Responsivness of a C230 K 1997?

[Merc_fintail]

Hi all
I have just bought a 97 c230 Kompressor with 126k on the clock. The car has only done 700 miles in the last 12 months and was fairly well maintained. The car drives like new, gear change, steering ect but it seems to be slow on the up take. It does not seem to want to pull away at any speed. Once it gets going 4000+ rpm, its a rocket.
I currently drive an 07 honda civic 2.2 cdti which is rapid and accelarates like s--- of a shovel. Pushes your head in to the seat kind of thing. Am I expecting too much from my 2.3 supercharged engine or does 126 k miles mean the end of decent performence?

Your advice please.

On the plus side, the 12 year old merc is a nicer drive than the honda.

Paul

 

[Howard]

Hi there,

Could be your MAS ( Mass Airflow Sensor )

Get it plugged in on a STAR machine , see what is wrong with it before you start replacing things.

Welcome onboard !

 

[Merc_fintail]

Thanks,, the car is manual, just in case that makes a difference.

 

[Merc_fintail]

Just been out for a blast, gave her some high revs on the motorway and she seems to be more responsive already.

Is there truth in the blowing cobwebs out of a car that has had little use? what does it do?

Paul

 

[vijilants]

Just been out for a blast, gave her some high revs on the motorway and she seems to be more responsive already.

Is there truth in the blowing cobwebs out of a car that has had little use? what does it do?

Paul

Taking it out on a long fast run clears out the pistons / valves of any accumulated build up of the usual crud that forms from in-town stop / start driving.

Your car should pull away quite sharply but you will notice a little bit of lazyness before it starts to fly.....this behaviour is typical of Mercedes throttle response. The C230K is very good at pulling away rapidly due to the high amount of torque generated by this supercharged engine.

As mentioned earlier by Howard, i'd also get it checked out for any fault codes, just to be sure.

BTW, the 220seb is a great car

 

[Merc_fintail]

Taking it out on a long fast run clears out the pistons / valves of any accumulated build up of the usual crud that forms from in-town stop / start driving.

Your car should pull away quite sharply but you will notice a little bit of lazyness before it starts to fly.....this behaviour is typical of Mercedes throttle response. The C230K is very good at pulling away rapidly due to the high amount of torque generated by this supercharged engine.

As mentioned earlier by Howard, i'd also get it checked out for any fault codes, just to be sure.

BTW, the 220seb is a great car

thanks, my finny is in bits at the moment. I did have it booked in for acid dipping but had to cancel due to the fact that I work in the construction industry and i`m skint. The shell is in a garage and the rest is in the loft. My wife has nightmares of the rest of the car comming through the ceiling!

back to the c230k. I will give it a genral service tommorow, oil air ect and we have an independent merc specailist in our town, so I will take it there and get her checked out.

 

[Merc_fintail]

Sorted

A jubalie clip had snaped letting too much air into the supercharger. I took the car in to a merc specilist 20 min walk from my house and they are sorting most of the imediet snags. They said the car is not good (as in well maintained) but its not too bad. Addvisery on corroded disk and corroded brake pipes.
They are going to service. New plugs, oil, air oil filters, new dipstick, change the brake fluid (never been done) antifreeze, a steering damper, diagnostics check (shows the maff air thingy is spot on) rub down and grease up the brake pipes and some other bits I cant remember. £300 all in! sounds fair to me.
I gave £900 for her with six months tax and 10 months mot, scatered history, 126k on the clock, no rust, no wear on trim. Like I said before, much nicer drive than our Honda civic 07 cdti sport.

Cheap motoring with style. The car is lowered becase it has a K engine, just need to get some nice alloys for her.

Paul

 

[gina2201]

Nice cars, the C230k, I had a sport model with leather and it was (one of) the BEST cars I've had.....which I still had it.....I'd buy another...

 

[Kompressor_Dude]

I have same car. Brilliant piece of kit, and rapid too. Sure you'll be pleasantly surprised when you get it back.

They're by no means fast as far as some of the Mercedes owned on here, but for an older smaller model the C230k is a a bit of a sleeper..

If you dont think it's been well maintained I'd get a full fluid change and someone who knows what they're doing to give it a good check over, should make sure i'st up to scratch

Enjoy!

 

[Adam230K]

I have the same car too, is yours a manual? The manual ones seem to be damn fast on the uptake, i can get mine from 0-60 in a little under 6 seconds now since i got the exhaust, but then again mine isn't exactly completely stock .

I'm sure when u get all those things done it will feel alot fresher... I bought my 230k 18 months ago in below average condition (servicing wise) for £2600, but it had 61k miles on the clock. And i spent about £600 getting it up to speed.. and after the major service it felt alot more lively, i do look after it now regardless of cost.

It is a very fun car to drive, and relatively problem free (i've only had my diff go bang, but thats just unlucky!) if you have any questions feel free to ask!

Also there's a nice mod you can do to your air intake (Involves moving your MAF closer to the throttle) which further improves the responsiveness of the engine between 2k-3k rpm i found! I'm sure Desilva would agree.

Adam

 

[andy27168]

I have the same car too, is yours a manual? The manual ones seem to be damn fast on the uptake, i can get mine from 0-60 in a little under 6 seconds now since i got the exhaust, but then again mine isn't exactly completely stock .

I'm sure when u get all those things done it will feel alot fresher... I bought my 230k 18 months ago in below average condition (servicing wise) for £2600, but it had 61k miles on the clock. And i spent about £600 getting it up to speed.. and after the major service it felt alot more lively, i do look after it now regardless of cost.

It is a very fun car to drive, and relatively problem free (i've only had my diff go bang, but thats just unlucky!) if you have any questions feel free to ask!

Also there's a nice mod you can do to your air intake (Involves moving your MAF closer to the throttle) which further improves the responsiveness of the engine between 2k-3k rpm i found! I'm sure Desilva would agree.

Adam

Hi,
I have heard of this mod, is it much of an improvement over standard? not sure whether your car is a pre-facelift or a facelift version. So as the OP's car and mine are pre-facelift is this mod able to be done, as i have noticed the later engine the MAF is in a different position.

 

[Kompressor_Dude]

More info on this mod please!!

 

[Adam230K]

Hi,
I have heard of this mod, is it much of an improvement over standard? not sure whether your car is a pre-facelift or a facelift version. So as the OP's car and mine are pre-facelift is this mod able to be done, as i have noticed the later engine the MAF is in a different position.

Haha! I'll pm you the method when you answer my pm about the door mirrors! (only joking)

The mod is fairly straight forward... Desilva sent me the PDF... and it does make a difference... pm me your email and i'll send it to u.

And my car is a pre-facelift... And yes my throttle is slightly differently positioned compared to the facelift engine... but i still managed to do it.

 

[Merc_fintail]

Yes mine is a manual. It is very snapy but my merc man says this is normal with merc manual boxes. He says he took it for a test drive today and it goes like stink! This mod sounds interesting to me also.

Paul

 

[gina2201]

I found it to be plenty fast enough for me! The guy who bought it called them sleepers, and a scooby killer??!! Not so sure about that but it was pretty quick on accleration, wonderful car.....(just off to check on autotrader....)

 

[Adam230K]

I found it to be plenty fast enough for me! The guy who bought it called them sleepers, and a scooby killer??!! Not so sure about that but it was pretty quick on accleration, wonderful car.....(just off to check on autotrader....)

I would agree with that, i've had 2 run ins with scoobys up until now, one was an estate, which i completely massacred, and the other was a normal saloon, which put up a good fight, but lost as the speed went up. And mine was still stock!

 

[Merc_fintail]

Picked her up today but only managed a 5 min drive in rush hour, so the only thing I noticed that she was pulling abit like a diesel, much more difficult to stall. The Merc man gave it back with a health warning! He said he took her for a blast and the rear end was snaking all over when he changed to second, He says the manual box makes it leathel and that my wife should take car (newish driver) I said you must be used to these, getting lots of Kompressor engines? Not the manuals, he rarely sees them.

Sounds like fun!

 

[Howard]

Wait till something goes wrong with the gearbox , then you'll have fun ( trying to get it repaired ) ...

 

[vijilants]

Also there's a nice mod you can do to your air intake (Involves moving your MAF closer to the throttle) which further improves the responsiveness of the engine between 2k-3k rpm i found! I'm sure Desilva would agree.

Adam

Hi Adam,

Glad to hear that you managed the mod. So did you feel the difference ?

I certainly thought it certainly makes it a lot smoother and responsive

 

[Adam230K]

Yes desilva, i'm really glad you brought it to my attention, well worth it. By the way, does your engine have the throttle going downwards or to the side?

Cuz my engine is the M111 975 and so is andy's and shaun's. I still managed it though.