pimpinator
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2013
- Messages
- 9
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- Location
- Teesside
- Your Mercedes
- CLK 270 CDI W209 2003
Hi Guys,
First off, I'm a first time Merc owner having only purchased the car at the start of February and I seem to have had nothing but niggles and issues since. The car: CLK 270 CDI auto, 2003 model on 52 plate. I live in the north east and traveled down to Peterborough to collect the car, having seen it advertised on the autotrader and on the sellers website. I was advised there were no known fault, errors or niggles with the car and that it would also be MOT'd and serviced for me so I was as good as sold on it before even seeing it in the bare metal.
After driving back home, I realised that whoever did the "service" didn't even check the washer fluid so that kinda rung alarm bells early. Anyway, I had the car 3 weeks, everything seemed to be good then one morning it refused to start. I had a family member mechanic look at it and he advised that the glow plugs were faulty but he could only get 1 released, so he changed that and the battery and now it's starting, but the glow plug light dips off before starting and then comes back on and stays on for a minute or 2 after starting and driving away.
I am currently in dispute with the seller as he has tried to avoid the sale of goods act where the car is not as described and he has even tried to state it was a private sale even though it was through he forecourt. I have contacted trading standards about this and they advise that they would still consider it a trade sale and that the sale of goods act would still apply so I'm chasing him for the cost of any repairs (to no avail so far).
Anyway, I've contacted Merc for a quote to have all glow plugs removed and replaced and they have come back with a quote of £280-350, is this reasonable or over the odds?
When the issue first arose, I trolled through these pages looking for a potential common fault and was under the assumption that it could be the O rings or fuel lines making it not start as I even saw a spit of diesel on the front of the engine when trying to crank it over, yet my family mechanic said he couldn't see any spitting diesel and couldn't see an issue with the lines, do you think it could be a mixture of both the plugs and the lines / O ring (It's started every time since 1 plug and the battery was replaced)?
Also, since I bought the car I've drove it like I was chauffeuring Miss Daisy around, trying and eek out as much MPG as possible but I'm really struggling to get over 35-38mpg on my 20 mile commute (15 miles on main A road cruising at 65-70), does this consumption seem excessive or about right?
I gave it a decent boot this morning for the first time and then noticed a little orange light flash on the dash when trying to accelerate hard which I believe was the engine management light, ease up on the throttle and it disappeared, what would be causing this? The gearbox doesn't seem to want to knock down on its own when applying some throttle as well, it seems very hesitant to kick down but would rather pull in the gear its already in, related issues or just the way they drive?
There is also the problem on constant clicking behind the dash when turning the car on for 30-60 seconds, I believe this is a broken cog and could potentially be a dash out job so if thats the case, I'll live with this but its just yet another issue that I wasn't advised about.
If anyone lives or goes to Peterborough for cars, please AVOID BOULEVARD MOTORS, I wouldn't want anyone else to buy from them and then be stuck arguing back & forth trying to get issues resolved.
Anyway, I'm basically just looking for advice on the above issues (both mechanical issues and also legal implications regarding the sale of the car) as I've read quite a few posts on here and there seem to be some very knowledgeable people on these boards so I look forward to any replies. If any further info is required to help, please just ask and I will do my best.
First off, I'm a first time Merc owner having only purchased the car at the start of February and I seem to have had nothing but niggles and issues since. The car: CLK 270 CDI auto, 2003 model on 52 plate. I live in the north east and traveled down to Peterborough to collect the car, having seen it advertised on the autotrader and on the sellers website. I was advised there were no known fault, errors or niggles with the car and that it would also be MOT'd and serviced for me so I was as good as sold on it before even seeing it in the bare metal.
After driving back home, I realised that whoever did the "service" didn't even check the washer fluid so that kinda rung alarm bells early. Anyway, I had the car 3 weeks, everything seemed to be good then one morning it refused to start. I had a family member mechanic look at it and he advised that the glow plugs were faulty but he could only get 1 released, so he changed that and the battery and now it's starting, but the glow plug light dips off before starting and then comes back on and stays on for a minute or 2 after starting and driving away.
I am currently in dispute with the seller as he has tried to avoid the sale of goods act where the car is not as described and he has even tried to state it was a private sale even though it was through he forecourt. I have contacted trading standards about this and they advise that they would still consider it a trade sale and that the sale of goods act would still apply so I'm chasing him for the cost of any repairs (to no avail so far).
Anyway, I've contacted Merc for a quote to have all glow plugs removed and replaced and they have come back with a quote of £280-350, is this reasonable or over the odds?
When the issue first arose, I trolled through these pages looking for a potential common fault and was under the assumption that it could be the O rings or fuel lines making it not start as I even saw a spit of diesel on the front of the engine when trying to crank it over, yet my family mechanic said he couldn't see any spitting diesel and couldn't see an issue with the lines, do you think it could be a mixture of both the plugs and the lines / O ring (It's started every time since 1 plug and the battery was replaced)?
Also, since I bought the car I've drove it like I was chauffeuring Miss Daisy around, trying and eek out as much MPG as possible but I'm really struggling to get over 35-38mpg on my 20 mile commute (15 miles on main A road cruising at 65-70), does this consumption seem excessive or about right?
I gave it a decent boot this morning for the first time and then noticed a little orange light flash on the dash when trying to accelerate hard which I believe was the engine management light, ease up on the throttle and it disappeared, what would be causing this? The gearbox doesn't seem to want to knock down on its own when applying some throttle as well, it seems very hesitant to kick down but would rather pull in the gear its already in, related issues or just the way they drive?
There is also the problem on constant clicking behind the dash when turning the car on for 30-60 seconds, I believe this is a broken cog and could potentially be a dash out job so if thats the case, I'll live with this but its just yet another issue that I wasn't advised about.
If anyone lives or goes to Peterborough for cars, please AVOID BOULEVARD MOTORS, I wouldn't want anyone else to buy from them and then be stuck arguing back & forth trying to get issues resolved.
Anyway, I'm basically just looking for advice on the above issues (both mechanical issues and also legal implications regarding the sale of the car) as I've read quite a few posts on here and there seem to be some very knowledgeable people on these boards so I look forward to any replies. If any further info is required to help, please just ask and I will do my best.