Speedtrapped

Hi all....very excited to share that I am picking my CL65 Friday. Pewter with black interior...39k miles, with an aftermkt 3 year extended warranty. I am pumped, honestly this my 1st Mercedes. I haves owned a 911, several Audis..matter of fact I am selling my S8 for the amg. I still own an RS6. I love forced induction. So the car has been PPI'ed and is in great shape. I was told rear tires have about 30% tread left, any suggestion's on a decent street semi sticky tire?
Also what are the main maintenance items to be aware of?
I like to do some of the work on my cars and am a fairly competent garage mechanic. Is it diff to change oil on this car?
On my Audi I was able to buy a scan tool, is there something similar for Mercedes?
TIA,
Stephen

BestSL

Why just go three years on the warranty. I just bought a seven year 70k miles for a 2005 CL65. When i was looking at the prices, it payed to go longer. 7 was a no brainer when compared to the price of the 5 year. But the 7 was substantially more than the 3. Unless you want to save the money with the 3 year with a future plan to be selling it around the end of the period. I'm a new owner too and don't have much info on maintenance items. I like the michelin pilot sports for tires though. OEM tire and the treadwear number is 220. This is the general number rating the hardness of the rubber. All manufactures are not too consistent on this grading number from what I've read. Standards aren't consistent. I was looking at an SL65 that had 20's on it with a treadwear number of 160. They felt soft too, don't remember brand. They wouldn't have been good for too many miles I'm sure, but i'm sure they would stick really good. I'd go with the pilot sports with the 220 treadwear. Good trade off for some wearability and performance. Congrats and good luck!! We all love pics, show that baby off when you get it.

saintz

Oil change is very easy. Get an extractor (like Mityvac) and you can do a topside oil change (filter is on top, too).

An OBDII scanner will see most but not all fault codes. You can borrow or buy one at Autozone or other stores. Your Audi one will work if it's OBDII.

ABC suspension is the biggest single issue. Make sure the power steering/ABC reservoir is full. Also, change the transmission oil if it hasn't been changed yet.

Speedtrapped

Ty for the feedback. Topside oil change would be a first for me. Two follow up questions, what spec oil/filter? Powersteering fluid?....any good sites to buy?
I will post pics later today.

saintz

Parts.com or Autohausaz.com for the fluid and filter. Use the fleece filter, not paper (autohausaz gives you the choice).

Mobil 1 0W40 oil for the engine (get it at any auto store). Pentosin fluid for power steering (same system as the ABC suspension). This fluid is very expensive, so only needed if you're low. Merecedes or Fuchs oil for the transmission.

Amazon has the MityVac extractors. The dealers use a topsider. It makes it very easy.

To clarify, the power steering system and ABC suspension are both hydraulic. They use the same system, so the ABC reservoir is also the power steering reservoir. It is very picky about the fluid used, and requires Pentosin. If it runs low, it can run the pump dry and burn it out, which is very expensive.

Speedtrapped

Tyvm, very helpful

alx

Do not use extractor. Extractors are for boats. They use them just because there is no other way.

Extractors leave all the crud on the bottom of the oil pan... And especially on an amg motors which are prone to sludge to begin with this is even a bigger nono. Not to mention they do not suck all the oil out...

saintz

As stated before, the dealer uses an extractor. Here's why:

https://mbworld.org/forums/4573292-post9.html

Speedtrapped

turns out, the A service is required, and my local MB dealership quoted me $210.00?? I think not bad, oil change, air filter, check belts....

Speedtrapped

Pics......Driving her home tonight, 2 days early!

Patentmat

excellent!

rockykhan

beautiful ride...the best looking mercedes in my opinion.

CL500

Good looking car! Very nice color. Enjoy!

Speedtrapped

Ty, I am very excited, short trips so far, but she is a quiet beast....thankfully have built in K40 because the car is so quiet and smooth, 90 mph seems like 40. Might consider some aftermkt, maybe rims and a flash....

Mercedes22

Do not change the rims, those Titanium Wheels are exclusive to the CL65 and the SL65 and look great, and as they are nearly £ 4,000.00 ( $6,500.00 ) over in the UK they are also very expensive piece of kit .

Speedtrapped

I do like them, I may next month have them reconditioned, the gloss is peeling off the lips......and cheaper route to recondition....any exhaust suggestions, even just axle back, I run milltek on my Audi's and I like the sound

Becks Imports

You can get rid of the resonators, which will increase sound.

I'm a big Audi and MB guy too, are you active on Audiworld or Quattroworld?

There is a great shop in northern NJ called Broadway Performance, the owner's name is John Nouri. Tell him Bruce Mendel recommended you, you can reach him at 973-779-8405 (www.broadway-performance.com).

He's flashed several of my customer's AMG and 600-series cars for me, and he does lots of high-end tuning work on exotics and semi-exotics like AMG Benzes. Good guy, very easy to work with, etc.

Good luck!

Bruce

alx

have you seen the sludge in a racing boat oil pan? those are motors where the oil is extracted.

besides, i am not aware of a single mb dealer that extracts oil. the procedure in the wis states that oil is drained through the drain plug on the bottom.

Speedtrapped

Bruce-TYVM for the info....I know the shop, but have not used them. I am partial to Dion @ driveautoworks. I drive a heavliy modified RS6 that Dion and Aldwin have done a lot of work to.
For my tune I am using Eurocharge(he tuned my Audi, excellent) Jerry does excellent work, and I know he specializes in MB.
I spend a lot of time on RS6.com, rarely Audizine, but have heard quattroworld etc are better.
Best
Stephen

m_berman

There is no law against doing both. Also, just to be on the safeside, after draining add 2 quarts and they redrain, it should get most of the sludge at the bottom of the pan.

alx

wis IS the law

Speedtrapped

Update, I had to have mercedes dealership do the A service, due to inspection report for warranty transfer. Actually cheap, with coupon...$170.00 bucks. They did alert me to an oil leak. Ofcourse they did not investigate it. I asked oil pan, oil return, VC ?.... Not sure was the reply, when ur warranty transfer bring it back. Outside of oil leak, they said car is in excellent shape, and no codes.....

02cl55amg

3'' downpipes,no cats,3 in all the way back to a pair of Burns mufflers. makes power and sounds great. good for 2mph in the 1/4

06E55

Oil changes are so easy to do on these vehicles, I can't see why people pay for them to be done. Heck, you don't even have to jack your car up... Just get a set of ramps. Can be done in less than 30 minutes once you have done it once, and that is being generous... It takes longer to figure out how to get the plastic underside protectors off the first time than it does to actually change the oil... Not to mention, you can inspect your vehicle personally while you are doing it... The hardest part about oil changes on these vehicles is disassembling and then cleaning and reassembling the filter assembly, but once you have done it once, it isn't a problem...

Also, I am not sure about the CL65, but on the E55, there are two sumps, so you cannot use an extractor unless you want about 2 quarts of leftover oil circulating through your vehicle... The first and only oil change that was performed at the dealership (I got the first service included at no charge) and the tech tried using an extractor. I had already been made aware about the use of the extractor so I mentioned it to the tech. At first he insisted that it was the proper way to do it, but luckily I had a Technical Bulletin directly from Mercedes directly condoning the use of extractors on this vehicle. He changed his tune pretty quickly and started draining the remaining oil from the pans. Even he was surprised about how much oil was left behind...

In regards to the warranty, definitely go longer if you can. People pick up these vehicles for cheap (compared to brand new) and forget they are still $100k-$200k vehicles new... That means, you are maintaining a $100k-$200k vehicle... It can get pretty expensive pretty quickly if something fails and you don't have a warranty... Spend a little more now so you don't end up spending a lot more later!

As others have mentioned, parts.com is about the best deal out there for OEM parts. They actually use a MB parts shops to supply the parts... genuinemercedesparts.com is another one, but their prices can be a little higher on some things... You will see parts.com will gouge you for shipping though, but you still usually come out ahead compared to genuinemercedesparts.com, but not always...

As others have suggested, make sure you use the fleece filters and not the old-style papers. MB quit using the paper filters a while ago, but for some reason, parts suppliers still make them...

Speedtrapped

Ty guys.....I can wrench, as I have done several moderate jobs on my RS6...oil change was done at dealership because I needed the inspection report for the warranty to transfer in my name.
I bought the car with what was left on PO warranty, 3 years/36k, bumper to bumper...National Warranty?....I have heard mixed reviews....