Supercharger - compressor help please....

[CWilloughby]

Please can you help as I'm new to this forum. I bought a 2000 CLK 230Kompressor from a main dealership 3 years ago that only had 7K on the clock, and even now only done 28K. Its had all its services to date. Following a service this week I have been told that there is a slight bearing noise coming from the compressor - supercharger . The garage has said they will not know what is wrong until they strip the compressor out.

Firstly - if this proves to be faulty how much is a new one going to cost.?
Secondly as the car has not covered a lot of miles should this go wrong.?
Do you think it would be of any use writing to MB and asking for a goodwill contribution towards the new one, or would I be wasting my time.
I shall be very grateful for any advice.
Many thanks Carole

 

[television]

Anything can go wrong and does, even if it should not,ask nicely and see MB what say first.
You do have an option as you could use a specialist turbo/compressor firm who could be cheaper than MB. I do suggest that you get the price fixed before anyone starts on it, its happened before so MB must have an idea.

you could leave it for now and see if it gets worse, but not to the point that further damage is done, a bearing in itself is easy to change,but maybe not so easy getting to it.

I think that Littlebroocklyn had one repaired, and she will come on and give an answer.

Malcolm

 

[littlebrooklyn]

Yes the supercharger on our car had to be replaced at the end of last year. The car was only 2 1/2yrs old at the time and had only done about 22,000 miles, so we thought it was a bit quick for it to go.

My partner had noticed a noise and being quite good at distinguishing things like that he suspected it was the supercharger and took it down to the stealership.

As it was replaced under warranty I'm not sure how much it actually cost, but I would imagine at least £1,000 as it took them all day to do it, allegedly.

Good luck with yours Carole

 

[television]

Yes the supercharger on our car had to be replaced at the end of last year. The car was only 2 1/2yrs old at the time and had only done about 22,000 miles, so we thought it was a bit quick for it to go.

My partner had noticed a noise and being quite good at distinguishing things like that he suspected it was the supercharger and took it down to the stealership.

As it was replaced under warranty I'm not sure how much it actually cost, but I would imagine at least £1,000 as it took them all day to do it, allegedly.

Good luck with yours Carole

You are sweet.

malcolm

 

[jimsinessex]

My 1999 CLK 230K had the kompressor clutch bearing fail at about 60k miles. This required the entire Kompressor to be replaced according to MB. Although the car was well out of warranty MB agreed to pay 50% parts and labour, the bill to me was about £600. The MB main dealer suggested, and applied to MB for, the "goodwill", get your dealer to do the same.

The symptoms were a mild screeching sound when increasing engine speed from idle, ie as the kompressor clutch engages. Watch the front of the kompressor and you will observe what I originally thought was just a pulley at the front of the kompressor pull in at about 800 rpm. Until then I did not even realise there was clutch involved, on the latest models I believe this has been deleted!

Good luck, Jim

 

[philharve]

Until then I did not even realise there was clutch involved, on the latest models I believe this has been deleted!

Good luck, Jim

Yes, the magnetic clutch was omitted from later models. For example, my 2000 C230k is clutchless and probably all the more reliable for it. It has covered just over 99,000 miles without any problem from the supercharger.

REGARDS Phil

 

[Glenn Smith]

Interesting, my c230k year 2000 has a clutch on the supercharger, now done 135000 miles, does make a slight noise, but would say this is normal, i've never heard a silent compressor of any kind?

 

[philharve]

Interesting, my c230k year 2000 has a clutch on the supercharger, now done 135000 miles, does make a slight noise, but would say this is normal, i've never heard a silent compressor of any kind?

Hi Glenn

My supercharger is virtually silent most of the time. There is a muted wine at startup but it disappears within 30 seconds. It's never intrusive even under hard acceleration. You my occasionally hear a sound like a vacuum cleaner but it's never louder than the engine which is itself still pretty silent after almost 100k miles.

My C230K's supercharger installation is a 'clutchless' design, i.e. always engaged, which may explain why I've never had any trouble with it. I understand the previous design suffered electrical gremlins associated with clutch operation.

As for replacement costs, I've heard supercharger replacement is well over GBP1000.00 which doesn't surprise me because it's a precision engineered unit made to within extremely fine tolerances with no readily serveable parts.

I've never heard a failing supercharger but I would imagine it would create a considerable din as the rotors came into contact with one another. I suppose they do eventually wear out but my indie reckons they could easily last the life of the engine.

However, some superchargers seem to last no time at all. I guess I've just been fortunate.

I'm not sure how old a Mercedes has to be before requests for 'goodwill payments' cease to be entertained by dealerships but there is ample evidence to suggest that MB treats each case on its merits and repeat requests are often granted.

I've never sought a goodwill payment myself and I'm not really sure how I would go about asking for one. He who dares, wins, I guess.

REGARDS Phil