nvkevin

Hey everyone. New to the CL scene, well the MB scene actually, but I am very interested in the CL600's. I have been doing some researching and searching, and I think that I found one I would like to buy. This car is NOT going to be a daily driver. It will be my fun, play car that I can build and upgrade. I am not afraid of the maintenance or the costs to build and maintain these vehicles (as so many have noted is quite high). I am, however, concerned about what I need to be looking for on these vehicles when looking to buy. Obviously having all, or a good portion, of the service records is optimal. Are there any other glaring, obvious things I need to look for?

On to the vehicle I have found... It is a 2004 CL 600 with 93,000 miles. Price is $8,500. Black on black. Looks to be in good condition from the pictures. The vehicle is at a dealer, so I don't anticipate being able to talk to the previous owner. The biggest issue I have is that the vehicle is located in Birmingham, AL and I am in Nevada, some 1700 miles away. Virtually impossible to do an inspection of said vehicle unless someone looks at it for me (I won't trust a dealer unless it were a certified MB dealer, which it isn't).

So, with all that being said, please bestow upon me some of your wisdom and I will gladly accept and see if I can make this work. Thank you for taking the time to read this!!

tusabes

Best bet is if they will take it to a Benz dealer for an inspection at your expense

The two biggest issues are the abc suspension and coil packs . A dealer would be able to check their computer to see what work was done at any Mercedes dealership . It's called a vehicle master inquiry VMI. Ask the dealer if they will give it to you or at least tell you the result if you have the inspection done at their shop

tusabes

Best bet is if they will take it to a Benz dealer for an inspection at your expense

The two biggest issues are the abc suspension and coil packs . A dealer would be able to check their computer to see what work was done at any Mercedes dealership . It's called a vehicle master inquiry VMI. Ask the dealer if they will give it to you or at least tell you the result if you have the inspection done at their shop

nvkevin

Thank you for the response. I was thinking that same thing. I will get in touch with the dealership and see what they can do to help me out. Any guesses on what an inspection at a Benz dealer would cost me? Thanks again for the response!!

biker349

probably between $150 - $250.

nvkevin

That's not bad at all. I will give the dealership a call and see if we can work something out.

nvkevin

I pulled a Carfax on it and everything looks good. One minor accident involving the right side of the car with no damage reported. It was last at a MB dealer on 3/25/2015 and had 92,455 miles. It now has 92,525 miles so I would like to think that everything is still valid and good that was seen at the last inspection. I am going to contact the dealership that last checked it out and see if they can give me any info. I can also post the Carfax if it would help with giving any advice.

tusabes

Carfax is useless
You need the VMI

tusabes

The fact it's only been driven 70 miles in the last 11 months suggests it has problems , you don't want to end up with a 600 like this

https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...unit-tele.html

nvkevin

Hmmm. That's interesting. I understand that the Carfax is useless against the VMI. But, the Carfax did say that it has been dealer owned for the last 11 months. Maybe that's why it only has 70 miles since then?? I don't know if that points to it having problems or not. Definitely going to have it checked out by an MB dealer before I go any further. I will be contacting the MB dealer that was listed as the last dealer to have their hands on it. Thank you for the advice and input!!! I really appreciate it!!

ItalianJoe1

From my last two purchases and watching these old CL's, they don't trade often. So sitting at a dealer for a year is totally normal.

However, I've bought two, both under 10k, one had impeccable maintenance history, the other didn't. Both had issues, right away, and of varying severity. It's a high-maintenance vehicle, but it's second to none when it's working well.

IMO, budget an additional 5K to cover any immediate needs, assuming you're mechanically inclined and want to be proactive. Leaky ABC hoses are the primary thing that NEEDS to be addressed, just due to age and the nature of the system. See Nick's awesome threads for info there.

BRKLYN_MIKE

I was intimidated at first given Ive never owned a Benz and regardless of price, parts are still priced for a $120,000+ vehicle and on top mine was well built and tuned. However read heavy and dont be scared to do the maintenance yourself and its really the steal of the century. Im actually looking at a Brabus CL for a second one since my wife and I love them so much now

nvkevin

I am definitely mechanically inclined and plan to do the maintenance and repairs myself, if they aren't too difficult. I'm not afraid of working on vehicles. My dad and I have owned, and maintained and modified, several cars over the years so I know my way around.

I was already planning on having some extra cash set aside for any immediate repairs that the vehicle may need. I'm not worried about it having issues right away as this will be my toy/weekend/summer driver. We have 3 other vehicles that are used as daily's and winter drivers. This one will likely spend 6 months of the year under a cover in the garage.

tusabes

No , the worst thing for this car is not to drive it !!

These cars need to be used often , at least weekly to keep the hydraulics exercised and prevent electrical issues . It should ideally be your daily driver

nvkevin

Well ok then haha. I suppose my use of the car could change. It would sure break my heart to have to drive it more often than the other vehicles we have

nvkevin

First, and probably the only one needed, red flag....

I called the MB dealer who last serviced it and had the service guy look at the VMI. He said they changed the oil and did the inspection at 92,xxx miles. They reported an oil leak originating from the rear main or transmission.... Quoted the repair at somewhere between $2300-$6000. The dealer that owned the vehicle DECLINED the repair.

So.... This tells me the car has an oil leak that could be quite costly unless they had it repaired somewhere else by a different mechanic. Definitely a good question to ask when I call the stealership....

Welwynnick

+1

Leave the car standing for any length of time and everything will start going wrong. Doesn't have to be every day, but, well, we all need exercise......

Nick

ItalianJoe1

All these old benzs need rear main seals. Not a big deal really. A small leak I would ignore until I had to remove the trans for another reason.

nvkevin

Thanks for the clarification. Does the quoted repair price sound in the price range of a rear main seal repair? I am just trying to quantify it and justify it. If it really is as easy as wait until a larger problem occurs, then I am not against that.

I also want to reiterate that I am aware of the high maintenance costs these vehicles can incur. I'm not going into this blind expecting it to be a gas and go vehicle. I fully expect to spend time working on it. That's half the fun of owning a vehicle, IMO.

ItalianJoe1

A rear main seal requires transmission removal, so a couple grand at the dealer sounds perfectly logical.

In my experience, lots of cars have rear main leaks, and none of them are catastrophic. If you check the oil regularly (harder on the M275 as it has no dipstick but it's visible through the diagnostic menu), the leak is so small it's not enough to bother me personally. I know 100% for sure i'm not taking the trans out just for that seal. If I have to pull the trans to rebuild or swap torque converters or whatever, then yeah I'd spend the extra $40 for the part and throw a seal in there.

nvkevin

That is what I was thinking as well on the seal. At any rate, the CL is headed to the MB dealer in Monday for a full inspection. Hopefully they come back with a clean bill of health minus the rear main seal.

tusabes

My Benz dealer gave me a $20,000 list of recommend work on my cl- a car that runs flawlessly ! Don't be surprised to see Lots of things on that list . Many will be minor and can be deferred

RoadHazard

Oh you're interested in that "cheapest CL600 on Autotrader!"
I'd be cautious with this particular car. First red flag for me is that it's being sold from a Ford dealer. This means it was likely a trade-in. Someone desperately wanted to get out of that CL600 and into an entirely new brand. I'd expect there to be a major list of general annoyances then. Small stuff, like soft-close actuators and trunk struts. It's probably running on original coils and voltage transformer, and I'd bet some of the ABC lines are rotting away. What's even more suspicious is that the CL600 lettering is on the wrong side of the trunk. It's also been on the market for 285 days, and was pricedropped from 15k in November to 8.5k now. Buying a dangerously cheap and classically unreliable CL600 from a Ford dealer who has no experience with them scares me. It's a very good reason why nobody's picked this car up.

If you have ***** and want to take a risk on the cheapest CL600 in the country, I wish you the best of luck, you'll need it.

nvkevin

Thanks for the response... If you read the whole thread above your post, you would see that everything you pointed out was already talked about. All of the things you stated are why it's going to a dealer before I even talk about buying it. But again, thank you....

tusabes

Badge on the wrong side of the trunk means it was repainted by a low quality shop