Hi.
I thought I would share my experience of the dreaded clicking sound from the Dashboard.
This happened to me on my C200k Kompressor Avantgarde W203 2001. Same old story, after starting the car, a loud clicking noise can be heard from the dashboard. After a minute or so it stops until the next time the engine is started. Mine sounded like it was coming from the left hand side (passenger) and sounded like it was almost inside the dashboard.
Anyway, did loads of reading on forums, found it’s quite a common fault and is usually a stripped tooth of the plastic gearing or an actual gear linkage that will be broken. My Model had 10 motors around the dashboard area (has the Digital Temperature controls), and some are much easier to get to than others. I tried following the excellent instructions....
http://www.mbworld.org/forums/search.php?searchid=4989301
but after spending hours taking things apart (Vents,Trim, Command Unit, Glove box, Centre Console), I discovered it was not one of these motors that was faulty (these instructions cover fixing the motors located just to the left of the command unit\Radio). The clicking sounded and felt like it was close to the windscreen and in line with the centre of the passenger side.
After Removing the passenger side foot panel\cover (under the glove box), A large fan, and some more small bits), I could actually see the flap for the recirculation air Motor was getting stuck. I could see it open and then get stuck and start clicking. This is then a Dashboard out job as the offending motor (or linkage should I say) sits on top of the heater box which is buried inside the dashboard). Not god news and a lot of work.
So after hours of trying to locate it and fix it myself, I eventually got in contact with Steve in Maidstone. I had not used Steve before and dropped the car off with the bits I had taken off all placed in the boot. Steve was superb and highly professional and has done these before. You can tell he knows what he is doing and is very good at what he does. He had the car back to me within a few days and although the job was still costly purely as it is a lot of labour, he was much cheaper than Mercedes and also another garage I tried. Plus I felt very confident in leaving Steve to do the job and to do it correctly.
My advice - If the clicking feels (Touch the dashboard to feel the vibration), and sounds like it is coming from the left hand side of the dashboard and about in line with the middle of the passenger seat but towards the rear of the dash (quite close to the windscreen), Don't even bother trying to do it yourself. Get someone (like Steve) who has done it before. It's quite a large job to say the least.
Hope this may help someone.
Tony
P.S. Links to other info about the clicking problem.
http://www.mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w203/177068-noisy-air-conditioner-stepper-motor-replacement-clicking-hissing.html
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/interior/41089-w203-stepper-motor.html
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w203-c-class/1372412-air-conditioer-clicking-sound-problem.html
I thought I would share my experience of the dreaded clicking sound from the Dashboard.
This happened to me on my C200k Kompressor Avantgarde W203 2001. Same old story, after starting the car, a loud clicking noise can be heard from the dashboard. After a minute or so it stops until the next time the engine is started. Mine sounded like it was coming from the left hand side (passenger) and sounded like it was almost inside the dashboard.
Anyway, did loads of reading on forums, found it’s quite a common fault and is usually a stripped tooth of the plastic gearing or an actual gear linkage that will be broken. My Model had 10 motors around the dashboard area (has the Digital Temperature controls), and some are much easier to get to than others. I tried following the excellent instructions....
http://www.mbworld.org/forums/search.php?searchid=4989301
but after spending hours taking things apart (Vents,Trim, Command Unit, Glove box, Centre Console), I discovered it was not one of these motors that was faulty (these instructions cover fixing the motors located just to the left of the command unit\Radio). The clicking sounded and felt like it was close to the windscreen and in line with the centre of the passenger side.
After Removing the passenger side foot panel\cover (under the glove box), A large fan, and some more small bits), I could actually see the flap for the recirculation air Motor was getting stuck. I could see it open and then get stuck and start clicking. This is then a Dashboard out job as the offending motor (or linkage should I say) sits on top of the heater box which is buried inside the dashboard). Not god news and a lot of work.
So after hours of trying to locate it and fix it myself, I eventually got in contact with Steve in Maidstone. I had not used Steve before and dropped the car off with the bits I had taken off all placed in the boot. Steve was superb and highly professional and has done these before. You can tell he knows what he is doing and is very good at what he does. He had the car back to me within a few days and although the job was still costly purely as it is a lot of labour, he was much cheaper than Mercedes and also another garage I tried. Plus I felt very confident in leaving Steve to do the job and to do it correctly.
My advice - If the clicking feels (Touch the dashboard to feel the vibration), and sounds like it is coming from the left hand side of the dashboard and about in line with the middle of the passenger seat but towards the rear of the dash (quite close to the windscreen), Don't even bother trying to do it yourself. Get someone (like Steve) who has done it before. It's quite a large job to say the least.
Hope this may help someone.
Tony
P.S. Links to other info about the clicking problem.
http://www.mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w203/177068-noisy-air-conditioner-stepper-motor-replacement-clicking-hissing.html
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/interior/41089-w203-stepper-motor.html
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w203-c-class/1372412-air-conditioer-clicking-sound-problem.html
