"Nonnawagon" The Trousers Mercedes S204 C180 Estate.

[Snake Charmer]

Edit: This is a bit of a long ramble. Being fatigued and combination chemotherapy and a couple of Whiskey Mac's didn't help the edit.

We bought this S204 last year to replace the VW Golf MkIV 1.6 as the arrival of twin grandchildren required a arger Nonnawagon. Had to be ULEZ as Nonna was still working just within Heir Khan's regime and I needed it for horsepiddle in Carshalton every 3-6 month at the time, currently weekly with driver.

The Golf should have had it's own thread too, proper Autoshite, a really tidy car given to me with a cooked catalytic converter and melted valves. I was later given an identical 1.4 that l had kept on the road shoestring style for friends until it was not financially viable to Mot and a replacement bought. I built one from two and it stood me in £145 in parts on the road not including brief. After the sale of a few wee bits off the 1.4 and weighing in at a good price, change found with and fuel drained it was the car that kept giving. I ran it for a while then the Vauxhall Rectum CDTI 150 threw a driveshaft and it became The Trousers daily. 5 years and 26k miles later a friend l grew up with has it at a bargain price and l shared the proceeds with the old friend who donated it to me. He bought lunch that day, much of it liquid! 🍻

The S204 came up on a Mercedes forum and sat a while. I was tempted a couple of times by S203 C55 estates that come up occasionally but as a Trousers daily not financially practical. A price drop gleaned a little more interest with HID and we trundled off to Poole in my S211 for a butchers. Apart from being automatic, it went down well and we brought it home. Once home we bought it, the seller let us take the car with a small deposit and funds transfer next day. Trusting or fekkin desperate? 😁

Needs a bit of work to keep on top of things. Blown 3 H7 bulbs as the Sport suspension wipes out the Night Breakers that were fitted and a fog lamp bulb. One fog lamp bulb holder has suffered from heat, must have been owned by a fog lamp wanker at some stage.

The Carshalton horsepiddle trip hammered the front drop links and Sachs rear dampers to buggery, Febi drop links through work and Bilstein B4 rear dampers from Autodoc have stopped the knock knock knocking on heavens door.

Needs a decent set of tyres as they are all budget from memory, a wheel refurbishment and 4 wheel alignment. Wheels are AMG line from factory with the Sport suspension, Sport body kit and rear badge delete. No parking sensors for Mrs Brady unfortunately but a leccy tailgate and no awful satnav just Bluetooth for the phone as that's all the Nonnawagon needs for connectivity as she knows where she is going.

Head rests need looking at before Mot as showing a fault and blowing a fuse. Latest is lack of blower boost, no EML showing either so she may have problem with her boost flaps.  Oerrr missus. At least it's not like darts night 7 up in her Sierra 2.0 GLS where her flaps were dragging. (Titter ye not.)

I find the car a bit small in the cockpit area, plugging the seat belt is a bit of a search due to the wide centre console and me being a lump now.  I also think it resemblesa Vectra inside   compared with my S211. Definitely would have been a nicer drive with a V6 compared to the 1.6 Kompressor but it is returning over 30mpg without the blower blowing.

There's a shite repair n/s rear and a bit of lacquer work needs doing on the roof rail trim. I hit some animal that ran under the A308 central barrier on the way home one night and damaged the front o/s bumper and wing. A dirty paving slam some cnut dropped in the dark wet Sainsburys car park smashed the n/s undertray, ironically l worked in that car park area when it was Petter Diesels Causeway site mid 80's. Where the slab was cannot be far from the boiler chimney l used to sleep behind!

 

[Tickman]

On 01/05/2026 at 20:30, Snake Charmer said:

Head rests need looking at before Mot as showing a fault and blowing a fuse.

What kind of nonsense is having a fault with your headrests!

[Cookiesouwest]

44 minutes ago, Tickman said:

What kind of nonsense is having a fault with your headrests!

The wonderful world of Mercedes

 

[Snake Charmer]

2 hours ago, Tickman said:

What kind of nonsense is having a fault with your headrests!

NECK-PRO "luxury head restraints" apparently! 🤣 

l disconnected the power supply to each seat a while back as the fuse was blown with the intention of fault finding and the dash fault codes disappeared. Must have been a coincidence as they came back a few days later for left and right head rest faults. Shows a fault code with a reader and l have until the end of August to dive into that rabbit hole. 

Nonnawagon went babysitting last night and reported back the boost seems to have returned. I had stored codes but no management light has been seen, clearing them was all l did then Googlefoo to see where the boost pressure control flap lives. Expensive bit to replace, can be dismantled for an internal inspection and cleaning.

I will order the gaskets and have it apart, trouble is the car is needed Mondays for Nonna sitting and Fridays for hospital. Currently our only car and needs to be ULEZ so if l break anything we are a bit screwed, running without boost is a safer option.

I did have one little win, removing the tailgate struts and lubing the ball and sockets has stopped the coffin lid sound which gained a few Brownie Points. 😇

[Snake Charmer]

I drove Nonnawagon last night for vital beer supplies and boost is back, hospital today and boost still there. I still think it's a bit wimpy for the claimed power output. 

The expensive Yuasa battery voltage was not great using the laptop and needed the engine running so that is getting a proper check and might be under warranty with Half-assed-fords. I ordered one before the previous owner reminded me it was fitted 2022 with a 5 year guarantee. Knowing what my S211's play up like with low battery voltage l will swap it out before starting any further diagnostics or dismantling.