what a heap....?

[fredfloggle]

Well , Holy Moly , there was Fred thinking he had paid good money for a nice car - I've always wanted a Merc , and after having a drive of a diesel 203 coupe I fancied one . After all , it's a merc , and having owned diesels for about 6000 years and looked after them myself , I figure I know the rules . This one has 65 clicks on the clock , a FMBSH and is quite a nice looking car - then look deeper , the paint is falling off , the 'box is quite erratic in its performance - so much for adaptive , I either get thrown through the windscreen leaving a parking space or rammed by an eight wheeler leaving a roundabout - now , the fricking thing thinks it is a christmas tree , after a f4nny wobble about 3 weeks ago when it thought it was a twin tub washing machine and flashed all of its BAS/ABS warnings on at the same time , a fault I understand to be due to the stop light switch , and has since decided it doesn't exist - my venerable , or should I say venereal vehicle has decided to have an SRS fault ( or is that an 4RSE fault?) . Well , I suppose I should have realised that my wife shouldn't have attempted to use the vehicle at the same time as me - God forbid what would have happened if the Dustbins had got in at the same time , it would have probably erupted .
Well , since the poor burgers at a well know car sales whorehouse , sorry , warehouse have agreed that this one may possibly be down to them , I'll let our knowledgable friends at Merc Star have a shot a sorting it , the fault won't clear down with "normal means" , and I don't reckon that dropping the sump or removing other hardware is necessary to clear a spurious fault ( which is all this can be on a less than 3 YO quality vehicle can be - unless , of course , some of the peeling paint has fell in a critical connection) - I discounted some of the stories I heard about MB - , after all , having owned an import Mitsi Pajero D for about 4000 years with no problem , I put these spurious reports down to jealousy or some other excuse - but now if I have problems with excess smoke in 3 years time , I can't just put the pump back a quarter of a turn and pass the MOT - , I have to weld up exhaust ports .

Someone , please tell meI am wrong about my little treasure......

 

[esox]

Fred,i`m afraid you bought too late a model of Merc.

Everyone knows Mercedes` quality dipped about 5,000 years ago.

 

[fredfloggle]

Mine does have holes in the floor for Fred and Barnies feet - does that count ?
Yep , I have to agree with you , those old motorized Portacabins that countg as old model Mercs , run on and on , after all , it is only round things in holes , going up and down , with a Zippo and a squirt of petrol , and a few old cogs - the human race can swap giblets at a moments notice , and put a man on the moon , God forbid they should actually build a £30K motor car that doesn't fall to bit and rust through in 3 years .
My poor old Mitsubishi has sat for nearly 6 months , but it will still run and not shed paint at every corner in the road .
Thank you MB , I really appreciate what you are doing .
Before I get butchered for this , I write industrial control software for a living , and this sort of spurious fault wouldn't be acceptable as it seems to be with MB..............

 

[esox]

, God forbid they should actually build a £30K motor car that doesn't fall to bit and rust through in 3 years .
My poor old Mitsubishi has sat for nearly 6 months , but it will still run and not shed paint at every corner in the road .
Thank you MB , I really appreciate what you are doing .
.............

I`m guessing you`ve got a W210.......

Check out my sig - the C220 estate i bought new thinking i had a car which i could keep for 10-15 years of family related motoring abuse.
Wrong.
It was ****e.
Kept it seven months....

Changed tack.
CLK 230.
Could`nt believe i payed so much for a car that delivered so little.
Embarrassed i wasted so much money.

Now - 22 year old CE.Its everything you expect of a traditional Merc.Built like a brick ****ehouse,lovely,soft,wallowy(comfortable) suspension,lazy handling/steering,easy-going (but brisk enough) engine.


I now waft about in an aura of eclectic superiority,secure in the knowledge that some folk have spent ££££`s more on a motor that is mundane,annonymous and completely banal.

We live and learn,sometimes it costs though...

 

[fredfloggle]

Well , I took the vehicle to an Independent today -
Do you know , when you get a feeling that you should turn around and walk out - that you should actually do just that .

The guy had junk all over the place - it wasn't the biggest unit in the world , but Lord knows how he can work like it -
The first job was ATF fluid and filter , I tried to mention that I also wanted the torque converter drain , but he growled at me and told me it wasn't possible - there was no drain plug on late model C class boxes - I wasn't really in a position to argue , but at least the filter is changed and he got 4 litres of nasty looking oil out of it .
Now we come to the SRS light , he diagnosed that supposedly the Drivers Door airbag ignition system had had a high resistance - but wouldn't attempt to do a reset and see if the fault had cleared down - I told him that one of the seat connections had come off - and I had replaced it with the ignition off , but he was reticent to try a reset .
Have been quoted £90 for the airbag (which doesn't seem too bad) , but £150 labour which does seem over the top . The job is a walk in the park - but of course I am stuck because of the dreaded STAR reset after .
Thought about it a bit and spoke to MB in Milton Keynes where a very nice lady said that she also though it unusual for this fault on a fairly new car , and opened a case - she said that I could take the car to the local dealer and they would see what the problem was ( I wonder if they will just attempt to reset it ?)
Anyway , let's see if MB customer service redeems the situation a bit .

 

[Spin_bowler]

I'd be interested to know how you get on with the M-B MK as my SRS warning light made an appearance on Saturday and after disappearing briefly has decided to "light up my life" permanently. I think I can count 8 airbags and 5 sets of pre-tensioners, not to mention the auto isofix sensors that could be at fault... I watch with baited breath.

Cheers

 

[fredfloggle]

I'll let you know how I get on with MB but......
I spoke with the guy at talktomycar with a view to buying a scanner to reset the fault - typically he didn't know if the scanner would be capable of resetting the fault - yes , I know that the SRS system should be working in its entirety , but when a spurious fault sets the light permanently , this isn't on , particulalry when MB want £108 to push the button , it may well be worth paying £75 for a scanner , that could be "hired" to other sufferers .

 

[PeterE320Cdi]

My SRS light came on last week and has not gone out yet so I am taking the car into an indi on Thursday and will let you know how it goes.

 

[GazCaff]

Well , I took the vehicle to an Independent today.....

The guy had junk all over the place - it wasn't the biggest unit in the world......

It wasn't near Preston was it?


Sorry, the temptation was too much to resist!

 

[Ian B Walker]

It wasn't near Preston was it?


Sorry, the temptation was too much to resist!

Gareth, a word Sir.

 

[GazCaff]

Sorry, I shall retract my comment through fear of no bacon butty!

 

[richard]

which is all this can be on a less than 3 YO

If its less than 3 years old, assuming it was a UK supplied car, then its under MB UK warranty.

Mosey on down to the local Mercedes dealer and they should sort it out for you, with no charge .. including changeing airbags if they are dodgy

If it was the passenger side seat connector that was disconnected, that will cause the SRS light - because there is the 'airbag off' child seat detector in there - in fact, its probably linked to the seatbelt switches so either connector being disconnected probably causes the SRS light.

I;m not sure how the indi determined it was a 'drivers door airbag' fault without a Star diagnosis machine (or equivalent) - and then wouldnt reset the fault - local dealer will plug star machine in and it wil tell it past and present faults..

The 'scanner's that are £75 only do engine/emissions related stuff (EOBD/OBD-II) not all the other manafacturer specific systems ..

R

 

[fredfloggle]

Thanks Richard -
Actually , I have got the hump with MB a bit - over a hundred quid to tell me what I already know is pushing it a bit - the independent guy who stuck it on STAR could have reset it , I'm sure , but obviously for commercial reasons he didn't want to . He has quoted £90 for the 'bag and £165 for fitting - he is going to do the steering angle sensor at the same time which had reported a fault , but then cleared down .

I would love to find a diagnostic package for the car that would allow a reset of the SRS system - no one seems to know what to use , or indeed if anything is actually available .

MB however will be getting my wrath with the corrosion issue - but that is another story.....

For reference , the guy who did the STAR diag and gearbox oil change is down south , he shall remain nameless for now as I need him , but he would make a much better impression if he threw the junk out , the place looked like a scrappy .

I'd love to hear from anyone who has had such a problem , and who successfully dealt with it without open wallet surgery .

 

[jwarren]

When you say down south - are you from that neck of the woods. there is a good MB indy near Brighton called Thwaites (www.thwaitesgarage.co.uk) and have been recommended by many on here, I have used them for servicing and been always spot-on

 

[fredfloggle]

Not quite that far down south ( herts/ N London) , but thanks anyway .
The guy I have a bit of a downer on has good feedback here so let's stick with him for the time being . He would have got better feedback if he through out all the old junk !!

 

[jwarren]

Being untidy may mean he is happier fixing cars than being good at housekeeping!!! Good luck in the search for that elusive STAR and answer!

 

[richard]

Thanks Richard -

But is it the car < 3 years old, or is it now over that and out of MB warranty ?

I'd still be asking for goodwill on some of this from a MB dealer .. aribags should last more than 3 years.

And asking the dealer to quote on changing the airbag ... (or to price match your independant at least)

165 for fitting a door airbag sounds rather excessive ... Its pretty quick to pop the door card off - (theres another thread about that on the interior forum). The part seems right, mercedes-benz-parts.co.uk says #90.54
(+ VAT ..)


Theres a good indi in Poole called star-tech

R

 

[PeterE320Cdi]

Popped into the garage tonight, they read and cleared the fault codes to turn off the SRS light.

Turns out 2 codes were showing, one of them is the passenger seat sensor, I can not remember the other one.

I think the idea is that one problem can cause other faults to show so by using it till the light comes on again hopefully only 1 fault will show so pinpointing the real problem.

I am happy for now, no annoying red light and tonights garage trip cost me £0's

 

[fredfloggle]

Popped into the garage tonight, they read and cleared the fault codes to turn off the SRS light.

Turns out 2 codes were showing, one of them is the passenger seat sensor, I can not remember the other one.

I think the idea is that one problem can cause other faults to show so by using it till the light comes on again hopefully only 1 fault will show so pinpointing the real problem.

I am happy for now, no annoying red light and tonights garage trip cost me £0's

Oh shut up !! you make it worse ! gone are the days when people do things for free (at least for me).

Actually _ checked back at when I first notified the fault to the people I bought it from - and guess what ? inside 3 years . I've notified MB , and I'll chase them up on Monday and see if they want to play ball .

 

[automaniac]

Is it possible that all that old junk is spare parts left over from different jobs your mechanic has done I used to always have lots of those... However, on a serious note I now live in constant fear of similar electrical faults appearing on my W210. Having just paid nearly £600 to get the ignition barrel fixed at a main stealership, it certainly makes you fearful to ever go back there again, oh for the good old days of points and feeler guages life was so much simpler then

On another note, Richard mentions a good indi in Poole, can you say where it is?? As I live in Bournemouth and he would be useful to me to have in my address book, Thanks