Engine and transmission mounts
LCD lighting in the dash (left and right of the main display) they lose pixels.

 

Indeed as for mentioned.
And the dash cluster does lose a few pixels. But you can get those fixed.

Funnily enough, I got my CLK when it had about 82k on the clock and it's still as tight as a drum.

The only thing I had to deal with was a cracked gear box caseing.

I noticed the gear box area was wet with oil underneath the car when I had it jacked up to remove a heat shield (heat shields can work themselves loose and cause annoying rattles at certain revs!)
My guy a MB was quite surprised at this discovery and said that it may be the seals of the gear box caseing. Upon closer inspection, he discovered the caseing had a crack in it that may have been caused by a casting fault when the caseing was made. I believe this to be an isolated case.

He was kind enough to order a new caseing from Germany, take the guts out of the old caseing and re-install them into the new one. Not a job that I'd fancy. He's quite the doctor of mercedes!

 

The normal wear items to watch for at this stage will include:

• Both motor mounts
• Trans mount (especially if the motor mounts are ignored)
• Brake light switch
• Possibly the differential side seals
• Flex dics

Not so normal:

• U.S. owners report problems with the catalytic converters, but the non-US converters appear to be a different design
• Power seat motors

With the exception of the cats, these items are not expensive. The cats need to be replaced when the ceramic cores separate from the metal shells. You can tell they're bad when they rattle just off idle.

 

Adding to the list:

- Battery Voltage Regulators (semi-recall item)
- Crankshaft Position Sensor
- Purge Canister causing a flashing low fuel light.

 

If you have a Cabriolet then you might experience what I'm experiencing with one of my hydraulic pumps or lines leaking in the folding cover top case.

 

Or, in our case, leaking cylinders and then a total rollbar assy. failure.

 

i have a 2002 mercedes benz clk 430 and it has a faint ..i would'nt say vibration, but a minor wobble if you will that you can feel when its idleing. could this be from bad motor mounts?? the engine moves when you give it gas, but NOT alot. is that normal? could it also be from a bad transmission mount?? please help

 

Check your spark plugs and wires. I just changed mine and the wobble that you describe was what I was having as well. After the "surgery" of spark plugs the wobble is 50% of what it once was! I'm sure the motor mounts are getting close to death, but I don't mind it too bad.
-ZRT

 

If the mounts are ok and oft are, then the wobble you are feeling is bad combustion and can be caused by many things, ie

Spark plugs
fuel injectors
Fuel pump
Fuel regulator
Vacuum leak
Dirty throttle valve

Trust me the list goes on and on. OH and in the trade we say bad motor mounts =vibration but shakes means bad combustion. Two different problems. The shakes can be bad mounts and/or bad combustion but vibration is bad mounts.