zondaf355

Hello,
Hopefully I will be joining th C55 club very soon however I am a bit hesitant to pull the trigger by simply not having a ton of knowledge on this platforms trouble spots.

I am only looking at cars with all scheduled maintenance but what specific areas of the car are known to be issues around 100K miles?

I own and have owned several BMs but this would be my first Mercedes.
Any help is greatly appreciated!

winks911

Ok here are a few...

1.Engine Mount
2.Trans mount.
3.All suspension arms up front.
4.If it has a miss fire, coils, plugs,wires,maf sensor intake hoses and throttle body needs a good clean.
5.Rocker cover gaskets.
Great cars even with high mileage I currently have two one with 60k and the other has 155k miles and they both run great I love the higher mileage one it just feels like it has so much life left in it.

Smokey31

Also check for clicking noises once the engine is turned on. its a very expensive/time consuming fix as its the motors in the heaters and stuff and it needs the whole dash out.

wawy

CPS (Crank Position Sensor)
Voltage Regulator

Both are known to go eventually. Not a major issue to replace. Some do it as preventative maintenance..
Overall, the C55 is pretty rock solid! Since my time on MBworld, I've only come across one or two that had experienced anything catastrophic...

I've had my valve cover gaskets replaced and that's about it. Definitely look for that problem on any potential purchase. Again, not a huge issue to replace..

If you're somewhat mechanical you can do a lot of these things yourself.

wawy

Oh, you can check for any wobble on the crank pulley when the engine is running. Also, a few owner's have had to replace their rear main seal due to some leaking (rare), but this happens to many vehicles eventually..

zondaf355

Thank you all for your helpful and interesting comments.
The car that I am in the process of acquiring seems to have had most of, if not all, the preventative maintenance mentioned above recently completed so I am hoping that this is good purchase. I love the way these cars feel, sound and that low down torque is simply addictive.

Thanks again for your feedback and I am very excited about this acquisition. I plan to pick the car up next Tuesday...no much sleep until then it's looking like!

Few other quick questions...
1. What do you guys find to be the most reasonable exhaust modification for the C55? I am really after a higher level of the volume while maintaining that excellent stock tone.

2. What width of wheel spacers are you able to run on a 19 inch wheel with 235 fronts/255 rears?

Thanks again

wawy

This forum contains a wealth of information and mostly everyone is here to help!

"What do you guys find to be the most reasonable exhaust modification for the C55? I am really after a higher level of the volume while maintaining that excellent stock tone."

I removed my resonator. If I could do things again, however, I think I would have just deleted my secondary cats only. I sometimes think my C55 has too much of a drone with the resonator gone. Removing the secondary cats will give you more sound and a bit of a performance gain too (at least on a C55).


"What width of wheel spacers are you able to run on a 19 inch wheel with 235 fronts/255 rears?"

It probably depends a lot on the rims, offset, even tire brand (i.e. square sidewall vs more rounded profile). I currently run 10mm spacers front and back on my stock 18’’ AMG rims.

zondaf355

This forum seems to be very positive and mature unlike others I'm members of...
The car that I am looking at has the secondary cat delete so I will drive like this and see how she growls...

Thanks again for the great insight into C55 ownership!

alpha motoring

To add tot he lists above go ahead and replace the 13-pin connector on the transmission if it hasn't been done. You do not want oil to get into the hardness, it's not fun cleaning it out.

Other than that the fuel sender/aux pump do have some issues and leaks gas when you have a full tank.

joc

Hello Guys, Thanks for all the information you gave the potential new member, he will now be a member. I just drove down to Joplin from Kansas City and sold him my C55, all the service items you all suggested I had done, so he was happy.
Thanks again
John