I am the proud new owner of a 1996 Mercedes Benz E320 with 48,000 miles on the odometer. According to 2nd owner, the car was parked outside the house most of the time - the amount of dirt and bird droppings were evidence of that. It's black with grey leather interior. The car runs strong and shifts perfectly.
Prior to owning my first Benz, I had a 2000 BMW 323ci. I've been a member of E46.com for a few years and hope to make as many friends over here as I did there. A few things were pointed out to me when I took it to Mercedes to get an inspection - They said the water pump was making a funny noise when rpm's went up & would probably need to be replaced pretty soon, my rear tail light assembly had "burnt" contacts on it due to the heat out here in Phoenix, AZ and eventually need to be raplaced, my catalitic converter will need to be replaced, and its due for a 45K inspection.
Well, being the DIYer I am, I did all the maintenance work on my bimmer - I wish to continue the same on my Mercedes. Any DIY's for: Rear tail light assembly, water pump, air filter, any other filters in the engine compartment, 45K maintenence, removal of the Cluster to replace bulbs???
I'm also planning on replacing the stock stereo for aftermarket & will need some instructions on how to remove door panels and stereo.

- Jesse

 

TRy unpluging the taillight holder, and clean the contact with alcohol and a sanding pen (Pep boys and other car parts have them in body depart.) and clean each contact, as they bulb assemblies are expensive, Also spread the contacts apart if there are two for a bulb, that's how they fry.Benz makes cheap assembles for taillights. I use a K&N filter and I am very happy with it. I clean it twice a year, follow instructions carefully, no other filters I know of under hood. Inside there are cabin filters, but can't help with locations, as the E and C like I own are different. Water pump should be near the front timing cover, unless it is electric, then it would off to the side. To replace cluster lights you need a cluster puller, available on Ebay. It is a tedious job and you need to be careful, replace all bulbs not just one that is burnt out, as you don't want to take the cluster out too much. No owners manual? Probably a B service, call a dealer they can tell you and also what needs to be done. The stereo, if it is a BOSE you need to get special pullers, also on Ebay, don't know about other brands. The BOSE has pull inserts on either side on bottom of radio head and they are wide and not round. Not that easy, as these cars have BENZ only type set ups on a lot of electronics.