...My wife's civic hybrid thoroughly dead, the search begins for a replacement vehicle while I ponder how to dispose of the old one.
A friend was just about to trade in an '06 Mercedes C280 with ~50k miles to the dealership, KBB value on trade-in looks to be around $4k. If I could get a similar deal, is there a reason I shouldn't? How much of a headache are these cars? Answers phrased relative to E46-sized headaches are appreciated. Thanks!
Curious on this too. Too bad you're not closer or i'd inquire about your civic. I also want to attempt that rebuild i think you were talking about.
Anyway, what's with the 50k? Driven very little or sat for long periods?
Had a W203 C55 AMG that I brought back from the dead. Tank like build quality. Most parts prices were actually pretty reasonable for regular wear items. Not terribly difficult to work on either.
I still see those regularly, and have never seen one driving down the freeway with steam pouring out from under the hood like an e46. The transmissions from that era are pretty durable as long as you change the fluid regularly and use the correct type (shell atf 134 or the Mercedes brand fluid only). I wouldn't mind owning a c32 someday.
Well, the car looks like a peach, and I got a very friendly deal! My wife loves it and everything about it is very, very nice. Stereo sounds better than the one in my house, for sure.
That's the good news. I had to keep digging of course, so I looked up all the information I could with the VIN and found a thread to pull: turns out it's afflicted with some bad genes, namely the (new to me) M272 defective engine balance shaft, which causes the teeth on a timing sprocket to wear off and possibly cause timing to jump. That sounds pretty ungood! I was curious how hard it was to DIY, and one Mercedes technical video in I see this:
What intricate, mission-critical piece of hardware requires such a tight tolerance on a bead of silicone sealant? The valve covers.
+/- 200 microns!
...I see now that this is why people buy Hondas in the first place. You'd think the e46 would have taught me better!
In reply to jsymonds:
Back in the 80s when they had hand packed wheel bearings you were supposed to weigh the grease, including how much grease to put in the cap, then set the endplay to some spec tight enough you'd need a 0.0001" indicator to do it right. The manuals have pictures on how to aim the washers with a special washer nozzle aiming tool (Hazet 4850‑1, I have one). Working on a MB by the book is an exercise in precision to a point of silliness.
jsymonds wrote: I was curious how hard it was to DIY, and one Mercedes technical video in I see this:
All manufacturers who use form in place gaskets (aka silicone sealants) give specs like that. Heck, Chevy defines how high as well as wide the bead must be. I'm sure Honda does too, but I never bothered to look that closely.
Use enough that it seals, but not so much that it goos out all over the place, is the gist.
If you want fun, look at the Ford service manual procedure for installing wheel.
But it's really nice inside! We might have to see how this one pans out. What could go wrong? (Definitely open to suggestions on how to prevent said unknowns from going said direction).
So I had an idea for early detection of this balance shaft fault, but is it crazy? If the teeth wear off this the balance shaft sprocket, I would not be surprised if the shaft stopped being a good counterweight before the mangled sprocket actually threw the chain off a link and caused the timing codes that seem to be the first symptom. How early can the problem be detected by looking for increased vibration? Hmmm. If only I had a whole bunch of these cars at various points in their lives...
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