Good Afternoon everyone, so as the title states i am new owner of a CLS55, a little about the car and the story of how i was able to get her. I found the car on cars.com from a mom and pop dealer near Lake Erie Ohio for price of just $6K with only 94K miles. So of course i had to call and get the details or what the catch was. After talking with the sales manager he told me that the car had been sitting for over a year, the transmission was removed due to not shifting correctly, trans leaks and who knows what else for a rebuild. There was a big story about the mechanic doing the work had passed away but ultimately the trans was just pulled out and nothing else done so she just sat. So I made the decision to leave a deposit and take the 580mile trip one way from Virginia Beach to OH. I get up there the car is pancaked out, and the air suspension is not coming on. There mechanic was able to use a Autel scanner to get the car back to normal ride height by airing up each shock individually through the scanner using a test feature. I received the car with the trans still out and a box of bolts and parts to include the trans and torque converter. One good note the cars body and interior are in great shape. Fingers crossed the engine is as well once running!!

I do all my own work on my cars and am much more fluent with BMW's, this is actually my first MB. I have just last night acquired a torrent copy of Xentry pass throu software, still in the process of the install and waiting for the OBD2 to come in. hopefully i can get it all to work with the car.

I have done my research but still looking for a couple answers in regards to my suspension and all things i should take care of while the trans is out.

First my air suspension is still not working, all suspension buttons in the center console stay lit while the ignition is on and do nothing when pressed. The entire passenger side has maintained its air but both driver front and rear have been leaking down. I have the car on a charger and when i popped the trunk yesterday after it sat charging overnight to check voltage all of a sudden the compressor cut on and the driver side started rising but for maybe 30-45sec (no key in the ignition just the truck opened up). This is making me think i have a issue at the valve block versus both bags leaking at the same rate. Will the air or should the air suspension work without the car running? Will the buttons work with the Transmission out? What do you all think?

Like I said before since the trans is out i plan on doing the routine maintenance things like the rear main seal, i also plan on buying the FCP Euro trans service kit with conductor plate and plug, Maybe a Sonnex kit for the valve body too. Is there anything else you all recommend i do since the trans is out. I read that the 722.6 is pretty stout but the pump can go bad. What do you all think about this? Should I at least replace the pump Oring and seal. Do you all think this is a good idea or not necessary? Are there any other trans seals i should be replacing? Also the torque converter is not factory, its panted blue. I have only seen torque converters this color remained by a companys on ebay called Recon Certified and Alliance, it is not a brand new TC so the internal condition and stall is unknown. I know i have a lot of unknowns and wish I could have trouble shot the car prior to the trans being pulled. Any and all suggestion on how i should go about doing this are much appreciated

With the flex plate not engaging with the starter i turned the car over via a flex plate tool i have and it did freely. Should the starter still engage with the flex plate with the TC and trans removed or would what im experiencing be common?

Can anyone provide me with a list of tools needed, manual to include torque specs and replacement items like bolts for reinstalling the transmission? Again i didn't remove it and its my first MB.

I really love the looks of this car and am looking forward to getting it all back together. I know she will have some gremlins I'll need to work out just from her sitting so long but i really cant wait to get her back on the road.

I really appreciate all the help and look forward to being a member on this forum.

Happy Holidays,
Mike

 

Welcome! You have a project there and the best place for you to get help and find answers through searches is the E55 forum. Your CLS and the E55 are identically except sheet metal and since there are lots more E55 there is much more traffic on that page. You can see here: https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg-81/

To answer a couple of your questions - when you open the truck (or a door) you wake up the car and the network of controllers (computers) and things like low ride hieght are adjusted. Keeping the key fob in the ignition or if keyless start having the fob close to the car will also keep the car awake. With all the controllers running the battery drain is significant. Also, the car has two batteries so make sure both are in tip top shape (probably not if they have been fully drained as the car sat for over a year).

For the amount of work you will be doing you should have the full MB Star diagnostic system which includes the C4 multiplexer as used by the dealership. Some of the software you got - Xentry is part of that but it has to be properly installed and configured with the C4 mux. There are people on this board that are very good at doing that so do your searching and find one. Speaking of searching there is not much that has not already been dealt with so crank up your overall searching efforts. For your trans issues there may be answers, but one specific you should replace the electrical connector as the old one can wick trans fluid up to the trans controller which will destroy it. That controller is located on the right side under the passenger feets. The best trans upgrade controller (an absolute) is provided by MkUltra.com The developer of this controller is known as zerocat101 here on the forum.

For addtional software to help with this project the best is a bundle of EPC (Electronic Parts Catalog) and WIS (Workshop Information System). Like the MB Star system, the parts and repair manual are integrated so if you look up a part such as brake caliper you can then click on WIS and it takes you to that part of repair of the caliper. Similar with the Star diagnostic system, it will not only allow you to fully interact with every controller but will show you where a fault is with pictures. It is so much more than the basic OBDII scanner. I don't know but maybe the BMW dedicated system is similar. See you over in the E55 forum - there isnt much traffic on this particular page.

 

@machild Thanks for the welcome and response to my post. I will do exactly as you said and just copy and paste this into the W211 forum. Happy Holidays!