Hello All,
I am a new C 280 owner,,, getting my share of concerns...
Belt tensioner torque shock went out, already.. Now I am having issues with the gages not working....

The fuel one reads empty when full, then starts working, just don't trust it..same as the temp gage..

my other concern is the idle... sometimes it is very ruff once the car heats up.. runs great on teh road, but when you stop at a light it lerches forward and feels as if it will stall.. Once you go to take off it feels as if it is flooding?

anyone have any idea's???

THANKS!

 

What exactly do you mean by a tensioner torque shock? If you are referring to the harmonica balancer there is a recall on practically all 99 and 00 C280 with the V6. It started back in May and there are over 100K cars involved. I just got mine at the beginning of December. On the letter it said any other damaged cause by the bad tensioner will also be fixed under the recall. In my case the sepentine belts was going and was replaced under the recall. But a tensioner torque shock? The difference was amazing when I got my car back. I had a tapping that came and when in the engine, that is gone now, the engine is quiet as a mouse, before it was a bit noisy. Also the auto start feature works all the time, and the car seems to run much better then it did.

 

Well, I can only go by what the parts guy told me.. by the way it is a 94 model...
I looks like a little shock and it is conected to the top of the engine block and then goes down in front of the water pump and mounts to something... I was told it had something to do with the belt tensioner.. Honeslty not sure....
The parts guy sent me a photo of it and sure enough it was right....

I did some modifications to it since it was rattling like a broke rocker arm... making a TON of noise... some rubber tape held it for now... they are supposed to change it out for me this week...

Just wish i could figure out the gas and temp gauges.... on and off... drives me crazy....
thanks for the response.

 

I have a 99 C280 with the V6 and just had my harmonic tensioner replaced under a recall for V6 cars produced in 99 and 00.

As far as the temp and other gauge. Try this first. disconnect the negative ground to the battery for 10 minutes no less than. reconnect and see if the gauges come back. This might not work on a 11 year old 0bd car, but saves a lot of dealer trips on OBDII cars. Or it could be corrosion, check the fuses and fuse box, there should be a couple of screws holding it. Disconnect the negative battery cable when you do this. if there is corrosion, not rust, electical corrosion is usually whitish in color, get a copper or soft metal tool and gentle clean the contacts. Or go to radio shack and get some contact spray and have something to dry the stuff with, like long Q tips, that radio shack sells. Or use plain old alcohol and the Q tips. reconnect and see what happens. Also, check the sensors for corrosion, I don't know where they are on a your car. I sure someone on the board can add to this. I had a speedometer needle that was bouncing up and down, two things werre wrong corrosion and the cable was old, 79 450SLC. I had some hydraulic oil and disconnected the cable and poured it down the cable, messy job, but so far it works. There is no precedences of what kind of lubrication to use on something like this so I had the jacke oil and used it. A lot of folks will use ATF on a noisy blower, so would I. NEVER use motor oil.

 

Thanks a million. I will look into all of those item... Wish I could find a Chiltons or something, however no one that I have found makes one...
May be the same part as a Harmonic tensioner... Not sure.. if it is on the top right side of the motor and it looks like a shock or a hatch back strut it is the same item... it is only 40 bucks, but a pain to get to .....time will tell!!!

THANKS AGAIN!!!!

 

Your welcome. Chilton does offer one in the UK on the C280. try Mercedes enthausiast magazine, available at Barnes and Nobles. they might have an add for it. But this is probably for Euro models, which can be different from US models.

 

Ok tried cleaning what I felt was the electrical plugs for the fuel sensor and the Temp.
Fuel plug was easy to find.. right on the back side of the tank..
Temp, well I am guessing it is the one on the water pump...
Neither one worked.. still no gages... even tried to disconect the gage at the dash... need to replace some bulbs back there anyway..
So next will be the sensors themself...

I did take some hints form this forum regarding the air filter under the dash.. WOW it was nasty... if you have never cleaned it is suggest you do.. NIGHT AND DAY DIFFERANCE in air volume!!!!

anyone have an idea on the water temp sensor is located on a 94 C 280 Please let me know..


THANKS!!!!