w209 CLK 55 AMG
Discussion
Hi all,
I've just recently made the change from BMW in the shape of an e39 M5 to a CLK 55 AMG w209 (late 2003). Toyed with the idea of a Porsche 911 but thought it might be a risk. Now although I like the car a lot its a lot smoother to drive and certainly has got some power in it, I'm not overly impressed by the build quality when compared with the BMW which felt almost bomb proof. This just mine or is that the general view of this era of Mercedes?
Anyway I bought the car for a reasonably low price because it had a few miles on it at 122k and a srs airbag light was on. It has full service history brand new tyres all round and new discs and pads upfront so I thought I'd take a punt on it. Ok so It had just had an oil service less than 50 miles before I bought it yet on the 120 mile drive home i got a warning message flash up in red saying reduce engine oil level. So that worried me at first, it then worried me even more to find that there is no dipstick to check the level. That wasn't the end of the warning lights for the trip home though! Next i got the engine diagnostic light flash up, this is what i was worried me the most really, as this could me a lot of different expensive things! I was expecting the car to jump into limp mode but it didn't and it drove fine all the way back which i found strange.
When I eventually got home I got on the internet to do a search for the various problems that had flashed up. Hoping i hadn't bought a lemon, I decided to have the car hooked up to a friend mechanics generic snap-on engine diagnostic unit the next day. Basically the faults that came up were as below...
1 .Problem with Injector number 3 = engine diagnostic light on dash
2. Problem with passenger seat sensor = SRS light on dash
The codes were then cleared while i decide what to do about it. Has anybody every had either done or repaired on their vehicle? Obviously as I've said I'm new to Mercedes, so need to get some idea on price for the parts as I don't want to go down the dealer route if I can get away with it. I can't seem to find parts as easily for an AMG engined car as I have done in the past with the BMW. Also are there any specialists in the Warwickshire area that people can recommend?
Thanks in advance for any help given.
I've just recently made the change from BMW in the shape of an e39 M5 to a CLK 55 AMG w209 (late 2003). Toyed with the idea of a Porsche 911 but thought it might be a risk. Now although I like the car a lot its a lot smoother to drive and certainly has got some power in it, I'm not overly impressed by the build quality when compared with the BMW which felt almost bomb proof. This just mine or is that the general view of this era of Mercedes?
Anyway I bought the car for a reasonably low price because it had a few miles on it at 122k and a srs airbag light was on. It has full service history brand new tyres all round and new discs and pads upfront so I thought I'd take a punt on it. Ok so It had just had an oil service less than 50 miles before I bought it yet on the 120 mile drive home i got a warning message flash up in red saying reduce engine oil level. So that worried me at first, it then worried me even more to find that there is no dipstick to check the level. That wasn't the end of the warning lights for the trip home though! Next i got the engine diagnostic light flash up, this is what i was worried me the most really, as this could me a lot of different expensive things! I was expecting the car to jump into limp mode but it didn't and it drove fine all the way back which i found strange.
When I eventually got home I got on the internet to do a search for the various problems that had flashed up. Hoping i hadn't bought a lemon, I decided to have the car hooked up to a friend mechanics generic snap-on engine diagnostic unit the next day. Basically the faults that came up were as below...
1 .Problem with Injector number 3 = engine diagnostic light on dash
2. Problem with passenger seat sensor = SRS light on dash
The codes were then cleared while i decide what to do about it. Has anybody every had either done or repaired on their vehicle? Obviously as I've said I'm new to Mercedes, so need to get some idea on price for the parts as I don't want to go down the dealer route if I can get away with it. I can't seem to find parts as easily for an AMG engined car as I have done in the past with the BMW. Also are there any specialists in the Warwickshire area that people can recommend?
Thanks in advance for any help given.
The oil level messages are dumb. I had issues after a service and they actually removed oil to stop the message! Mercedes were coming out of perhaps thier worst period of quality at that time and the build quality steadily improved over the life of the 209, but I still think these cars are not a patch on their predecessors built from the mid 80s to mid 90s.
Find a good independent (but check that they really are cheaper than a main dealer)...and see what they charge to sort the problems.
Parts availability from main dealers ought to be fine.
Find a good independent (but check that they really are cheaper than a main dealer)...and see what they charge to sort the problems.
Parts availability from main dealers ought to be fine.
I bought a W209 CLK55 a couple of months ago, like yours quite cheaply. There were all sorts of error messages coming up on the diagnostic meter, all of which were questionable as everything did actually work. I had it serviced and the next day up came the engine diagnostic light. This turned out to be faulty camshaft sensors which have now been replaced. Now't wrong with the car but all the problems have been sensor related and, I'm told, are likely to continue until I've been through the whole car.
Your injector warning could be a problem though as these are supposed to be very expensive but, maybe, its more sensor nonsense. Go to the Mercedes Benz Owners Forum (not here - the real one)and ask around for indies in Warwickshire, or buy a copy of Merceds Enthusiast and look in the classifieds wherthere are several indies listed.
I'm paying my indie £54 an hour in London which is a bargain, especially compared with an OPC.
Your injector warning could be a problem though as these are supposed to be very expensive but, maybe, its more sensor nonsense. Go to the Mercedes Benz Owners Forum (not here - the real one)and ask around for indies in Warwickshire, or buy a copy of Merceds Enthusiast and look in the classifieds wherthere are several indies listed.
I'm paying my indie £54 an hour in London which is a bargain, especially compared with an OPC.
Thanks for the replies guys,
I can look past the warning lights as it does drive fine, but it's just annoying that you'd get this even happening in a car like this. I'm glad to a certain extent I didn't push myself and go looking for an SL55 instead with all the gremlins and suspension issues that are associated with them!
I'm not going to let it put me off just yet or until I at least see the quote on the injector anyway. Having said that, another problem has presented itself today, in the shape of the steering wheel controls on the left side having ceased to work! The right hand side is fine and still increases the volume on the stereo but theres no horn or left side controls at all to go through the dash menus! This will annoy me as I need this to be able check to at least the oil level on the dyno mode... (is this right?).
It seems that all the common faults associated with the w209 CLK are presenting themselves in some way in this one! If this had happened on the test drive I might have walked away to be honest, but I'm determined to put it all right and get it to where it should be! Again I didn't spend top whack money on it and looked at a few before this, two of which turned out to have no service history after travelling some distance to see them! Annoying to say the least, why people aren't honest in adverts is beyond me!? If the car does have sketchy history put it in the advert otherwise your wasting peoples time and your own!! Anyway rant over off to work off my check list of faults!
I can look past the warning lights as it does drive fine, but it's just annoying that you'd get this even happening in a car like this. I'm glad to a certain extent I didn't push myself and go looking for an SL55 instead with all the gremlins and suspension issues that are associated with them!
I'm not going to let it put me off just yet or until I at least see the quote on the injector anyway. Having said that, another problem has presented itself today, in the shape of the steering wheel controls on the left side having ceased to work! The right hand side is fine and still increases the volume on the stereo but theres no horn or left side controls at all to go through the dash menus! This will annoy me as I need this to be able check to at least the oil level on the dyno mode... (is this right?).
It seems that all the common faults associated with the w209 CLK are presenting themselves in some way in this one! If this had happened on the test drive I might have walked away to be honest, but I'm determined to put it all right and get it to where it should be! Again I didn't spend top whack money on it and looked at a few before this, two of which turned out to have no service history after travelling some distance to see them! Annoying to say the least, why people aren't honest in adverts is beyond me!? If the car does have sketchy history put it in the advert otherwise your wasting peoples time and your own!! Anyway rant over off to work off my check list of faults!
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