W203, any known main problems/general overview for prospective buyer?

[Hosh85]

Hi All

trust everyone is well.. I did a search on the forum before posting but mainly found very specific issues.

Quite simply the wife wants to be rid of the Honda Jazz and likes my W221 E Class for comfort and smoothness etc, a neighbor has a W203 '04 C230 Komrepssor Avantagarde. They have told me that they don’t want much money for it, a whisker over £1k. I checked auto-trader and it seems about right.


Car is one owner from new, FSH, and has a little over 60k on the clock with the usual wear n tear marks for a 14 year old car.


My question is around common issues with this Kompressor engine, it is a 1.8 and chucks out about 192horses, which is more than my 2.6 E240! L


What if anything should I look out, any significant pro’s n con’s over the normal engines, do these drink more etc etc? Anything in the service book entries or receipts for work I should make sure has been done at this stage in the cars life..


All in all, just wanted a general view if these (engines) are good or not.


Many thanks in advance gents


Best


Hosh

 

[markjay]

Hi Hosh85,

Typical issues:

The M271 engine (1.8L Kompressor) can suffer from premature timing gear failure, typically around the 100,000 mikes mark, though with only 60,000 miles on the clock and FSH you should be fine.

The front passanger seat ccupancy sensor can fail, which will be evident by SRS light on the dash.

Theres a vacuum hose under the air filter that can become brittle over time and leak, and the engine breather in the same area can get blocked, either of which will bring up the EML on the dash.

Broken springs is a problem on almost all Mercs from that era.

If the car has electrically folding mirrors, the internal wiring can break over time, best to keep the use to the minimum required.

The pilot bush on the 5g autobox can leak.

Other than the timing gear, all are simple fixes and not overly expensive.

But ideally you want to take it to an MB specialist who will scan it with STAR for any present faults.

I had a 2006 W203 for 9 years and loved it.





Other than that...

 

[Hosh85]

Thank you for that Mark Jay!

that's very helpful, i'll get over there tonight with the wife and take it for a spin, and see how she feels about it, TBH its a tie me over until soon enough when we have children at which point we will probably change it again, she's just beginning to hate the rattly-ness of the small jazz.

i have seen this issue re the timing gear change which can lead to a complete engine failure, are there any symptoms the car will display to be able to identify it may need doing before its too late?

Many thanks!

 

[Rory]

I'd add rusty brake pipes, especially the rears. Quite a big job to replace them as the tank and axle assembly has to be dropped.

I guess it's a pre-facelift (from July 2004)? I think they started galvanising the bodies a bit before that, but not sure.

 

[Petrol Pete]

The cam chain failure can be instant and catastrophic , or you get warning signs like 'lumpy' running and slight noises. It usually happens around the 100K mark even WITH 100% MB service history and is speeded up by intermittent or poor quality service work. TBH if you are getting the car at good price and you get a year or two out of it and it goes 'pop' no great loss.

 

[Hosh85]

Thanks for you replies gents.. let see what happens when i go to see it, ultimately see if the wife likes it