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How I turned a $1000 C240 into a reliable daily driver

2K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  Sevag 
#1 ·
I've always been a huge fan of the W203 chassis. I think it offers the best combination of size, handling, features and reliability and I recently picked one up for a steal during a snowstorm in January.

Silver on grey, MBTex, C240 RWD, 117k miles.




So why was someone willing to sell this car for next to nothing? This car burned oil, misfired, and had a parasitic draw. All headaches to deal with however I was able to resolve all of these problems over 2 weekends using products from my product catalog.

So the first problem I attacked was the oil burning. Both valve cover gaskets were leaking and the breather covers were clogged.

Using this kit I pulled the covers, cleaned them and resealed the breathers.
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mercedes-comprehensive-valve-cover-gasket-kit-oem-m112016




While doing the valve covers I realized one of the harnesses was routed in front of the water pump incorrectly and the serpentine belt was cutting into the insulation so I pulled the water pump to sort that out.

I used the water pump gasket located here:

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mercedes-engine-water-pump-housing-gasket-1122010180















Next on the list was a very common issue on these cars, the interior door handle.

I grabbed an orion gray door handle from Mercedes and got that installed in a half hour.









Next up was the misfire, cylinder 1 plug 'a' was not happy so I remedied that with a fresh set of plugs and wires and had the car running flawlessly.




https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mercedes-w112-ignition-kit-w112igkitoem


Lastly, the parasitic draw. This one kicked my ass because I made the mistake of trying to troubleshoot by connecting a meter in series and pulling fuses after the car went to sleep. The moment I connected in series I could not replicate the problem.







The car would not misbehave and the most I saw was a 10 milliamp draw. It was only after I decided to test by checking the voltage drop across the fuses that I was able to track to problem down to the teleaid/telematics unit and a sticking trunk switch. I did a video on this issue which I will publish this week.


I did a number of other short videos with the car that you can watch here:





And Mike did the serp belt video here:



All in all I enjoy the hell out of this car and for a very minimal investment I was able to turn this thing into a solid daily driver. If you would like to see more content around this platform, feel free to reach out to me

--Kyle







 
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#5 ·
With transmission dipstick when you insert it it gets stuck right before the bottom so you get a feeling that it hit bottom but that incorrect and show incorrect levelyou gotta wiggle it a little and it will go more to the bottom

Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk
 
#7 ·
Got a bulb malfunction light, naturally I thought I needed to replace the bulb. Bulb was fine, bulb socket not so much. Looks like some arcing burned a hole through the tab.





Also threw some Brembo pads at it, excellent value priced ceramic alternative to the Akebono's








Next up, rear left window regulator. What are you guys using to lube your sunroofs?

--Kyle
 
#8 ·
I used Moly Graph on my w124 300e when I did the sunroof lubing. I also used the same on my w123 300d
Don't buy into the hype about using special grease made by Mercedes
I use Moly Graph even on my antenna masts, but mainly to piss off purists who swear by Mercedes brand grease
 
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