General Questions regarding a C208 320 V6

[mbenz1]

Hi Guys

I'm interested in a C208 CLK 320 V6 made in 1998 with less than 90,000 miles.

The seller has mentioned the following issues, which I want to discuss here...

1. The car has a sunroof an the seller has stated that since its a sunroof model, the car has no AC... Is this really true or has the seller got a misunderstanding. I cant see the reason why AC is not included if a sunroof is fitted...

2. The seller has stated that the CAT cover rattles (seller is not fully sure)... is this a common problem in the C208 320 and if it is, most-likely it will be a CAT cover rattle and am I correct in assuming its not an expensive fix?

3. Would AMG replica wheels (18" with 225 tyre size all round) fit just fine on a C208 Sport model, without any rubbing etc...? Below are full wheel details

- 225/40 ZR18
- 18 x 8JJ

4. I used to own a W202 C200 X-Reg with circa 81,000 miles when purchased and the climate system blower had a mind of its own - Used to take about 5 minutes to start blowing air at correct speed, used to make buzzing sounds at some times and the EC light used to flash randomly and also the AC did not work... Are these symptoms common in the W202 and C208 models and if they are, at what mileage do these tend to occur?

As always, your advice is much appreciated and thanks for reading.

 

[Ted]

1 sounds like someone is fibbing. Pretty sure all 208s cane with a/c or cc.
2 sounds like another fib - more like the cat itself is rattling. Happened on mine and the secondary cat was removed. I don't know how that would do in an mot today.
Can't answer the other two but sounds a bit of a dodgy seller to me.

 

[mbenz1]

1 sounds like someone is fibbing. Pretty sure all 208s cane with a/c or cc.
2 sounds like another fib - more like the cat itself is rattling. Happened on mine and the secondary cat was removed. I don't know how that would do in an mot today.
Can't answer the other two but sounds a bit of a dodgy seller to me.

Noted your comments. Howmuch does a CAT cost on a C208 320 including labour, if you can recall by any chance?

The car seems genuine and it has had full MBSH until 67 k and its now on under 85 K. Its in very good condition inside and out also. He/she may well be a dodgy seller but its a private seller so maybe be its due to that.

I forgot to mention, points 3 and 4 in post #1 are not mentioned by the seller...its my own questions

 

[Ted]

The cat was removed so I didn't buy one. I had one go in my w210 and iirc it was around £300 fitted (the only non service item that failed in 120k) - that was not the genuine item and I have no idea of quality. It was also around eight years ago.

Oh, and a 320 208 is a cracking car. You will love it.

 

[Howard]

Not unheard of for the heatshield above the cats to come loose , the mounting nuts corrode around and it drops onto the cat.

Happened on mine , just get under it and pull it off if that is the case.

 

[andy27168]

Like Howard says the heat shield mounted under the transmission tunnel is common to fail but so are the two lower CATs, giving a distinctive tinkling noise but if this is the case the lower CATs can be removed, or gutted (preferred) and still pass the emissions.
It use to be on older cars that you could either have A/C or Sunroof not both, or if you could it was expensive but this is not the case anymore. As others have said it will have A/C, I would be very surprised if it didn't, if it has the digital display or an EC button in between the heater dials then it will have it.
As the 208 is effectively a coupe version of a 202 as it is built on the 202 floor pan and shares very similar if not the same electrics, it will share a lot of the same issues.

 

[flango]

All 208's have either air con or climate as standard with or without sunroof Rattle will be heat shield if it is a rattle if it's a tinkle then it's the cat, not sure how many there are on the V6 but if there is more than one budget to do them both

Wheels will fit fine but not the optimum tyre/wheel combination for handling

Climate is usually down to the regulator at the side if the fan easy to get to and about £20

Hope that helps

 

[Milton7]

W208

My first post on this forum. Great forum incidentally. Yes as others have said it should have aircon.

There are some lovely CLKs out there. I've recently bought an immaculate one owner ( deceased hence the sale ) 2001 77k FSH 320 CLK for less than £3k. I just happened to see it on auto trader, to my amazement it had been advertised for a week with no takers. When I saw it I couldn't get my wallet out quick enough. Had it a month now and done 1500 enjoyable miles with no issues. Fabulous car, even my wife likes it; normally she's indifferent to my cars.

What I'm coming to to is that unless it's very cheap, walk away and wait till the right car comes along. A lot of the CLKs, especially the 320s were kept by their original owners and pampered and these cars will occasionally come up for sale at a price not much more than a run of the mill car.

Out of interest, how much is it?

 

[markmifsud]

I have a 208 CAB, this has CC so I cannot see why a sunroof would pose a bigger issue than a full roof down.

Rattle could be heat shield, but could also be the lower cats.

Those wheels/tyres will fit fine, I have 225x40x18 front and 255x35x18 rears

can you post the Vin so I can do a quick lookup of the build spec for inclusion of AC. Failing that, I can try and get the Vin from the REG

 

[mbenz1]

Like Howard says the heat shield mounted under the transmission tunnel is common to fail but so are the two lower CATs, giving a distinctive tinkling noise but if this is the case the lower CATs can be removed, or gutted (preferred) and still pass the emissions.
It use to be on older cars that you could either have A/C or Sunroof not both, or if you could it was expensive but this is not the case anymore. As others have said it will have A/C, I would be very surprised if it didn't, if it has the digital display or an EC button in between the heater dials then it will have it.
As the 208 is effectively a coupe version of a 202 as it is built on the 202 floor pan and shares very similar if not the same electrics, it will share a lot of the same issues.

How many CATs are fitted in the exhuast system of the 320 CLK, is it 2? Upstream and downstream? I have checked ECP and they are selling Front Right and Front Left catalytic converters (seperately) and the price ranges from £88 to £425... Below is the link of the ECP page

http://www.eurocarparts.com/catalytic-converter - Any idea on which is the correct one? Also, am I correct in assuming that the labour will not be expensive for the CAT replacements?

Yes, I will ask the seller (before going to view) if it has an EC button with a light on the top left hand corner...if it does then that should be enough to prove that the car does have AC... AC is a must for me.

All 208's have either air con or climate as standard with or without sunroof Rattle will be heat shield if it is a rattle if it's a tinkle then it's the cat, not sure how many there are on the V6 but if there is more than one budget to do them both

Wheels will fit fine but not the optimum tyre/wheel combination for handling

Climate is usually down to the regulator at the side if the fan easy to get to and about £20

Hope that helps

Flango, you have described a tinkle symptom of a CAT that is gone.... a tinkle refers to a slight/soft ringing noise (google definitions ) but I can't imagine how a slight ringing noise would be in a car... But the seller has mentioned 'rattle' in the advert so most-likely it is a rattle and since its definitely easy to distinguish between a slight ringing sound and a rattle, hopefully it should not be a problem for me, fingers crossed...

You have mentioned that those wheels are not the best for handling... Could you elaborate a bit more please? Its obvious that the ride will become a bit more harder with the 18s but I'm hoping it doesn't become too hard - like the ride in a BMW Sport model... I would really prefer to use those 17" 5-Spoke Sport wheels that were used on the W203 Sport models, they look really great on the C208 IMHO but since I have the Replicas sitting in the garage, I'd rather save some quid and use them instead

My first post on this forum. Great forum incidentally. Yes as others have said it should have aircon.

There are some lovely CLKs out there. I've recently bought an immaculate one owner ( deceased hence the sale ) 2001 77k FSH 320 CLK for less than £3k. I just happened to see it on auto trader, to my amazement it had been advertised for a week with no takers. When I saw it I couldn't get my wallet out quick enough. Had it a month now and done 1500 enjoyable miles with no issues. Fabulous car, even my wife likes it; normally she's indifferent to my cars.

What I'm coming to to is that unless it's very cheap, walk away and wait till the right car comes along. A lot of the CLKs, especially the 320s were kept by their original owners and pampered and these cars will occasionally come up for sale at a price not much more than a run of the mill car.

Out of interest, how much is it?

Welcome to the forum.

Good to hear you are enjoying your C208... very low mileage indeed. The car is on sale for £1,195 on a R plate ('98) with leather. Its got under 85,000 miles with FMBSH up until 67K, after which I assume it has been serviced by a normal garage (have to confirm this with seller).

I only plan to keep the CLK for ~ 2 years so Im not very fussed about getting a 1-owner, pampered CLK (although I would prefer that).... as long as the engine is sound and it has been serviced correctly with good service items and the vehicle is in good condition, that is okay for me. I have a low budget so it will be hard for me to find a fully-looked after 1-owner CLK plus I am after the pre-facelift model, which makes it slightly more difficult.


Thanks for your input guys.

Another question, if anyone can advise..

I plan to fit a Alpine head unit... do headunits fit flush and smoothly into the C208s, like they do in the W202? - Thanks.

 

[mbenz1]

I have a 208 CAB, this has CC so I cannot see why a sunroof would pose a bigger issue than a full roof down.

Rattle could be heat shield, but could also be the lower cats.

Those wheels/tyres will fit fine, I have 225x40x18 front and 255x35x18 rears

can you post the Vin so I can do a quick lookup of the build spec for inclusion of AC. Failing that, I can try and get the Vin from the REG

I don;t have the VIN since I haven't spoke to the seller yet, but the reg is R422 XOP. Thank you very much.

Is your CLK a sport model? If it is, how is the ride with those wheels?

 

[markmifsud]

Vin is WDB2083652F033416

no mention of AC / CC

Identification number: WDB2083652F033416 4

Sales designation: CLK320
Order number: 0 8 537 89940
Delivery date: 04 03 1998
Paint code 1: 189 APPLICATION CODE FOR COMPONENT PROCESSING
Equipment: 215A LEATHER QUARTZ
Engine no.: 112940 30 162984
Transmission: 722607 00 826807
SA code
189 APPLICATION CODE FOR COMPONENT PROCESSING
200A LEATHER
215A LEATHER QUARTZ
414 ELECTRIC TILT/SLIDE SUNROOF IN GLASS VERSION
461 INSTRUMENT WITH MILES IND. AND ENGLISH LEGEND
488 SPORTS CHASSIS TUNING
533 SPEAKERS FRONT AND REAR - WITHOUT RADIO
551 ANTI-THEFT/ANTI-BREAK-IN WARNING SYSTEM
613 LAMP UNIT - ASSYMETRICAL, LH TRAFFIC
648 INVALID/L.A.WHEELS 6-HOLE: FR. 7X16 / REAR 8X16
668 PACKAGING FOR SHIPPING VEHICLES WITH TIE-DOWN HOOK
673 HIGH-CAPACITY BATTERY
808 112.9__ - 19960618 - AEJ 06/1/M/X
808 722.6__ - 19960119 - YOM 17/1
817 No code designation available
833 INVALID/GREAT BRITAIN,ADDITIONAL PARTS
882 INTERIOR SAFEGUARD/TOWING PROTECTION
984 COC DOC., DELETION OF VEHICLE REGISTRATION DOC.
Other
Lamps: HELLA

 

[markmifsud]

Is your CLK a sport model? If it is, how is the ride with those wheels?

Mine is an Elegance, so normally a softer ride than the Sport / AG version.

It feels good to me, but its very subjective and many will say it feels crap.

 

[mbenz1]

Vin is WDB2083652F033416

no mention of AC / CC

Identification number: WDB2083652F033416 4

Sales designation: CLK320
Order number: 0 8 537 89940
Delivery date: 04 03 1998
Paint code 1: 189 APPLICATION CODE FOR COMPONENT PROCESSING
Equipment: 215A LEATHER QUARTZ
Engine no.: 112940 30 162984
Transmission: 722607 00 826807
SA code
189 APPLICATION CODE FOR COMPONENT PROCESSING
200A LEATHER
215A LEATHER QUARTZ
414 ELECTRIC TILT/SLIDE SUNROOF IN GLASS VERSION
461 INSTRUMENT WITH MILES IND. AND ENGLISH LEGEND
488 SPORTS CHASSIS TUNING
533 SPEAKERS FRONT AND REAR - WITHOUT RADIO
551 ANTI-THEFT/ANTI-BREAK-IN WARNING SYSTEM
613 LAMP UNIT - ASSYMETRICAL, LH TRAFFIC
648 INVALID/L.A.WHEELS 6-HOLE: FR. 7X16 / REAR 8X16
668 PACKAGING FOR SHIPPING VEHICLES WITH TIE-DOWN HOOK
673 HIGH-CAPACITY BATTERY
808 112.9__ - 19960618 - AEJ 06/1/M/X
808 722.6__ - 19960119 - YOM 17/1
817 No code designation available
833 INVALID/GREAT BRITAIN,ADDITIONAL PARTS
882 INTERIOR SAFEGUARD/TOWING PROTECTION
984 COC DOC., DELETION OF VEHICLE REGISTRATION DOC.
Other
Lamps: HELLA

Thanks for looking up this data. That is a real shame if the car doesn't have AC.... By looking at the pictures, the climate control panel is identical to the one in the W202 facelift, and the there are three buttons in the middle, which all have a symbol printed on them... I will have to confirm with the seller about this AC issue.

Mine is an Elegance, so normally a softer ride than the Sport / AG version.

It feels good to me, but its very subjective and many will say it feels crap.

Yes the Elegance was also still very smooth when using the 18s on my W202 C200, after the 16s.

 

[V8Darren]

If the centre console looks like this

the car is fitted with basic air conditioning

If it's like this

the car is fitted with climate control (more advanced air conditioning)

Mine has a sun roof and climate control and is the same year, 1998.

Also, I thought on the earlier CLKs (pre-facelift) there were only the 2 cats underneath the car???

It sounds to me like it's probably the heat shield, of so just tighten the bolts or fit new ones. If it is the cats, you can get sports cats for around £350 CKS W208 Sports catalyst all models incl. CLK55 CKS W208 Sports catalyst all models incl. CLK55 [PCAT208] - £295.00 : CKS Performance

 

[mbenz1]

If the centre console looks like this

the car is fitted with basic air conditioning

If it's like this

the car is fitted with climate control (more advanced air conditioning)

Mine has a sun roof and climate control and is the same year, 1998.

Also, I thought on the earlier CLKs (pre-facelift) there were only the 2 cats underneath the car???

It sounds to me like it's probably the heat shield, of so just tighten the bolts or fit new ones. If it is the cats, you can get sports cats for around £350 CKS W208 Sports catalyst all models incl. CLK55 CKS W208 Sports catalyst all models incl. CLK55 [PCAT208] - £295.00 : CKS Performance

The CLK 320 I'm interested in has the same climate unit as shown in your first picture...but since AC is not mentioned in the vehicle data (see above post) I'm pretty sure it won't have AC unfortunately. I will confirm with seller though. Since your car has got luxury climate control, that may be the reason why you have AC with the Sunroof option....

£295 per CAT! That will total £590 plus labour...that's some dollars there . ECP are selling two CATs including piping for circa £250 I think. But if I go to see it and notice a tinkle sound, then I won't buy it unless seller is prepared to knock off an appropriate amount of money...

 

[V8Darren]

If it has either of those 2 units, it has got AC. The reason it may not be in the list is because it's standard equipment. It would have said if it had the climate control upgrade.

ECP have 2 available, one at £164, the other at £328. If their images are correct, they're just bolt on too, so could be fitted in 30 mins. You'll also probably need a new set of bolts as they'll probably be corroded.

I'm sure I remember that from Mercedes, they're £1200, so that makes the sports cats a bargain in my eyes, especially when you get the nicer exhaust note and a bit more performance out of them (from what I've read, the exhaust is one of the most restrictive parts on the car).

I still think it may be the heat shield, but at least now you know how much cats are from Mercedes for bartering the price of the car

 

[mbenz1]

If it has either of those 2 units, it has got AC. The reason it may not be in the list is because it's standard equipment. It would have said if it had the climate control upgrade.

ECP have 2 available, one at £164, the other at £328. If their images are correct, they're just bolt on too, so could be fitted in 30 mins. You'll also probably need a new set of bolts as they'll probably be corroded.

I'm sure I remember that from Mercedes, they're £1200, so that makes the sports cats a bargain in my eyes, especially when you get the nicer exhaust note and a bit more performance out of them (from what I've read, the exhaust is one of the most restrictive parts on the car).

I still think it may be the heat shield, but at least now you know how much cats are from Mercedes for bartering the price of the car

Yes I have read also that CATs can change power outputs from engines. 15 more horses may be worth the extra dollars but I personally wouldn't like to alter the exhaust notes pre-set by the MB engineers back in Germany...they know what exhaust notes MB fans expect, if you what I mean...

Yes definitely....I thinks its handy to keep circa £400-500 for the CATs when buying a W208.

 

[flango]

Yes I have read also that CATs can change power outputs from engines. 15 more horses may be worth the extra dollars but I personally wouldn't like to alter the exhaust notes pre-set by the MB engineers back in Germany...they know what exhaust notes MB fans expect, if you what I mean...

Yes definitely....I thinks its handy to keep circa £400-500 for the CATs when buying a W208.

Just put 1 x sports cat on it £125 job done

 

[flango]

Flango, you have described a tinkle symptom of a CAT that is gone.... a tinkle refers to a slight/soft ringing noise (google definitions ) but I can't imagine how a slight ringing noise would be in a car... But the seller has mentioned 'rattle' in the advert so most-likely it is a rattle and since its definitely easy to distinguish between a slight ringing sound and a rattle, hopefully it should not be a problem for me, fingers crossed...

You have mentioned that those wheels are not the best for handling... Could you elaborate a bit more please? Its obvious that the ride will become a bit more harder with the 18s but I'm hoping it doesn't become too hard - like the ride in a BMW Sport model... I would really prefer to use those 17" 5-Spoke Sport wheels that were used on the W203 Sport models, they look really great on the C208 IMHO but since I have the Replicas sitting in the garage, I'd rather save some quid and use them instead

Its like a ringing rather than a rattle you cant mistake it, metallic sounding.

I went to staggered 18's and its hardened the ride well past any BMW sport, in fact if I'm honest its too hard, it handles as though its on rails but you do feel the bumps and potholes. The reps will be fine but it will be very hard and can be twitchy on uneven roads