Hi MB World,


I own a 2013 CLS 550 with the M278, never had an issue before, runs like a top. I had listed the car for sale on Craigslist and someone asked to come look at it. I met with two shady guys, who were very knowledgeable about MB vehicles.

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One guy popped the hood and was looking inside the engine bay, while I had been unfortunately distracted talking to the other guy near the trunk. while the other guy was under the hood. I was being asked very stupid questions, "Is there a spare tire" "What is in the tool kit," then telling me stupid stories about how so many of these cars have frame damage. Felt like a distraction looking back now. I will again point out, these guys felt very shady. We went for a test drive and after a very short amount of time (~2 minutes) the guy driving noticed smoke I turned around and saw it too. Car did not overheat. We came back to my house with a serious amount of oil leaking, and quite a bit of smoke coming from the exhaust. We popped the hood and found oil in the coolant reservoir. Here's the sketchy part, the two guys then told me about how expensive it would be to fix, and then offered me next to nothing to take it off my hands.


I am totally in shock at this point and say, "This is all a huge shock to me, I am not going to sell the car today." They insisted over and over, wanting to take it off my hands for again next to nothing.


I am nearly certain when I was called to the trunk area, the guy under the hood flipped some hoses/broke something to cause this issue. I am handy and have done maintainence/repairs on this car before.


Apologies for the heated tone, but I am beyond upset and really hope an M278 wizard may have answers. Does anyone have any theories at all of what possibly happened, or did this car (with no prior issues) just decide to blow a head gasket on this test drive?

 

Easy enough to pour a few ounces of oil into the coolant reservoir and a bit more on the exhaust manifold. Start small. Coolant replacement and clean any oil off the manifolds. Then reevaluate.

 

I doubt highly that its a blown head gasket on a stock engine & tune. As was said by bbirdwell, they pulled a fast one like that oil in the coolant tank trick and dumped it on the engine or manifolds too. Oil doesn't run out from a blown head gasket unless its done major internal engine damage and kicked a rod thru the block. Change and flush the coolant, check under hood real close for cut lines etc. wash the underwood and engine up and drive it. I bet it will be fine!

 

Thank you both for the responses. I cold started the car yesterday morning very briefly and there was no smoke coming from the exhaust! However, the mysterious oil leak was still active. I have checked all obvious hoses and seen nothing suspect. No check engine light.

Also talked to a buddy who used to be a mechanic and he said this is very unlikely to be a head gasket to fail that catastrophically in a car with no prior issues. Not comfortable to drive the car, I will likely take it to my indy mechanic, explain the situation to him, and see what he can diagnose. I will post what he finds.

Watch out for crooks like the people in my original post, never imagined people would do such a thing. However, buying a $20,000 car for $5,000 and then replacing a hose and doing a fluid flush must be a sweet gig for them!

 

Definitely watch out. These scammers did something similar:

 

Thank you for the video wildta. THAT IS THEM!!! I 100% recognize the guy in green. I will be filing a police report. I have photos of their license plate as well. THANK YOU!

 

Wow, great catch, even being the same guys...!

What state are you in?

 

I'm here in Northern California. They must be moving up through the state. Those are absolutely them, I am so grateful that the previous poster sent that video link. Please spread this around and make your friends aware if they are selling a car here in Ca. If you are ever uncertain always say, "I am not willing to sell the car today thank you."

 

That's insane! Woohoo. What a great forum that by chance I saw this video and your post, and hopefully they will get caught and charged with further crimes!

I'm hoping it's likely that your "oil leak" is just residual oil that they purposely spilled and you get the payback that you deserve.

 

What a bunch of dirtbags. Get a life. Glad someone posted that video for you. Please keep us updated on this.

 

Hope all is OK with your car, it probably is as they couldnt of done anything to it to damage it as they are just trying to rip off people and re sell the car.
So happy its the same douchebags that tried to scam the other guy, now....only if someone can identify them and post their info on Social Media that would be karma to its finest.
Please do file a police report, but I doubt they will do anything further unless you are in a smaller town/city where they will take this personally and find these scumbags.

Anyways, thanks for the post glad you shared it.

 

I'm hoping a prosecutor will take this case since they are identifiable, the video said the guy sold the car to them so they have their name to transfer title, OP has their license plate,and can identify them as well. Maybe OP can find the guy in the video and together they can work with a local prosecutor to press charges, also contact the news agency for a follow-up to get another video out to the public about this scam.

 

Oh that would be perfect if that happened.

 

OP, here's the article naming the other victim and also states the reporter under the headline at the top:
https://abc7.com/car-scams-corona-cr...sale/13836154/

 

That would be great but these guys seem like the type that will title jump. Likely wouldn’t have registered the car.

 

Any updates to this story?

 

Couple updates, I made a police report 2 days after the incident happened (submitted photos I have, video sources from the news articles, etc.). I got the "too busy" vibe from my local sheriff office and haven't had any communication from them since the day I sent the info.

Lastly, the car was inspected by my mechanic of choice and found nothing wrong other than oil in the coolant and oil spilled over the whole engine compartment/exhaust. After a $500+ coolant flush and coolant reservoir replacement, I will have the car back safe and sound after the weekend. Just what I needed to deal with as I was trying to sell the car! Thank you all for the helpful info, I will update if I ever get any further news on the lowlifes that did this to me.

**Side story** I continued to recieve several phone calls per day from the perps for close to a week after it happened. I never picked up, they left no voicemails, but assumably to see if I changed my mind on selling the car for $5,000 lol!

 

If the perps are still in touch with you, find a way to get name and address, use the information to sue for damages - wasted time, expense, mental stress etc etc.. You have the mechanics report etc etc which you can present in court. Get a civil court finding against them,, get damages awarded, then you have one more thing to submit to the cops. And a means to get enforcement action against them if they do not pay up for time and trouble they caused you. Small claims court is all you need here - do it yourself ....

 

Maybe consider contacting the reporter and ask if they can share your info with the person from the video to see if together you might have enough information to go after them further. Sorry you had to go thru all that but at least you know nothing major is wrong with your vehicle.