Thoughts and advice on this S204 C220

[23 Romeo Tango]

My BiL has just got a new job and has been looking for a second car due to the travelling he will now be doing. Mileage won't be excessive but he doesn't want to use his current mode of transport which is a Vauxhall Vivaro what he had been using for his small commute, but mainly bought it to transport his working dog (Springer) and Harris hawk.

Would you kind ladies and gentlemen be able to give me and the BiL some advise and what to look for on this S204 C220. Any known faults on this year/model.
It is advertised with FSH, which is obviously a comfort to see especially with this sort of age/mileage vehicle.

The price is fixed, but my BiL has already negotiated a new 12 months MOT and the seller said he would be happy to discuss a warranty deal upon viewing.

Mercedes-Benz C-Class C220 CDI Blueefficiency SE Edition 125

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TIA for any input.

 

[Teego]

Towbar? What for? Little trailer or horse box?

 

[23 Romeo Tango]

Chris, that was a question I also had. I'm sure the selling dealer will tell us it was a small trailer.

 

[Jamiewatkins2004]

Timing chain - rattle especially on start up.
Injectors - take engine cover off and check no black shite around injectors
Seem to be the main issues.
Gear box - if auto check it doesn't over rev when changing gear. Should.be smooth and you should hardly notice the revs change when changing gear.

Towbar - check if factory fitted.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

 

[Teego]

Chris, that was a question I also had. I'm sure the selling dealer will tell us it was a small trailer.

Of course he will. But if the V5 shows previous owner at Hilltop Stables you will draw your own conclusion.
BTW are you coming to my AMG PL Derbyshire meet on April 26?

 

[23 Romeo Tango]

I’ll keep an eye out for straw bales on the back seat.

re AMG PL meet, probably not sorry. If anything changes then I might be able to make it, but so far it’s not looking good.

 

[23 Romeo Tango]

Timing chain - rattle especially on start up.
Injectors - take engine cover off and check no black shite around injectors
Seem to be the main issues.
Gear box - if auto check it doesn't over rev when changing gear. Should.be smooth and you should hardly notice the revs change when changing gear.

Towbar - check if factory fitted.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

I take it the Timing chain rattle would be quite obvious (depending on severity) if anything were untoward.

It’s manual.

Thanks Jamie.

 

[Petrol Pete]

Hill top stables ? Could that possibly be a stable that is located at the top of a hill ? , you would probably need a good tow bar to tow stuff to the top of a hill, no ?
My sister in law has horses and all the crap they come with and her 4x4's are always messy. Never as clean as this car. It's a tough call. The shiny tyres put me off a bit , but there is no denying that the interior is clean for a 'stable' car.

I can't help thinking the seller should have just thrown the tow hook into the nearest ditch and denied all knowledge of it's existence. this conversation would never have started.

Hill top stables, indeed .

 

[fabes]

A manual.....

With the 220 engine it should at least be economical

Nice interior and in SE trim should ride well / comfy
Wheels may have some curbing ( which may not matter) and also what condition are the tyres are in as shinning them that hard often hides things.....

 

[219]

Hill top stables ? Could that possibly be a stable that is located at the top of a hill ? , you would probably need a good tow bar to tow stuff to the top of a hill, no ?
My sister in law has horses and all the crap they come with and her 4x4's are always messy. Never as clean as this car. It's a tough call. The shiny tyres put me off a bit , but there is no denying that the interior is clean for a 'stable' car.

I can't help thinking the seller should have just thrown the tow hook into the nearest ditch and denied all knowledge of it's existence. this conversation would never have started.

Hill top stables, indeed .

Many of us see a towbar as a big advantage, not a negative.

 

[23 Romeo Tango]

Thanks for the advice so far guys.
I'm confident with my ability for a general inspection of this car, it's mainly any hidden things or known manufacturing issues to look out for.
I don't mean to sound like I'm dismissing your comments because they are all welcome and valued.

Hill top stables ?

My sister in law has horses and all the crap they come with and her 4x4's are always messy. Never as clean as this car.

The idea of the car being used at a stables was Teego making an example of why it may have a tow bar on. I'll certainly investigate the evidence available, but I'm not so sure it will have been used as described above, let's face it who would buy a cream interior if they were going to be smearing horse sh** all over it. Even if they did I would have thought there would still be signs of mistreatment.

Owning a farm and having plenty of animal crap around I know only too well how quickly things can get dirty.

Wheels may have some curbing ( which may not matter) and also what condition are the tyres are in as shinning them that hard often hides things.....

From the pictures it does look like there is quite a bit of curbing. I'll pay some extra attention to the tyres although it could be something as simple as the seller wants them to look nice.

Many of us see a towbar as a big advantage, not a negative.

Rear end protection and a nudge bar if the parking sensors fail being a big positive factor

 

[markjay]

Check for knocking from front suspension at full steering wheel lock at parking speed.

Also check that the ECO light (Stop/Start) is green most of the time. If it isn't, one of the batteries might be on it's way out, or there could be other underlying faults.

 

[Petrol Pete]

Many of us see a tow bar as a big advantage, not a negative.

It proves the car has been made to pull something , adding strain on every single component. Single electric plug would indicate (perhaps) nothing more than a light trailer, double plug would indicate something heavier. Although this is not always a good indicator.

Worse case scenario (and admittedly highly unlikely) buying a used car at say 60K miles with a dual plug tow bar could mean that car has been pulling maximum weight for 60K miles.

If I were looking at 2 identical used cars with a view to buy one , the one with the tow bar would not be my first choice.

 

[clk320x]

Common issues on these:
- Leaking water pump (£90 exchange from MB for the revised metal part)
- Leaking fuel filter housings (Revised part is around £27 from MB but does take a couple hours to fit)
- Stretched timing chains (£700 inc parts and labour at a MB indie - check for rattle on cold start)

On the whole though the OM651 is a pretty solid unit - Very economical also. Good luck!

 

[Chrishazle]

To me that does not look like a factory fit towbar. Mine does have that, and it's a stowaway, release wheel is in the rear LH storage area. Turn the wheel, the towhitch drops down, you pull it round into position and turn the wheel back to lock it in place. After use, reverse the procedure to hide it away and protect your shins!

 

[23 Romeo Tango]

I was thinking it looked like a detachable/stowaway tow bar. If it is then maybe they should have stowed it for the pictures.

 

[fabes]

Ref the curbing, that may also mean the tracking is out
Not a biggy, but another issue to just have on the list

That is a nice interior though, given where your BiL will spend most of his time

 

[steve333]

ESL-electronic steering lock and rusting rear subframes are weak points on w204’s,plenty of info via the search function on this forum.

 

[Deleted member 11979]

Many of us see a towbar as a big advantage, not a negative.

Indeed I do see it as a positive, I tow a horse box regularly, and a heavy trailer too. Each one of my two tow cars covers c20k a year and last year at least 7k Miles was towing.

My cars don’t seem to suffer from this use as I try to drive sympathetically and maintain them as well as i reasonably can.

I’d certainly buy one of my properly serviced and maintained cars over a school run special run on a shoe string fitted with Chinese ditch finders and never serviced

 

[23 Romeo Tango]

Quick update.
All advise was to no avail. He decided to go his own way and buy a Volvo V60 instead
Thank you to all that contributed though.