C36 AMG Questions...

[McGreggor]

I'm very close to buying one of these Mercs, but one or two questions...
Does anyone know if they all have the active suspension or am I just lucky this one has? Its the old shape C class now, i belive the C32 is the new shape, and about a second quicker to 62mph. Its a friend of my brother selling it, and I asked him on the test drive if the head gasket had been done, he wasn't sure, but the info would be in the full history.... Now I guess it hadn't been done cause a day later it blew! Didn't overheat fortunatly, he had it recovered from the motorway after pulling over immediately. The poor guy was an hour in to a 5hour drive to the west country, for a weeks holiday, complete with 3 kiddies and suitcases in the back!

Any ideas how much he'll be paying to have this done, and is it a standard mercedes head gasket, or special AMG one? The head has been sent away for pressure testing at a specialist, and I expect it will be skimmed aswell.

The other thing I'm trying to find out about is the "wire harness"? Aparently that is another costly thing that can go on these, but I have no clue what it does or replacement costs etc.

If somone could give me an idea of this cars worth it would be great. I know he paid £10,000 for it, now its a year older with just over 100,000 miles, and a new head gasket which I've just heard is back from the specialist where it was pressure tested, and it was not found to be warped etc, just waiting on a part from Germany now!

Many thanks,

 

[bazza]

All I know about these cars is, make sure the brakes have been done recently and don't wear them out.
Funny money for disks and pads!!

 

[sgregory124]

Hi,

I'm pretty sure the head gasket is big money to replace, i'm no expert but i'd say its a custom gasket for the 3.6 because its a unique engine to this model. Mine had been done a few thousand miles previous to me buying it but I guess many have lasted a good while.

I bought mine in July last year with 55,000 up for £12k and i'm over the moon with it. I think its the older cars where the wiring harness can go kaput...like pre-96 cars I think. I believe (and feel free to correct me if i'm wrong anyone!) that the harness on these cars was made from some bio-degradeable plastic or something so eventually it breaks down

I'd go with bazza though, make sure the brakes are ok, I didn't and it cost me big style - Rear discs and pads cost me £700, front pads 40 quid but i'm lead to believe the discs for the front can cost upwards of £1000 :O

Other than that its just general wear and tear...although make sure you budget plenty of cash because you'll need it! (In my opinion though it is worth EVERY PENNY)

Simon

97 C36 AMG

 

[McGreggor]

Thanks for the info, I'm definately gonna check over the brakes a second time next week!

So does you c36 have the active suspension? do they all?

 

[sgregory124]

Thanks for the info, I'm definately gonna check over the brakes a second time next week!

So does you c36 have the active suspension? do they all?

To my knowledge, no...but then i'm only going by the 'lack' of buttons on my dashboard...

Simon

97 C36 AMG

 

[McGreggor]

I didnt notice any button for this suspension, all I know is that its double wishbone suspension, and it leans into corners, but I am unsure how sofisticated the system is. You can sometimes notice a slight tilt to one side when you park up, especially if you turned sharply into the parking space. He has thought it was a fault with the car, but Mercedes have said its completely normal.

 

[sgregory124]

I didnt notice any button for this suspension, all I know is that its double wishbone suspension, and it leans into corners, but I am unsure how sofisticated the system is. You can sometimes notice a slight tilt to one side when you park up, especially if you turned sharply into the parking space. He has thought it was a fault with the car, but Mercedes have said its completely normal.

Ahhhh...now the slight tilt I do have! lol I thought something was wrong with it too but having seen other Mercs (not just C36's) i've noticed this trait too....

You learn something new every day