I have a 2001 C320 and have recently replaced the alternator and the battery. If the car is not driven a whole day, the battery dies. How do I find out what could be draining the battery? A friend of mine said something about the driver's side seat memory needs to be replaced often in this model? Also, I have a clunking noise in the front end of the car, mainly on the driver side whenever I go over a bump or not so smooth road surface. It is rather loud and annoying. Does anybody know what could be causing this? I read something about lubricating the sway bar??? The car is not under warranty anymore so if I can do any of the work myself that would be great!!

 

You don't need to lubricate the bushings on the anti-sway bar links. In fact, you shouldn't. Lubricants can damage them.

It may be loose or maybe a bushing is missing or a mounting bolt is loose or gone. I'd jack it up and get under there. Grab and bang everything that is bolted or screwed on trying to find something loose. Use a rubber hammer and wear some rugged gloves so you don't look like a bloodied knuckle-dragger afterwards.

 

Thanks, I will do that this weekend.

So could the sway bar bushings need replacing? I think I read another string on this site where if the sway bar bushings are bad you will get a clunking noise. Do you have any advice about the battery drain?

 

Yeah, a bushing(s) may be worn or even missing. Replace the whole set (all links on both sides) if you find a bad one. I'm not sure you can even buy bushings in less than a set. I've always bought them in a set.

Electrical gremlins. I don't want to go there. I know there are few existing threads on battery drain. Try doing a search. If you can't find anything, yell really loud and someone will help.

 

Thanks!!! Do you know of a good place to buy the bushing sets? Some of the online parts places that I have found don't list sway bar bushings.

 

I couldn't say. Just keep looking. You might have to go through an MB dealer to get OEM bushings. Anywhere else, be careful. Urethane, or high-performance bushings are very hard. They improve handling around corners but they will squeak at low speeds like around parking lots, and when you go over speed bumps and stuff like that. If you can stand the squeaking, they "feel" the best.

 

Oh! One other thing. The suspension needs to be loaded when you check underneath. The best way is to use ramps. If you jack the car up and leave the wheels hanging, the geometry will be radically different from when it goes down the road. A loose part may not be loose when the suspension is unloaded.

 

Thanks for your help! I will try this out this weekend and let you know what I find. Now if I can find out what is draining the battery!!![:@]

 

remove the fuse for the electric seat adjustment for just 3 days to test.

you can find it on the outer left side of the dashboard (facing the door).

 

Thanks, Sleepwalker. There are 3 fuses for each the driver's side and passenger's side seat on the fuse chart, fuse 1, 2, 21, 22, 37 and 38. Fuses 1 and 2 are not located in the fuse box next to the driver's side door. Do I take them all out or just one?