ducatista4life

Gents,

As promised, I am finally giving some good reviews on my vehicle. I realize after the many headaches I had the first 3 months of ownership that I need to give some positives of my experience thus far. I am just going to give a run down of my bill and what all was done. The techs performed service B on my vehicle and the oil was changed with all fluids topped off as well. They also went through and inspected SEVERAL items throughout the service.

All in all the service was $520 after tax. Luckily, I only had a few recommendations of things to get fixed/replaced. This included: Pads, Rotors, Front Wheel Bearings, and finally thrust arm bushings.

Obviously the Pads and Rotors are already on my list of things to do and I already have some akebono pads ready to go. I have been looking around for rotors and I honestly can't find a set that I trust based on reviews and I couldn't find any info on here, so help is appreciated otherwise its back to OEM I go.

For the front wheel bearings I am a little hesitant to replace these myself and ultimately because I am afraid I will be needing a bearing press or some random piece of equipment that I dont have. I also haven't found the correct ones yet on the inter webs, but I also haven't put forth a lot of effort yet on these even though I have the MB part number.

Finally, its the thrust arm bushings, these seem simple enough, but any insight into these is definitely appreciated.

So yeah,
I had a rather great experience at my dealer finally and I didnt have to pay an arm and leg to get out the door. The car runs better then ever and the smiles per gallon keep going up! I even learned that I need to submit an application to get a 100k mile badge for the car and get some recognition. Seems to be simple enough, so that is in the works as well. All in all I feel as if I am getting comfortable with the car and it keeps putting a smile on my face.

DaveW68

When you submit your application for the badge, be sure to order an extra one for our good friend WHPH. You'll be his hero!


I'm only 70k miles behind you. Looks like I don't get no stinkin badges.

WHPH28

^ lol

I'm getting an S350 Bluetec badge!

mrbobby

Looks like you got a great 600. After 100+ miles all it needed was a service and some minor/normal wear components. Hang on to that baby.

ducatista4life

I'll be sure to see if I can get an extra one I know Badges loves em and maybe there is a special one we can get just for him :P As for the servicing and such, the past 6 months have been brutal. The transmission was replaced just before I got it at 90k, ABC Pump went out 36 hours into ownership, 3 weeks later the fuel control module went out. All in all, about 800 bucks came out of my pocket, but about 8k out of the warranty company and 9k from previous owner for new transmission. SOO much love and well worth it.

ENV²

I love hearing about people with the highest end benzes with high mileage and no major issues

alx

LOL. The car threw the tranny and the tandem pump and you consider that minor issues? Just clarifying.

Nuru

I already got one but I see your point from the S550 perspective

Nuru

A quick question regarding the transmission - do you know if it was serviced properly? As it seems to me that if it was serviced properly, going out at that number of miles seems premature. On another site, the S-class cars seem to have tranz problems. I have had American vehicles with more than 100k miles and no transmission/drive train issues, (it is just the rest of the car that started needing replacement). Very glad some major stuff was fixed under warranty and before you got it!

alx

The 5 speed is pretty much bullet proof. I wonder who dropped the ball

ducatista4life

Yes, the car was an 1 owner car from 0-91k miles pretty much right when the transmission went out. Either he traded it in broke or had it fixed and then traded it in, I know it ended up costing about $9k to replace it, but I felt it was a deal for me with a brand new transmission being in the car Additionally, he had the services done at 9k mile intervals and it was always serviced at the same dealership. It is a very prominent dealership, granted, they did sell me the car and it had the tandem pump "spring" a leak less than 36 hours later. Same dealership of course fixed the problem under the warranty I purchased. It was a very dark time during ownership for that..

ducatista4life

Totally agree! The invoice that I got a copy of showed "Heavy Duty 5 spd transmission." Now I always wondered why they didnt do a 6 or even 7 spd to help with the gas mileage.

ducatista4life

Luckily both were MOSTLY no cost to me. Tranny was $9k and the tandem(ABC) pump was $5.5k, funny thing though, supposedly one of the running lines blew out during the "Rodeo" retest for the ABC pump and it was because it used to operating at a lower pressure with a faulty seal? Blew my mind, because I deal with these kind of systems with where I work and when something has a faulty seal and has minimal seepage you dont really see a fail in other components, or the system just won't operate at all. The dealers response was that it must of been happening for a long time, so I quickly retorted, "I just bought it from you and you said your mechanics *EXPERTS* had just inspected the car prior to purchase." Yeah I was super pissed at that.. Definitely made me question their installation of the transmission and any other servicing they had done. Lost $800 bucks for that stupid running line. Now you all got me riled up again