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I’ve been looking at different Mercedes models for a while now and decided on the 2012+ e550. I heard these had less issues than the w211 e55s without sacrificing too much power. I still got some questions regarding their reliability though which is why I figured why I’d post here. Are there any common issues in these model years? Around how much could I expect to spend on a decently maintained example? Any help is appreciated.
I came from a 2012 c63 to a 2014 E550 and from what I have learned with the m278 is that you want to make sure you get a newer year with the updated timing chain which I believe was done in late 13’ , also mine has airmatic and those seem to have issues from time to time but you can get one with regular suspension . Other then that they are stout as long as they were maintained properly . Good luck !
2012 E550, about to hit 100K miles, nothing done other than recommended maintenance, changed front brakes to Centric brand. I'm about to replace the o-rings under the 4 cam adjustment solenoids (some call it magnets) on the top front of the engine. They can leak oil into the wire harness causing costly issues. It's a $20 preventative maintenance to replace these o-rings and i just noticed a tiny bit of oil moisture / grime around a couple of them. My AC fan is making the cricket noise, so I may replace that, not very expensive.
I looked at the W211 E55, but the wife sat it it and said "it just feels old" so I went with E550. The M278 is about the same speed, and comes with AWD and lower maintenance expense. Bonus of the 2012+ is that the notoriously faulty airmatic suspension was not standard, and rarely ordered, so you dodge that expense common to the E55 and the prior E550s.
2012 E550, about to hit 100K miles, nothing done other than recommended maintenance, changed front brakes to Centric brand. I'm about to replace the o-rings under the 4 cam adjustment solenoids (some call it magnets) on the top front of the engine. They can leak oil into the wire harness causing costly issues. It's a $20 preventative maintenance to replace these o-rings and i just noticed a tiny bit of oil moisture / grime around a couple of them. My AC fan is making the cricket noise, so I may replace that, not very expensive.
I looked at the W211 E55, but the wife sat it it and said "it just feels old" so I went with E550. The M278 is about the same speed, and comes with AWD and lower maintenance expense. Bonus of the 2012+ is that the notoriously faulty airmatic suspension was not standard, and rarely ordered, so you dodge that expense common to the E55 and the prior E550s.
While I also like my W212, one thing that's way better at least to me is the steering wheel on the W211, the thumb wheel controls are easy to use without taking your eyes off the road, you have to look to see where the buttons are on the W212. Also the steering wheel is slightly thinner on the W211 and more comfortable to hold than the W212.
2014 E550 coupe was great except for front brakes. Once is went to Centric rotors I was fine. No other problems. I sold it to a friend and she is still thrilled with it!
Our 2013 early build E550 Sedan (12/2012 born on date) is in for the timing chain tensioner update and, oh-by-the-way, they found oil was in the engine harness from the cam sensors. Find out today if this is covered under warranty as cost for JUST this issue is over $10K. Getting it back and trading it. Love the car but will not own it out of warranty. Just turned 36,000 miles and all service has been done at dealer and on schedule. And we happen to love the Airmatic, but it is covered under warranty - have heard most issues with it are at or over 60K...
Good luck with your search. Just saw one come on at Carmax with 5K miles for $26K (gone in a day), one hell of a lot of car for that money!
Good luck in your search. E55s have their own problems... 4matic is the Bomb!
I don't see how these oil leak issues go unnoticed. I'm a few miles short of 100K and nothing leaking near the cam sensors. They're right on the top of the engine, take a look and replace a couple of o-rings if necessary.
A 2013 with only 36K miles falls into the category of not used enough. If oil doesn't circulate and the car is not driven regularly lots of things can go wrong, sometimes worse than a car that has been driven 3x the miles.
I don't see how these oil leak issues go unnoticed. I'm a few miles short of 100K and nothing leaking near the cam sensors. They're right on the top of the engine, take a look and replace a couple of o-rings if necessary.
A 2013 with only 36K miles falls into the category of not used enough. If oil doesn't circulate and the car is not driven regularly lots of things can go wrong, sometimes worse than a car that has been driven 3x the miles.
Ours is driven regularly, so don't buy into your philosophy. Guess I better go warn the other 7 vehicles we own, that also get driven <2K per year (and don't leak), that they need to get with the program and start leaking!
This harness issue is real, and it isn't miles (or lack of) and it goes across platforms and engines. And those are just the facts, believe what you will...
My 2013 needed both radiators (turbo and main) replaced, the CEL came on for a couple days in late 2018, and the airmatic is failing now. I'm hoping that replacing the front shocks will help with the failure, but honestly I'm just hoping I can pawn the car off on someone before I even do that. I love the car but I'm already $4k deep on repairs and maintenance after a year, at this rate I'll have pumped into it more than it's worth before long.
My 2013 needed both radiators (turbo and main) replaced, the CEL came on for a couple days in late 2018, and the airmatic is failing now. I'm hoping that replacing the front shocks will help with the failure, but honestly I'm just hoping I can pawn the car off on someone before I even do that. I love the car but I'm already $4k deep on repairs and maintenance after a year, at this rate I'll have pumped into it more than it's worth before long.
Sorry for your luck, Airmatic sucks, fortunately it was optional and pretty rare on the 2012-2014. Not sure what could happen to both radiators, maybe road hazard, or someone put the wrong type of fluid in it? How many miles?
Sorry for your luck, Airmatic sucks, fortunately it was optional and pretty rare on the 2012-2014. Not sure what could happen to both radiators, maybe road hazard, or someone put the wrong type of fluid in it? How many miles?
I feel like the Airmatic is probably good when the car is nice and new and pristine and it works as intended... but then ****s all over you after a few years. I'm at 113k right now. There was a leak on the main radiator that required replacement (which I discovered about a week after purchasing), but the mechanic advised replacing the turbo radiator since it was showing signs of needing replacement before much longer. He gave me a deal on the labor and I just bought the part online so I don't think he was just trying to get more money out of me, but who knows.
ours is pretty good but its only got 20k miles on it.... no driveline issue's, some weird stuff with command shuts off in its own, red triangle shows up consistently at 43mp in a few spots around town.... frickin weird... but all in all a very nice ride with real good lazy low rpm torque...
Cool, cars all have these half plastic radiators now, at that mileage it's not uncommon for the plastic and metal to separate causing a leak, it happens to basically every vehicle make. If the turbo rad is not pricey, and it's exposed, seems legit to replace it at the same time, along with the thermostat, and maybe even the water pump. Leak could also potentially be from improper coolant type or general exposure corrosion depending on your weather. If you ever go to buy a used MB and it has the common green fluid in the radiator, walk away. Recent models should have blue fluid. I specifically researched and went for the 2012+ because it lacked the Airmatic which inevitably goes sour at great expense, I'm a long term ownership kind of guy. If I could have gotten the big 550 engine without the turbos from 2010-2011, without the Airmatic, and only RWD I probably would have, less parts to fail.
Oh! Yes. Water pump was replaced also, thanks for the reminder. I'm pretty sure it had the blue coolant in, and if not it did after the mechanic replaced the radiator (I actually checked and topped it off). I really do like the Airmatic when it's working. I love being able to adjust ride height and comfort with the push of a button. But man, even rebuilt shocks are going to run $1300... then to get them installed.
If I get another Benz it will probably be the R171 SLK55 AMG that I absolutely love... or an S (W221). I love the big, lofty, floaty, premium sedans. Delicious.
I like the *idea* of an S class or SL, but as a used buyer they scare me with all the extra complex systems that fail eventually. I really think MB does not care about the secondary or long term market when they design these $100K cars, they only care about packing them with all the goods that will attract new buyers in that range. MB knows that new car buyer won't keep it long enough for those systems to fail, so they don't care. SLK is probably a safe bet, but a bit of a Barbie car. I want to get the wife into a GL550 this year, but the airmatic puts me off a bit. I guess I'll just have to anticipate that expense at some point.
Hahaha. It's true that the SLK is a bit of a Barbie car. The AMG looks a bit more aggressive than the normal model though, so I think I could pull it off. My sister had a GL (or GLS?) 550. Whatever the big 3-row SUV was. And sure enough, the shocks failed on her too. =\
Had the engine trans mounts change (they had a small vibration) at 50k and had the timing chain work done (a little loud at morning start up). At 60k had the the front right airbag changed due to damage (gotta love Jax FL roads).
At 65k my AC would not cool on the passenger side, fixed myself. Apparently there is a vent that switches the type of air that comes thru and since the heater is not used often, when it was used it remained stuck and the next day when it got warm again (Florida weather for you) it was stuck in the heat config. Cycling the temperature between max heat and lowest temp, fixed the issue.
At 75k had all 3 remaining airbags swapped due to damage (bent 2 of my wheels).
At 80k had some endlinks and suspension bushings changed.
I had not used the car often until the last 2 years, when it became my daily, put an extended warranty for $5k and it covered all of the above.
Engine has been awesome, transmission has been great, had some electrical problems due to lack of use, but they went away as the miles piled up. I had more electrical gremlins with a Honda Civic I used to daily, and that was bought new in 2015.
Has anyone had to add transmission fluid and if so can you possibly do it from top side of the engine my coupe is a. Mysterious car to all who I bring it to. Engine strong trans was to something I had someone fix I believe may have damaged the seal I can hear the fluid is low and it's stalling or not engaging till it's warm warm
Has anyone had to add transmission fluid and if so can you possibly do it from top side of the engine my coupe is a. Mysterious car to all who I bring it to. Engine strong trans was to something I had someone fix I believe may have damaged the seal I can hear the fluid is low and it's stalling or not engaging till it's warm warm
No, trans fluid only from the bottom via pump attached to fitting…at least per my experiences and any instruction I’ve ever seen. The transmission takes a VERY specific amount of a specific fluid dependent on model year, and fluid temp must be measured and filled at specific temp using overflow method. Do you have a code reader and if so, what codes are you seeing (if any)?
No, trans fluid only from the bottom via pump attached to fitting…at least per my experiences and any instruction I’ve ever seen. The transmission takes a VERY specific amount of a specific fluid dependent on model year, and fluid temp must be measured and filled at specific temp using overflow method. Do you have a code reader and if so, what codes are you seeing (if any)?
It's p084 it comes n goes n I was having a leak but couldn't seem to figure out what if it was oil but now it's cold I can hear the vaccume sound when changing gears I know they can have silanoid issues but my oil hasn't leaked all out so the fluid had to be trans fluid over the last few months. I got this car off a kid in another state he had done some things but no one knows what he did lol. I had the hoses changed the pipe on the fire wall replaced new main power wire to the fuse box replaced I had a bad connection to the fan. That took months to figure out now it's running fine the trans slips or just doesn't engage quickly unless it's warm I know the fluid is heat expanding and I've had alot of 5 series mostly 211s I've had the same model 212 in 4 door diff engine. Man I'm tryin not to let this ruin me but if the trans is messed up it's a wrap
It's a very specific procedure to change the transmission fluid. I'd do that if you think the fluid is low. You're supposed to do a few things like change the filter, the seal and the bolts when changing the fluid. I suppose if they just changed the fluid and/or filter but didn't do the seal or the bolts, that could explain the leak. Buy a kit on FCPEuro or Rockauto and just have the fluid changed. As someone else said, you basically fill the fluid level til it starts to overflow at a specific temperature and then button it up. You basically can't just add a quart of fluid.
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