New to Mercedes ownership - need a few questions answering

[Vega]

Hi everyone,

I have taken ownership of a 2010 CLC 220 CDi. It has 70k on the clock. Previous owner was my mother in law who has had it since 2013 and she has had it serviced yearly by Mercedes.

With that out of the way, I have a couple of questions to start with. For what it's worth, there are no engine lights or errors showing. I have not had it connected up to have any fault codes read that may not be showing.

1. The first is that on occasion, you can be driving along and suddenly all power goes, engine cuts. It can be short enough that the engine doesn't cut and the car picks up again and away you go. Once so far, it has cut out and I had to do a drop to park, turn off the ignition, and restart, which wasn't easy as I was in a traffic light queue with the lights just going to green so I had about 5 seconds. Any thoughts?

2. This maybe related, but when you turn the ignition just prior to firing up, the glowplug light comes on, and after a few seconds goes off, and then you start normally as you'd expect. On occasion, the glowplug lights come back on, but go off again after about 30 seconds. Any thoughts?

3. The boot lid I think needs new gas boot struts as they can't lift the tail lid up without help. Would that be right? I can do that myself quite easily.

4. When it has been raining and you lift the boot up, water drips down from the lip into the boot area so it can get damp. If looks to me as if there is something like a rubber gasket missing and some rubber grommets missing from the inner boot lid but without a reference car, I don't know. If I take a picture of the inner boot lid, could someone compare it with theirs and let me know?

5. This last one might just be my inexperience with Mercedes, but the power steering seems quite heavy. Quite similar to the heaviness of my old PT Cruiser I had a few years ago. It is notably heavier than my VW T-Roc and my old KIA Niro. Is the steering heavy on these cars?

6. Finally, the headlights. The stock ones are pretty crap. Very dull and yellow compared to modern cars. Any suggestions on suitable replacement ones withouth replacing the entire headlight assembly?

Many thanks,

V

 

[Riva811]

welcome onboard.

1 and 2 sound like an ignition problem, i would ask if the glowplugs have been replaced ever, if not good idea to get them done anyway.
3. yes you can potentially replace them yourself, check if you need to remove any lining. at this age, anything plastic you touch will likely crack.
4. i dont have a clc so i cant comment.
5.check the steering pump, most likely needs replacing.
6. cant comment, google is your friend

 

[Vega]

Spoke to a mechanic.

1. Apparently this is more likely due to the car doing a lot of short journies and getting a bit sooted up. He will add some tec 4 cleaner and set the car to do an DPF regen and see what happens after that.
2. He said it is very unlikely that on a car with 70k miles the plugs will need changing but he'll take a look
3. Buying some and replacing them. Done it in other cars. Thanks for the tip on the plastic parts. I will be gentle
4. I'll keep a look out for another CLC 220 and see if I can take a look. Might take a trip to the scrapyard and see if they have one.
5. Apparently Mercs are noteably heavier on their sterring. He said nothing to worry about
6. Still looking into the light replacement.

 

[Vega]

The car was a little sooted up. Added some tec 4 and did a regen on the DPF. Seems a lot better now. He said the plugs are ok, don't bother changing them until it needs them changed. He'll check on the next service. I didn't bother with the boot struts. Gave them a clean and a spray with some lithium spray and that has helped. I guess they just needed a clean. I still don't know if I am missing any gaskets or grommets around the boot edge. Power steering was checking in the service last month and is fine. They're just heavy. My headlights are still rubbish and need replacing.

 

[BlackC55]

1. You have a control unit shutting down I would think. Wont be anything to do with a DPF.
2. Replace the glow plugs one at a time. You are better off doing that because you don't want them left in too long because they do seize in.

 

[BlackC55]

3. Replace the struts. They will leave a hell of a bruise of your head when the tailgate falls down. They are cheap to do too.
4. Need a pic.
5. If its excessively heavy this can be because of a seized steering joint.

 

[Vega]

1. You have a control unit shutting down I would think. Wont be anything to do with a DPF.
2. Replace the glow plugs one at a time. You are better off doing that because you don't want them left in too long because they do seize in.

1. I did some more digging on this. The mechanic has experienced it happening once. When the car was in it's previous location for 10 years, it was very rural and at one point if had a rodent issue and some wires were chewed. The car engine bay and wiring have now been sprayed with an antivermin spray which apparently stoped it from happening and the damaged wires were replaced. That said, it is most likely that somewhere an exposed wire is earthing and shorting briefly so I need to get under the bonnet and trace the wires. It might be that a partially chewed wire was missed of a wire has worn through by rubbing on something and needs a loom put on it. Speaking to an auto electrical place, they said without a full check they couldn't say but the behaviour sounds like a short somewhere. It hasn't happened now for about 6 weeks which is promising. Maybe during the service the offending wire was moved slightly and it now doesn't short? Possibly, I don't know but without a full inspection, it's not possible to say for definite.

2. As for the glow plugs. I'll leave that to the mecahnic. A set of plugs isn't expensive.

3. The struts are actually ok

4. See attached image. There is a set 3 holes along the bottom edge of the boot lid and 3 on the inner edge. If I lift the boot when it has been raining, water seems to drop into the boot. Are these drain holes? Are they meant to have grommet plugs in them? Should the boot have a rubber gasket along the edge? Every picture I find of a boot lid shows it from the outside only. The rest is dirt not corrosion.



Out of interest, I am looking for the W code for this car. I think it is a W204 but I am not sure.

*** edit *** The VIN says WBD203 so it's a W203.

 

[BlackC55]

Its a C203.

They are drain holes and its quite normal for water to drop from them. The tailgates do like to leak water. Usually from the 3rd brake light.

 

[Vega]

Its a C203.

They are drain holes and its quite normal for water to drop from them. The tailgates do like to leak water. Usually from the 3rd brake light.

Cheers.

And thanks for the update on the W number. It's so hard to search for things when you don't know what you're looking for. After digging around about W numbers and your info about it being a C203 I found this:

Mercedes Model Numbers | Blog | Carnoisseur

A handy list of model numbers for each of Mercedes' ranges of vehicles, along with their body type, model years, and other details.

www.carnoisseur.com

Seems that Mercedes didn't stick to their W number sequencing. Confusing when you're trying to find parts that fit and you can't choose by reg number.

 

[ALFAitalia]

Its a coupe....so it will always be a C number

 

[Gilbertd]

I always found the steering on my other half's C180K (predecessor to the CLC) to be heavy, then she changed it for an SLK280 and that feels exactly the same and having since driven a couple of other Mercs, it seems they all are.

For the lights, change the bulbs to Osram Nightbreakers. I use the Nightbreaker Ultimate 200 and they are noticeably better than standard halogen bulbs.

 

[PolishGeorge85]

Have you thought about combining numbers 1,2 and 3. Of course I maybe completely wrong but I would suggest checking battery level or battery clamps.
Could there be issue delivering power where is required.
When you crank the engine, starter motor takes a lot of battery powered. So there is a chance of ECU "loosing" 12v and quickly restarting engine starting cycle, chance why glow plugs light comes back on.

Same with boot issue, I would try to open/close it while the engine is running. That'll prove if it's mechanical or electrical problem.

Also issue while you driving, could potentially be caused by loosing of battery power.

There is so much to go wrong. Hope you have warranty.

 

[Vega]

Have you thought about combining numbers 1,2 and 3. Of course I maybe completely wrong but I would suggest checking battery level or battery clamps.
Could there be issue delivering power where is required.
When you crank the engine, starter motor takes a lot of battery powered. So there is a chance of ECU "loosing" 12v and quickly restarting engine starting cycle, chance why glow plugs light comes back on.

Same with boot issue, I would try to open/close it while the engine is running. That'll prove if it's mechanical or electrical problem.

Also issue while you driving, could potentially be caused by loosing of battery power.

There is so much to go wrong. Hope you have warranty.

Hi,

The battery is fine. I'm not sure how the boot struts would be related to the battery as they're just mechanical. I have an Topdon Artilink 500B which I am going to connect up and see if there are any errors logged and clear them out if there are, and then see what is left.

My next 2 jobs are the lights and a small nick in the side wall of the front tyre.

 

[Vega]

Have you thought about combining numbers 1,2 and 3. Of course I maybe completely wrong but I would suggest checking battery level or battery clamps.
Could there be issue delivering power where is required.
When you crank the engine, starter motor takes a lot of battery powered. So there is a chance of ECU "loosing" 12v and quickly restarting engine starting cycle, chance why glow plugs light comes back on.

Same with boot issue, I would try to open/close it while the engine is running. That'll prove if it's mechanical or electrical problem.

Also issue while you driving, could potentially be caused by loosing of battery power.

There is so much to go wrong. Hope you have warranty.

No warranty on a 14 year old car.

 

[johncherokee]

My CLC is, I believe, a c203. Did anyone answer regarding replacement of the headlight? I need to replace one of mine, and I have seen a couple of youtube samples, but I need a step by step guide. If one doesn’t exist, I will have to create one.

 

[Vega]

My CLC is, I believe, a c203. Did anyone answer regarding replacement of the headlight? I need to replace one of mine, and I have seen a couple of youtube samples, but I need a step by step guide. If one doesn’t exist, I will have to create one.

If it is a CLC it'll be a CL203. See here Mercedes Model Numbers | Blog | Carnoisseur

That said I'm going to tackle mine next month.

 

[johncherokee]

If it is a CLC it'll be a CL203. See here Mercedes Model Numbers | Blog | Carnoisseur

That said I'm going to tackle mine next month.

Good luck, the only two reasons I am putting off mine is I still am not stable on my feet enough, and I am concerned about realigning the light.