four years for a cambelt. £350 every 40k for gearbox oil and filter. Not sure how that stacks up exactly but looks to me like £1500 in the first four years just for service bits. On a C-Class, the first for years of servicing are fixed at less than £1400

 

[geraldrobins]

Not in my experience. My Passat was on longlife service and so every 18000 or annually although I had mine serviced at about 15000. Brake fluid changes with VW were £46 last time in January 2012. VW recommend the first brake fluid change at 3 years incidentally and then every 2. There service plans are £15.99 a month.
No doubt the headline VW prices are similar to the more competitive MB but not the headline MB.

Ive just been quoted £225 for an A service, without a courtesy car, which is good compared to some MB dealers. VW are currently quoting £149 for a minor service.