[tusabes]

After owning two w220 sedans and five w215 cl coupes , I thought it might be helpful to create a thread for new owners regarding how to familiarize yourself with the S class w220 and cl class w215 Mercedes . And bring it up to a current maintenance standard to have a smooth and reliable car for years to come .

first off , welcome ! You’re here in the w220 forum which means you found us other owners on the internet. Maybe you came to get help with a problem or maybe you just came to show off your car , we love to see pics and there’s a thread stuck at the top of the forum where you can post pics !

if you came here because of a problem you’re facing ,first need to get some baseline info . If you don’t have the service history records for your car there are some cheap ways to get it . I like badvin.org
BADVIN - VIN reports for everybody. Salvaged, damaged, used cars. Auction lots history.

for $9 (or $5 if you buy a 10 pack of reports) you can get a full report that shows prior sales of your car , as well as the carfax service history . Get the report

Have you pulled a carfax or badvin report Already ? The next way to get more service history is from Mercedes dealer , get a VMI report (vehicle master inquiry ) which shows all repairs your car ever had at any Mercedes dealership . This is becoming less useful as our cars age and most owners no longer get service at a dealership. Only some dealers will share a vmi with you , so you’ll need to ask around .

ok so now you know the service history of your car , so now it’s time to get it serviced and start buying parts . I like rockauto.com, autohausaz.com and fcpeuro.com

out of all three I prefer fcpeuro as they provide a lifetime warranty on all parts and free shipping over $49. You should avoid Amazon and eBay , even if they are a few bucks less, because many counterfeit parts are sold on those sites . Yes these days even Spark plugs and other cheap auto parts are counterfeited!!

ok so now you know the service history of your car and know where to buy parts so now its time to start buying parts !

if you are experiencing a problem , check this forum for other similar problems . Most w220 problems are common . Also check YouTube and w220.ee

we seem to see most problems being electrical in nature , either due to water damage or a weak battery .

once you’ve solved any immediate problems , now you want to bring up the car to current Maintenance of wear parts and fluids so you’ll have many miles of trouble free driving .
First off is fresh fluids and filters.

If the service history doesn’t indicate the brake fluid , coolant , transmission fluid and abc fluid (if your car has abc) have been changed in the last 3+ years , it’s time to change all the fluids and filters . While you are changing the transmission fluid also change the 13 pin connector that’s notorious for leaking .

If the service history doesn’t indicate the Belt has been changed , or you notice any wear on the belt , change the belt along with the tensioner and idler pulley . It’s good preventative maintenance that will keep you from being stranded


now it’s time to buy parts that are common failure items on these cars , the airmatic relay and the crank position sensor. You don’t have to change them now , you can either keep them in the glovebox for emergency so the parts are in hand , or you can change them now and keep the old ones as emergency backup .

now let’s look at rubber parts that wear with age , and here we are talking mainly about the suspension bushings , and tires and engine /tranny mounts and flex disc and driveshaft center support bearing . Look for worn or cracked rubber , vibrations , uneven tire wear , squeaks when going over bumps etc. replace all worn parts.

 

[Dave2302]

After owning two w220 sedans and five w215 cl coupes , I thought it might be helpful to create a thread for new owners regarding how to familiarize yourself with the S class w220 and cl class w215 Mercedes . And bring it up to a current maintenance standard to have a smooth and reliable car for years to come .

Excellent write up

Also, when buying any MB with as much Electronics it makes financial sense to buy SDS ($500 clone) and do all your own maintenance, certainly avoid main dealerships like the plague, most will just fleece you because they don't like working on older Cars !!

If you really don't have a clue, find a good Mercedes Independent Garage, regular Garages have very little knowledge of these Cars

 

[tusabes]

And now for a list of common problems and easy fixes

1. your Battery is dead and you can’t get in the trunk ? There’s a power point under the passenger floor .

Don’t jump start the car from this point , just apply power so you can pop the trunk and charge the battery directly

2. your carpets in the rear are wet or you are getting strange electrical problems after a rain or car wash ? Your reed valve has clogged

and water is under your carpet damaging your rear SAM. You need pull up the carpet front and rear to dry it out . You can’t dry it out From the top of the Carpeting .

3. you step on the accelerator but your car barely accelerates? Your electronic pedal has gone bad . Only buy a new one as most used ones are defective

4. your windows and Seats Have stopped working ? Your door control module has died (the power seat switches in the door are what’s called the door control module )

5. your car just cranks but won’t start ? And it will start back up after several hours when cold ? Then your crank position sensor went bad .

6. your instrument cluster lighting went out ? Several repair services on eBay can fix it for you

Mercedes W220 Instrument Cluster - how to remove and replace.

This applies to 2000-2005 S500 and S430 models.The video shows how to remove the cluster, causes of a bad cluster, where to send it for repair service, and h...

youtu.be

 

[tusabes]

Just to give you an idea of how common these problems are :
1. My accelerator pedal on my cl600 failed , I replaced it with a used one and that one too failed after about a year
2. My Reed valve in my s430 clogged , causing severe water damage
3. My crank position sensor in my s430 and Clk430 failed
4. My door control modules in my s430 failed
5. My instrument cluster lighting in my cl500 failed (actually purchased the car like that )

so while you might not experience all these common failures on the same car , after owning several of these cars ive found these are indeed common problems typical of the chassis .

 

[tusabes]

common Part numbers !
Airmatic relay - buy hella part 0025427219 (made in China $6 on fcpeuro )
Or Bosch part 0332019103
(Made in Portugal $4 on fcpeuro )

Crank position sensor - buy Bosch part
0261210170 (about $20 on rock auto or $25 on fcpeuro )

 

[Dave2302]

ive found these are indeed common problems typical of the chassis .

/\ /\ /\ I have found all those to be very common problems on the W220 / C215 Platform over a fair few years working on them.

The other common issue all UK MB Cars suffer with is RUST, RUST and more RUST, commonly inner and outer Sill and Jacking Point areas, inner and outer rear Wheel-arches, Boot Floor outer low down edges (Battery Box and opposite side) behind Bumper, Front Wing Wheel-arches and Wing to Bumper joint edge, Door bottoms, A Pillars, and Floorpan areas after water ingress

I'm currently welding up an old R170 to use as an R&D Car for my tuning projects, and oh boy although it was super cheap, I wish I'd just bought a solid one, this thing is like reconstructing the Titanic

Although it isn't actually costing me much in steel and welding consumables, I am also doing the labour in between other work, I currently have 50 hours in it, likely 20 more, and then I will still have the Rear Wheel inner and outer Arches to do Did I ever mention I hate welding up rust

To be fair the rest of the car is in VGC, it's all localised to Rear Arches and Chassis as far forwards as the Rear Jacking Points / inner Sills are.
I just keep telling myself the car is worth saving despite the fact I could have broken it up and sold the parts for 10 times more than I paid for it

 

[nationwideauto]

Excellent write up

Also, when buying any MB with as much Electronics it makes financial sense to buy SDS ($500 clone) and do all your own maintenance, certainly avoid main dealerships like the plague, most will just fleece you because they don't like working on older Cars !!

If you really don't have a clue, find a good Mercedes Independent Garage, regular Garages have very little knowledge of these Cars

I am ready to start looking for a well tested second hand one

 

[TitanBenz]

I think this thread deserves a sticky, thanks @tusabes

 

[Dave2302]

I thought I had done that, a lot going on, I will do it now .................

Done, thanks for reminding me

 

[tusabes]

A common problem to all v8 and v12 cars , whether E class S class CL class CLK class etc , are the motor mounts . They all use the exact same motor mounts

There is a factory upgraded part used in the Black Series clk63 that fits our cars


Here are the black series engine mounts part number 2402400817


Here is the cheapest place to get them
Newparts.com

 

[lloydjoe49]

can anyone help I put cables on the prefuse under the floorboard passenger side and there was a spaek I also put cables on the battery and the were sparks and now the key want turn at all in the ignition.

 

[cowboyt]

OK, if you're going to post something like this, then you've got to follow the forum etiquette.

First, punctuation matters. We dnt uz txtng grmr rnd hr n sch we're 2 31337 4 tht.

Second, we need you to fill out your user profile with at least the following information.

1.) Your specific model, and model year, of Mercedes-Benz
2.) Whether or not it's a 4Matic
3.) Your general location in the world (country is fine)

We ask for this because MB made certain options available only on certain models, during certain years, in certain countries, and we do have an international membership. So, we really do need that info to advise people. Also, it's considered "good manners" here on BenzWorld to complete your user profile with at least that info.

 

[Darryl's2003S430]

After owning two w220 sedans and five w215 cl coupes , I thought it might be helpful to create a thread for new owners regarding how to familiarize yourself with the S class w220 and cl class w215 Mercedes . And bring it up to a current maintenance standard to have a smooth and reliable car for years to come .

first off , welcome ! You’re here in the w220 forum which means you found us other owners on the internet. Maybe you came to get help with a problem or maybe you just came to show off your car , we love to see pics and there’s a thread stuck at the top of the forum where you can post pics !

if you came here because of a problem you’re facing ,first need to get some baseline info . If you don’t have the service history records for your car there are some cheap ways to get it . I like badvin.org
BADVIN - VIN reports for everybody. Salvaged, damaged, used cars. Auction lots history.

for $9 (or $5 if you buy a 10 pack of reports) you can get a full report that shows prior sales of your car , as well as the carfax service history . Get the report

Have you pulled a carfax or badvin report Already ? The next way to get more service history is from Mercedes dealer , get a VMI report (vehicle master inquiry ) which shows all repairs your car ever had at any Mercedes dealership . This is becoming less useful as our cars age and most owners no longer get service at a dealership. Only some dealers will share a vmi with you , so you’ll need to ask around .

ok so now you know the service history of your car , so now it’s time to get it serviced and start buying parts . I like rockauto.com, autohausaz.com and fcpeuro.com

out of all three I prefer fcpeuro as they provide a lifetime warranty on all parts and free shipping over $49. You should avoid Amazon and eBay , even if they are a few bucks less, because many counterfeit parts are sold on those sites . Yes these days even Spark plugs and other cheap auto parts are counterfeited!!

ok so now you know the service history of your car and know where to buy parts so now its time to start buying parts !

if you are experiencing a problem , check this forum for other similar problems . Most w220 problems are common . Also check YouTube and w220.ee

we seem to see most problems being electrical in nature , either due to water damage or a weak battery .

once you’ve solved any immediate problems , now you want to bring up the car to current Maintenance of wear parts and fluids so you’ll have many miles of trouble free driving .
First off is fresh fluids and filters.

If the service history doesn’t indicate the brake fluid , coolant , transmission fluid and abc fluid (if your car has abc) have been changed in the last 3+ years , it’s time to change all the fluids and filters . While you are changing the transmission fluid also change the 13 pin connector that’s notorious for leaking .

If the service history doesn’t indicate the Belt has been changed , or you notice any wear on the belt , change the belt along with the tensioner and idler pulley . It’s good preventative maintenance that will keep you from being stranded


now it’s time to buy parts that are common failure items on these cars , the airmatic relay and the crank position sensor. You don’t have to change them now , you can either keep them in the glovebox for emergency so the parts are in hand , or you can change them now and keep the old ones as emergency backup .

now let’s look at rubber parts that wear with age , and here we are talking mainly about the suspension bushings , and tires and engine /tranny mounts and flex disc and driveshaft center support bearing . Look for worn or cracked rubber , vibrations , uneven tire wear , squeaks when going over bumps etc. replace all worn parts.

Thank you for this great information! I have a 2003 MB S430.