Another Fifer!

[Bay City Roller]

Howdy all,
New member after 3 weeks of MB ownership.
2005 C180K Coupe bought from a mate at work as he was changing to a "more exotic" vehicle. He does about 1k miles per year and is close to retirement, so made sense to change my Audi for the MB.
Decided to put it in for an early MOT to make sure all was ok - how wrong was I?
Rear subframe rotten next to petrol tank (but exhaust is spotless and is the original), ball joint, track rod end joint and emissions 400% higher than they should be, indicating car is running too rich.

Located subframe through breaker, but mightily hacked off that this seems to be a not uncommon issue.

Certainly not endearing the car to me at the present time....

Graeme

 

[Dean Fletcher]

Hello and welcome graeme sorry to hear your troubles

 

[Bay City Roller]

Thanks Dean,
Mechanic has just, literally dropped the car off - along with a bill that's almost twice what I paid for the car three weeks ago.
Wishing I'd seen this forum first and challenged MB about it, could have saved most of the bill! I assume there wouldn't be any mileage in pursuing them for costs either...

Graeme

 

[alexanderfoti]

2005 will be a W203, whilst they do rust, a badly rusted subframe is not that common on these, as it is the newer 204.

Emissions will likely need a check that all is in order and then an adaption reset to sort.

 

[Bay City Roller]

Thanks Alexander,
Mechanic has just returned the car with an eyewatering bill which is almost double what I paid for the car.
Emissions was just a case of cleaning lamda sensors etc.
Most of the bill is for fitting subframe and new wishbones, ball joints & track rod end joints (NSF).

On the bright side, he reckons I should now get a good few years "trouble free" motoring out of it. I've been using him for over 20 years and he's always been good and 99% correct, so, fingers crossed.

Graeme

 

[John Laidlaw]

Welcome Graeme
I started with a 2006, also had track rod end issues which was a shame ....hopefully your troubles will lessen just do some research on the M271 engine you have to be prepared

 

[Bay City Roller]

Thanks John,
I thought this was a W203 engine?

Graeme

 

[John Laidlaw]

Thanks John,
I thought this was a W203 engine?

Graeme

The cars Mercedes model number is W203 but the engine is an M271 Graeme- well maintained with regular oil changes to protect the chain should be issue free

 

[Blobcat]

Hello and welcome

 

[sonic]

Welcome, my wife did 90K in a 2004 SLK with the M271 engine, nothing went wrong.

 

[Bay City Roller]

Thanks all for your welcome.

Re, the engine, I'm aware that about 3 or 4 years (and only 3000 miles ago), it had major top end surgery to replace the sprockets on the camshaft (?) with "upgraded", toughened steel ones at a ridiculous cost. That should, hopefully help avoid issues going forward, engine wise anyway.

Graeme

 

[rf065]

You say the original exhaust is OK, but it's usually on it's way out at that age.
Only other expensive thing at that age is the brake pipes corrode, worth checking if that's been done yet as the rears can be a pain as Mercedes drop the rear subframe to do them, but if your subframe is already corroded it might be wise to do both at the same time?

 

[DSK]

Hello and welcome. Track rod ends/bushing IMO are just wear and tear items that should come as no surprise. The subframe is a damper on things but glad you sourced on. I would consider having the replacement, treated and coated before it goes back in.

As with yourself, I was looking for a similar model, saw a lovely looking CLK 270 advertised, did a MOPT online check only to find, the last MOT recorded a rotting rear subframe and a history that indicates a vehicle being run on a shoe string.

 

[A.J.]

Hi Greame, welcome to the forum

 

[Wighty]

Welcome buddy , if the M271 engine has had new chain and sprockets it should outlast the car !

 

[LostKiwi]

Hi and welcome. Sounds like you should be sorted for years to come now.