Mercedes-Benz Problems

That’s not a huge mileage for an engine like this, and I wouldn’t expect to see timing chain stretch over that distance. However, it begs the question of how the vehicle has been serviced. Timing chains really should last the life of the car (or, at least, the engine) but if the engine hasn’t been treated to the correct oil changes and general maintenance, the timing chain can be one component that will suffer.

If the car was bought second-hand, it would be worth going through the service history to see if any scheduled servicing was skipped. This could be the root cause of the problem. It’s also important not to confuse a stretch timing chain with a worn chain tensioning system. The tensioner holds the chain tight, taking the slack out of it and allowing for some stretch to be taken up over the years of operation. If it fails or becomes weak, you might start to hear the chain rattling.

There hasn’t been a move by Mercedes-Benz Australia to fix this problem, which is not to say it hasn’t been noted by owners. But, really, a carmaker will only issue a recall for a fault or problem that represents a safety issue, which peeling door cards does not.

Sometimes, a manufacturer will issue what’s called a technical service bulletin which is like a recall but for non-safety related problems. Again, though, a floppy door card is unlikely to elicit that response. If you still have the trim pieces in question, a motor trimmer should be able to reattach them for you in a way that means they won’t come adrift again.

I’m not aware of a recall or class action over this problem, but it would definitely be worth talking to Mercedes-Benz’s Australian customer service department to see if there’s any help on offer. Provided the car has a complete service history, you might get a sympathetic ear, but, that said, don’t count on it.

The counter-argument you’ll likely be met with is that you should have been paying attention to the car’s temperature gauge and stopped the engine when it began to overheat. "That’s why cars have temperature gauges", will probably be the response at dealership level, but go straight over the dealer’s head and talk to head office.

According to the official government test, the 2002 C240 should return fuel consumption of 10.8 litres per 100km in city driving and 6.8 litres per 100km on the highway. In reality, of course, most drivers never get anywhere near these figures as they’re not based on real-world driving, rather a laboratory test. They do, however, serve as a comparison between makes and models given the test is identical for each vehicle.

Most owners of these cars seem to report using between eight and nine litres per 100km on a country drive and considerably more than that around the city and suburbs.

Yes, it is. For the record, this engine is a double-overhead camshaft design with four valves per cylinder, and produces 165kW of power and 510Nm of torque. It’s known amongst diesels for its smoothness and good fuel economy.

Any second-hand car can give you problems, and this era of Mercedes-Benz production was not exactly notable for its build quality or reliability. On the other hand, that’s an insanely small amount of money for a convertible with a Mercedes-Benz badge, isn’t it?

The first thing to check is the overall condition. You say it’s a 7 out of 10 car, so presumably it’s showing its age in a few areas. Make sure everything electrical works properly and don’t forget things like the air-conditioning and cruise-control, both of which can cost a bomb to put right. Make extra sure the convertible roof works as it should, and check for wind noise from the roof at speed which could indicate an alignment problem. These roofs can easily be knocked out of whack in a rear end or side-on crash, so it’s vital everything lines up. The service record is crucial in a car like this, too. If there’s evidence of skipped maintenance, think long and hard about the purchase. These cars are complex and won’t tolerate sloppy servicing.

So why are cars like his so cheap? Mainly because people are scared that any repairs or parts needed will cost the earth. And there’s a fair bit to justify those concerns. Even apparently simple things like the dashboard vents are often complex, vacuum operated horrors in this era of European luxury cars, and can destroy your household budget to repair. But if you can set aside some money for repairs, and you are prepared to walk away from the thing if it all gets too hard (and expensive) then there’s a lot to like about a second-hand luxury car. Especially one that cost about $120,000km on the road when brand new and is now available for a fraction of that.

This model A200 uses a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, which is more or less a manual transmission with a robot to operate the clutch and gearshift for you. So, if it feels like a manual, that’s kind of because it is.

However, the transmission should never jump, jerk or thump into gears. If it does, that suggests there’s some problem within the gearbox, possibly worn clutch-packs which, like those of any manual transmission, can wear prematurely if the car has been abused or treated to patchy maintenance. A Mercedes-Benz dealer should be able to run an electronic check on the transmission to see if there’s any evidence of wear or damage.

The law in Queensland suggests (because it’s not totally clear from the website) that you can fit larger wheels, although I couldn’t find a definitive limit to how much bigger you could go. But, the rules also state that the overall diameter of a replacement tyre on a car like the GLC 220d can be no more than 15mm more than the tyres fitted as standard to that car. So, while that suggest you could go up to 22-inch wheels (from the standard 20-inch wheels) the tyres fitted to them would have to be a much lower profile to keep within that 15mm diameter increase requirement.

This would have a fairly big impact on the cost of the tyres when you need to replace them, but also on ride quality as you’d be sacrificing a lot of sidewall flex with the lower-profile rubber. And there are other considerations: The replacement tyres can not be more than 1.3 times as wide as the standard tyres, must not protrude from the wheel arch at the straight-ahead and must maintain speedometer accuracy.

The best advice is to buy the new wheels and tyres through a proper tyre specialist who will be able to give you the full story on what’s legal, what’s not and what’s advisable. Plenty of car owners have discovered the hard way that the wrong replacement wheels and tyres can ruin the driving experience.

Anything is possible… provided you’re prepared to pay for it. It would certainly be technically possible to convert a Sprinter van to dual rear wheels, but you’d need to source a rear axle that both mounted the dual wheels as well as being compatible with the van’s existing suspension and braking systems. Perhaps there’s a version of the Sprinter (perhaps sold overseas) that would be a donor for such a thing, but you might need to look further afield to find the bits and pieces necessary for the conversion.

But even if you can physically make it all work, there’d be a significant cost in getting the modified vehicle re-engineered (and tested) to ensure that it was still safe to drive on public roads. Until then, the van would not legally be roadworthy. You might also find that your insurance company would take a fairly conservative view of such a conversion, too.

I think you’d need to budget several thousand dollars for such a project. Assuming the conversion was to increase the van’s payload, you might find that simply buying a different vehicle with the payload you require might be the simpler, cheaper route. Also, a Sprinter converted to dual wheels might be more difficult to unload when it’s time to trade up to a new vehicle.

This is an interesting one, because the actual battery on an ML350 is under the driver’s front seat, beneath the carpet in a little cubby hole under the floor. This is partly for better weight distribution but also for under-bonnet packaging, but it makes jump-starting or charging the battery a little bit more complex.

But Mercedes-Benz has thought this through and has provided one negative and one positive jump-point under the bonnet. You can locate them precisely by looking in the owner’s manual. By hooking a jump starter to these easily accessible posts, you can jump-start the vehicle without removing the carpet, floor and battery. As such, the same jump-points should also work as charge points for recharging the battery.