balljoint
 

I have a 2000 c280 sport, I was told I have a loose ball joint. what do I need to tighten it and do I need a tool? I can do brakes, never did ball joint. also they said I needed my fuel injectors cleaned, any ideas? thanks again.

Loose balljoints should be replaced, not tightened or adjusted.

Sixto

Buy some injector cleaner and buy a better brand of gasoline.

If there is excessive play in the balljoint, replace it. It is a safety issue and must be taken care of. A ball joint failure will result in seperation of the front suspension and will be catastrophic.

i would get a second opinion on the ball joint.

is it rattling? seems like a pretty new car to need one.

tom w

the dealer service manager didn't seem worried about it, and he asked to tighten it, and to clean my injectors, wanted to charge380 dollars. so i said I would wait on that. when I drive the car seems fine.

He's trying to rip you off, you can not adjust ball joints, if the wear out they are replaced. As said above, get a second opinion.
Geo.

Seems like a pretty common thing the dealerships do -- how many miles on your c280?

We just had our 00 ML320 in for the cat. recall and they told us the same thing. Ball joints loose - R&R $980, spark plugs need replacing $520 (even though we just did them last year, but not at this dealership), etc. etc.

Those 202 chassis are about the easiest to do ball joints. If you have a day to get your hands dirty, and some basic tools, it's easy.

You need to remove the wheel, push the calipers in so it is easy for the pads to go over the lip on the rotor, remove the caliper and anchor as an assembly. To do this there is 2 19mm size bolts, remove those and the whole assembly will be moved, loosen the two torque bolts holding your ABS sensor, you do not have to remove them. Remove the dust cap and the spindle nut, a 5 mm Allen bolt squeezes the nut to not turn. With the nut off you can pull the entire hub and rotor assembly off. Then remove the 3 Allen bolts holding the backing plate on (5 mm), with that out of the way you can see the ball joint. Two 22 mm nuts hold it on. You will need a pickle bar and a decent sized hammer to remove the tapered ball joints. Reverse to put back on.
If you are not familiar with mechanics, find a shop. It should not cost much, 1.3hrs per side.

while they were in there adjusting your ball joint i bet they were going to adjust your muffler bearing for free!

tom w