Okay, I've heard them all. All of the sayings- "Nothings more expensive than a cheap Mercedes" "You get what you pay for" "You're making a huge mistake you big dumb idiot"- all of the normal things people said when I let them know my most recent purchase.

The Vehicle is a 2003 CL55 AMG Black over tan leather with 129k miles and a christmas tree dash light display. I traded a cheapo car I had for it, and have very little skin in the game. So far. Here is exactly what I know so far-

Dealer received the vehicle on trade. Drove it to back line, for either auction or local sale. Battery died, it sat for 30 days. New battery put in, Sales manager said it killed that battery in 6 hours, sat for another 30 days, causing the suspension to "lower".

I walk up to it today with my jump box, jump it, and she cranks over and runs!. Abs Light on. BAS EPS and other three letter acronyms cycle through. "Check coolant level" flashes. The entire car raises up and holds its new height.

I let the idle come down a bit (1400 or so), and put it in drive, it pauses, thinks about it, and moves a few feet forward. Then reverse, same thing. I try drive again, but the engine begins to rev up to 3k or so RPM without me touching the pedal. When put in drive, it no longer moves. Windows go up and down, I try a few other small things electrically, and then cut her off and push it onto my trailer.

This is where I stand as of now. The car is still on the trailer at the time of this post. The name of the game is to try to get as many of these 12 malfunctions taken care of, and ultimately have a running and driving vehicle, without having to take out a second mortgage on my home.

First and foremost I wonder about the condition of the transmission. Where would you start? Fluid level? Trans ecu unit (I know there is another name for it).

I appreciate everyone's feedback and advice in advance, I bought this car as a challenge as I am mechanically inclined, and have always wanted a facelifted CL55.

Where to start?

 

I just bought a $1000 CLK55... I'm only $700 into it and hoping to recieve the final piece to getting it running today.

as for yours - The revving when putting it in Drive is a little strange. it might have a bad throttle body because your idle even seems high (even if it's a cold idle). My SLK will sometimes rev a little between P and D and I suspect it's a communication error between the ECU and TCU. my car is far from stock so i'm not really relying on the ECU for anything other than controlling the throttle and cruise control.

my guess is the transmission needs a little fluid and a long drive. if that fails, then it probably needs the whole conductor plate/filter/13 pin connector service.

good luck!

 

Read the car with Xentry or something Mercedes specific.
That will give you a lot of good information on where to look.

 

We have the same car. I bought mine with 48K on the clock in the spring of '14. It now has 124K. The thing you have to remember about these cars is the relationship will be like any dysfunctional relationship in your life. It'll be great when it's good, but when it's bad, DAMN!!

You will have electrical issues. The wire used in these cars dries out and the insulation deteriorates with age. Things will mysteriously stop working and you’ll find the culprit is a broken wire. My car wouldn’t start and it took a dealer 3 months to figure out that a wire was broken somewhere in the wiring harness. I had the balance of the previous owner’s extended warranty to help pay for it, but that one still ended up costing me around 3K. Wires break in the door jambs. Trunk wiring will break. Any point where the wires move at all will fail.

You will have ABC issues. I’ve replaced the ABC/power steering pump, several hydraulic lines and the steering rack. This was a wonderful system when these cars were new. With age, the components will fail. It’s not a matter of if, but when.

The plastic bits and pieces break VERY easily. My glove box latch has broken as has my center console latch. Buy some epoxy, you’ll need it.

The trunk mechanisms in these cars is way over engineered. There’s a small hydraulic pump under the battery that opens and closes the trunk lid. It will leak. If your trunk starts to struggle opening. Check the fluid in the pump reservoir.

Go buy a scan tool. I have the iCarsoft i980, but there are quite a few around. I use mine constantly. I originally bought it to reset the airbag warning light I had on after I tore my driver’s side door apart fixing some broken wires.

I have a good independent mechanic that I trust who works on my car. I fix what I can on my own, everything else I take to him. I’d suggest you find one too.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my car. I still get compliments on it almost every week. You’ll almost never see another one on the road. I guess you could take that a couple of different ways…

Good Luck!!

 

Thank you for all the insight- Here is an update-

Got a freshly charged batter showing 12.6 volts, installed and started the car while I reset a few basic things, windows, sunroof, steering wheel lock to lock etc. A few lights flashed, and ultimately it came back with ESP BAS and the other faults. while still cold, I put the car in gear, and it drove with minimal throttle. As it began to heat up and got to about 65C and I gave it some gas it slipped out of gear. It felt as though there was little to no fluid in the trans. I would turn the car off, roll it a few feet, put it in park, start it, put it in drive, and about half the time it would grab and get up to 10 mph for 100feet or so, then let go, slip out of gear, and rev to 2500 rpm.

I limped her home and have been doing some reading. I also ordered the Trans fluid dipstick and will be checking the fluid level, and topping it off the the appropriate trans fluid.

I also read that the 722.6 trans is known for leaking/ wicking trans fluid onto some electrical components? I feel as though when I top off the trans, the leak will be apparent. Where should I look for this leak to be wicking to the ECU? Other thoughts?

 

It will wick into the TCU, not the ECU. on the passenger side front of the transmission, there is an electrical connector. look for leaks around that. then unplug the connector and look and see if there is fluid inside. if so, then the inner seal has gone bad and the trans fluid will eventually make it's way up the wires to the TCU.

I'm not sure where the TCU is on the CL, but typically it is underneath the passenger side footwell.

 

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Don't worry about any of that. People run a mile from benign problems - it's BMWs, Porsches, Ferraris and Masteratis that have the horror stories, not so much Mercedes. I wouldn't be too worried about the little problems. You can knock most of them down quite quickly and easily.

First thing is probably to get an OBD2 code reader, and a Mercedes auto transmission dipstick, which is considered a tool and not part of the car. Getting the tranny fluid level right is exacting, there's a very specific procedure, you don't just dip the stick. It's always possible that it has the wrong oil in it. It's a simple, tough transmission. I wouldn't lose any sleep just yet. Typically you just need to get the oil level right, and maybe change the conductor plate, which is messy but no bid deal.

When the battery goes flat you always get loads of warnings and lose convenience features, clock, etc. When it's running OK, drive slowly and turn the wheel from lock to lock. That calibrates the wheel position sensor and makes lots of faults go away.

Essential to ensure the ABC reservoir has got CH-11S oil in it to roughly the right level.

Essential to ensure the HVAC inlet upper and lower rainwater drains are clear.

Check the engine oil level from the dashboard with ignition on and engine off and car on level.

Download an owners manual from MB and get familiar with it.

Good luck!

Nick

 

You got the right attitude I like fixing stuff too... just for fun and of course im subscribed.... been watching the guy with G500 doing a total restore and making it look like a G63... he's doing great work

 

any updates on your project ?