100K update 2010 e550




bought this pre-owned after a lease in LA on June 2013. The car had 32k miles on it... My first Mercedes , had a BMW 545 prior (which i sold to get the benz)
Noticed one thing with the benz , atleast for me that i dont really wanna speed in it , i just wanna CRUISE and enjoy my ride (which saves me from traffic violations unlike BMW's didnt lol)
in almost 4 years
i had
1.a steering leak at around ~40000 miles (covered by original warranty)
2.2 front struts replaced to to leaking air (airmatic) ~50k
3.one rear drivers side air spring replaced at ~90k
4. recently changed my front Upper control Arm , Sway bar links , and ball joints. (need to do lower control arm and tie rods soon) ~95k
+
all the mods i did on it through out all this time.
(the car been through a lot and been to a lot of places) so far , im happy with it , now i know what mercedes all about.
thanks for your time
Last edited by belarus27; Mar 20, 2017 at 11:06 AM.
It still is a beauty. Congrats and how much longer do you expect to keep it?




i will keep it for a while , no plans on getting anything else just yet , so i hope itll be good to me.
yours is doing good? spark plugs ? fluids flush? air struts? tranny oil?
any observations/tips/tricks/thoughts.
I've had some smaller issues like burning of oil which they said is not a big deal, and my transmission fluid was low I was told at STS and they said they wouldn't touch it. I took it to Benz and they were like they (STS) have no way of knowing that so MB charged me 200 just to say "Oh they were right it is low" and they topped it off was what they said.
My suspension is fine every time I get it checked at the dealer but on very cold winter days 20 F area my car will be sitting very low in the morning. Since it always raises and MB says it's ok I just let it ride.
Only observation or odd thing I've done is I got a motor flush which was recommended to me and I feel like the car came alive more after that. Some people say it's useless but it seemed to work for me. Also I don't push my car as hard now as I use to. It's getting old so I try to be mindful until someone is really asking for it or if I'm trying to merge or exit with the quickness. I love this car so I have no major complaints. I've turned over my tires, brakes and off course a full tune-up since I've had it.
Last edited by jahquan3; Mar 20, 2017 at 03:22 PM.




what oil are you using? because ive noticed it too , especially with 0w40 mobil one , it feels like it does burn some , where when i used 5w30 it was all good never burnt any , so im thinking going back to 5w30 and change the oil this weekend. sh**t i thought it was only me , but now that u said it makes me feel better a lil.
what do you mean by motor flush? seafoam? or
putting new oil and then draining it?
its good to talk to other 550 owners about their experience..
and it sounds like you didnt really have any issues with it which is awesome.
bought this pre-owned after a lease in LA on June 2013. The car had 32k miles on it... My first Mercedes , had a BMW 545 prior (which i sold to get the benz)
Noticed one thing with the benz , atleast for me that i dont really wanna speed in it , i just wanna CRUISE and enjoy my ride (which saves me from traffic violations unlike BMW's didnt lol)
in almost 4 years
i had
1.a steering leak at around ~40000 miles (covered by original warranty)
2.2 front struts replaced to to leaking air (airmatic) ~50k
3.one rear drivers side air spring replaced at ~90k
4. recently changed my front Upper control Arm , Sway bar links , and ball joints. (need to do lower control arm and tie rods soon) ~95k
+
all the mods i did on it through out all this time.
(the car been through a lot and been to a lot of places) so far , im happy with it , now i know what mercedes all about.
thanks for your time




air struts went bad - possibly because i did lower the car within couple of weeks after purchasing it (yes i agree on this , not so reliable , and they kinda pricy , so i agree on this)
as far as Rear air bag , it seems like a common issues (which wasnt really and issue during warmer days here in CA , but it was making me OCD knowing that it does it so i decided to be on a safe side and replace it , which wasnt really needed at that point just yet but it is what it is , better be safe than sorry)
and about replacing front end suspension parts..... it made a clunking sound when going over bumps , long story short i found a bad sway bar link and it fixed it , but then i took a closer look at bushings and upper one wasnt looking good enough for me so i replaced them just be have a piece of mind along with ball joints.
all of the repairs i did myself in my garage (except steering gasket which was covered under warranty at that time).
so i wouldnt say it is not very reliable , it actually is.. especially if you compare it to my bmw lol , that was something.
and we be talking about German engineering , and lets compare german to german , i know japanese/korean cars are more reliable from experience. so that way it would be fair.
thank you
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Sorry I mis-spoke I meant an Engine Flush. It's done usually in coordination with an oil change. Dealers do not offer it however, I got it offered at a Indy. They showed me my oil was looking pretty dark and they suggested I get that while getting the oil change. So I went with it and was happy with the results.
Here is the google definition :
An engine oil flush is a process in which a service technician adds chemicals to the oil so that any carbon deposits in the oil system flow out of the system and into the oil filter. The technician then drains the oil and chemicals, replaces the oil filter and fills the car's oil reservoir with clean oil.
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Sorry I mis-spoke I meant an Engine Flush. It's done usually in coordination with an oil change. Dealers do not offer it however, I got it offered at a Indy. They showed me my oil was looking pretty dark and they suggested I get that while getting the oil change. So I went with it and was happy with the results.
Here is the google definition :
An engine oil flush is a process in which a service technician adds chemicals to the oil so that any carbon deposits in the oil system flow out of the system and into the oil filter. The technician then drains the oil and chemicals, replaces the oil filter and fills the car's oil reservoir with clean oil.
Exactly the same ow40 i used the European formula , and thats what causes oil to burn ??
so i will try 5w30 again and see how it goes.
and my oil is kinda dark too hmmm , very interesting , now you got me thinking....
i wonder what do they add to perform that Engine flush , if its just an add on then sounds like something i can do by myself as well since i drain the oil through the drain plug. thanks for your input , definatelt something i will look in to.

Also I'm in the engine flush is useless side. The manufacturer typically doesn't recommend it, all it does it lighten your wallet and you can tell from your butt dyno. A transmission reset will also make the car livelier.
It's not the weight of the oil, it's the engine that burns oil. You may or may not be lucky and have an engine that burns or doesn't burn oil.




Also I'm in the engine flush is useless side. The manufacturer typically doesn't recommend it, all it does it lighten your wallet and you can tell from your butt dyno. A transmission reset will also make the car livelier.
It's not the weight of the oil, it's the engine that burns oil. You may or may not be lucky and have an engine that burns or doesn't burn oil.
but thats the thing , i was using 5w30 for atleast 2 years and never had an issue , after i started using ow40 i ve noticed after a few oil changes that my oil be disappearing.... call me crazy , but it is what i observed , and 90% sure about it.

but thats the thing , i was using 5w30 for atleast 2 years and never had an issue , after i started using ow40 i ve noticed after a few oil changes that my oil be disappearing.... call me crazy , but it is what i observed , and 90% sure about it.
If this is all I have to worry about with my Merc over the course of 100k mi, then color me satisfied (plus mine has steel springs not Airmatic so that's one less I have to worry about anyhow). I'd be delighted if the repair list was less, but certainly relieved that it wasn't more.
Last edited by Johnny Rad; Mar 21, 2017 at 12:07 AM.





https://bevo.mercedes-benz.com/bevolisten/229.5_de.html




How bad if its not so? 5w30 could damage the motor?





(which leads me to a thought that , that is the reason why struts went out so fast (well and ofcoarse of poor design played a role))




i mean not so much big of a deal , since i know im not the only one




i usually go about 5-6k miles , even this time its going to be 6k miles since last oil change. so even if its a generic oil im sure it wouldnt do much harm with these intervals.
and yes , you right , i doubt they were looking for that 229.5 mobil 1 specs lol so they most likely just bought the bulk of regular oil.
i guess ill stick to 0w40 european formula and stop overthinking ****.





p.s. struts i have now are not the same PN and the old ones.

so it all makes sense.
still have 2 of them J chillin in my garage.
p.s. 2
Arnott buys back cores , and i have emailed them about it , and it looks like i might be sending the 2 i have to LA for Arnott to refurbish those.
who knew about that? i didnt until last week lol 




