Could anyone tell me the reliability on the E550's?
 

Im in the market and kind of going back and forth with the E350 and E550's. I believe the E350's are pretty built proof with not much issues but wanted to know if there was any for the E550's? If Im not mistaken the 2010 to 2012 E63 had timing chain issues? Are the E550 the same motors? 2012 to 2014 is the years Im looking at.

Any help would be great on clarifications and recommendations.

They are not the same motor. The E63 AMG motor is a twin turbo V8 5.5l designated as the M157. The E550 4M motor is the M278. It is 4.7L.
My 2014 has had nothing but normal maintenance and it is a rocket ship, plus it gets tremendous mileage. It’s quite a machine.
You can also tune these cars to 550+HP if you are so inclined for $2-2.5K. There are no real options for adding significant horsepower to the 350 V6.
I think the 2014-15 facelift models are one of the greatest looking and performing non-AMG sedans Mercedes has ever produced.
If you can find one, buy it. They are rare

Thank you for the clarifications. Aren't the 550's V8 bi-turbo as well? Good to know they didn't have the same fate as the AMG's. I wouldn't mind one though but at the prices they are still going for and for a daily driver with pets might not be the wisest! I do like the V6 as they would probably be better on gas then the V8 but I want the power lol. I would prefer the facelift models but they are still up there in price.

All the external parts and maintenance issues are the same between the 5.5L and 4.7L engines, they are physically identical except for internal parts, you could swap in the block and have a 5.5L in your 550 car and it would all bolt up.

Biggest failure points are the plastic cooling systems, which are an issue on every version of every MB engine at this point, but in general they are very stout. Real failures are few and far between, a well serviced example with a ton of miles on it will usually be more reliable than one that has sat and not been driven.

Also, in a coupe, the E550 is the only way to get a turbo V8 in that older C class chassis. Super fast and fun car

Also in the US, the 2014 is the only year they made the face lifted E550. There was an E400 in later years but not as much power. So there's a difference between the 2012-2013 E550 and the 2014 E550. That's why the 2014 is up there in price, very rare and the only face lifted E550 model out there. There was a 2015 model but that was in Canada, didn't make it to the US. I think airmatic became an option so that'd be one thing to look for to see if the car has it. It's more expensive when the airmatic fails and it's basically a matter of time/mileage as the suspension ages. One other thing to keep in mind is that only 2016 had apple carplay/Android auto so you would be stuck with just the E350/E400 for that year of the W212. You're right to look at 2012+ E350 though, that had the 302hp V6 engine, the earlier 2010-2011 had the 268hp engine. As usual, check for faded wood, ripped seat on mb-tex/E350. The E550 had real leather so ripped seat is not common there. Faded wood is pretty common on the older models, not much to be done about it as replacement wood kit is about 2k from MB, just a negotiating point on the price. Just open the door to see if the wood hidden by the door is the same color as the exposed wood.

Sorry Jhonny, let me highjack a bit while Joe is here .....:D but same concern you will have eventually.

Hi Joe,
I been wondering about plastic parts too, and this will decide if it is worth it to keep my E400 beyond 10 years.
Since you have lots of experience, what is safe years and mileage to change all plastic parts handling oil and coolant or whatever vital hot fluid it may be ?
Mine is 3 liter V6 Dela 30 with extra heat from the turbos.:duh:

I really fear the plastic water pipe ( A2762002052 Water Feed Line ) behind the engine, near the bulkhead, as I can't even inspect it, let alone replace it.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...570888afc9.jpg


If I keep the car to say 15 years, I was thinking to change all plastic handling coolant and oil at 10 years of car age or early 2024 , including the radiator because the sides are plastic.
Any such parts if failed while I am at cruise speed or while doing agressive driving, my engine will be wrecked for sure.

Thanks very much Joe.

How much experience do you have with mercedes in general? If you're a first time buyer I'll find a low mileage/ well maintained e350, the v6 like any other v6 in the industry is bullet proof, easy to work one on your own and if it matters when driving accordingly I get 30+ mpg. If you are mainly looking for grunt and power look for an e550 with a comprehensive service and low mileage

fuel mileage should not be an issue as the E550 gets 29-31 mpg on the highway if driven with a smidge of decorum.

Mine has been good to me and I drive it hard. nothing other than regular maintenance over last 2 years...well, unless you count performance mods!

Thats impressive... what modifications do you have and how has the 7 speed holding up? Told it could give a couple of hiccups

ECATX 'Stage 3+SS' Custom ECU Tune
ECATX TCU Tune
Stock Turbos
3" MBH Downpipes
11.3 @ 122mph (Dragy)
3.5 seconds 0-60mph (Dragy)

trans seems to be okay so far, but I do have 115k miles so no promises on that. I assume I'll need one before too long, but I'll have one built I'm sure. Having motor mount issues right now so I think next mod will be ECE Motor Mounts, then I can get back to my quest for 10's without having to worry about damaging anything. That BlackBoost intake is looking pretty good as the next candidate after that along with some resealing of cam adjuster plates and new water lines for the turbos.

I owned a 2011 for the 4 year warranty period, was a great car! :y

Do these have the timing chain issues like the E63 had on the earlier models?

I do really like the 2014 facelift but if I was to come across a good priced 2012 or 2013 I probably would jump on those as well. E350 was the first pick but more I look Im thinking the E550 would be a better choice. Gas would probably be better on the V6 compared to the V8. I was just afraid the V8 would have more issues but from all the responses it sounds like its pretty reliable. I really wanted a E63 and was looking at the 2012 models but heard those had a lot of issues so thats why Im looking at the other models. Does that sound about right with the E63 engines?

Joe all good brother! lol

Ive owned a few mercedes back in the days but most of my cars have been BMW's. I won't lie I do miss the SL I had and is why I want to get into another Benz. I do most of my work myself. Done most of my BMW's including the Valve Seals on the N62 motors. Pain the @ss to do but did that successfully. I won't say Im a pro or mechanic but Im definitely a diy'er. I just don't want to deal with anything major like the timing chain, gears, etc like the older E63 and right now got a lot going on to even take that on a project like that nor the room so was looking for one that was more reliable and nothing major to do.

Good to know. Maintenance and Mod's I can deal with! Just don't want to be removing cylinder heads, transmissions things like that. lol

Thanks for the heads up

Also are the 2012 - 2014 E550 all bi-turbo's? Or was it just the 4matics?

All 2012-2014 E550 Sedans are biturbo V8 and 4matic

All 2012-2014 Coupes are RWD biturbos V8

Is that a trick question? Every E550 sedan from 2012 forward is only available in 4Matic. All cars designated 550 are the 4.7L V8 bi-turbo.
If you want rear wheel drive, you will need to buy the coupe or cabriolet.

Read the brochures here:

http://www.auto-brochures.com/mercedes_benz.html

I also like to use Motor Trend. You can see what the price of some of the options were for a particular model and then click on features further down. Just change the year in the url for the different model years.

https://www.motortrend.com/cars/merc.../e-class/2012/

Then use a vin decoder to get the options you want. I always want the lighting package, pano roof and at least parktronic and a few other options like driver assistance, but it's hard to find them loaded and most ads lie and say they're loaded and the option isn't on there.

https://www.lastvin.com/

The plastics will all start to fail around the same time, so for me, I would see how everything looks when I lost the first hard line. I had a customers S550, 2015 or so, he drove a ton and the car had about 60k miles on it after 2 years, we were putting coolant parts on it almost every visit. At around 100k we saw several need those hoses behind the engine looked at. It has far more to do with the heat cycles and overall exposure than age/mileage, so I would not try to put a hard number on when you should change them preventative. Most of the leaks start as seeping for months, so if you are inspecting the car and not ignoring a low coolant warning, there should not be a case of getting stranded due to a line failure.

What timing chain issues are you referring to Johnny, all the engines had tensioner issues and the chains can stretch when maintenance is neglected, that applies to all the v6 and v8 engines, and even the 4 cyl engines although the root cause was different and they didn't have the tensioner update bulletin.

Thanks Joe.:urock: well noted on the visual pre-caution and slow leak. I sure hope it is the slow leak and not immediate broke-into-2-pieces scenario.

Good thing I do not have winter , I am in the tropics. However, my traffic jam is very bad. 20km/h is the average speed I been getting prior to covid for the last 400 hours or 10,000KM or 2 years.
So hours of exposure to heat for my mileage is kinda high when compared to US cars. With less vehicle speed, I guess ambient temperature in engine bay is hotter too.

I've had my 2011 E550 for a little over 2 months now. These beasts are extremely rare so if you find one, make sure you jump on it so long as the car is in proper condition. Repairs can be expensive, as per usual for most Mercedes. I'm not saying the car is unreliable, but when a repair or service comes up it's gonna cost you a bit more than usual. Highly recommend the car, good luck!

2012 and up Biturbos are crap. Rod bearings get scorched if you don't warm them for more than 10 minutes, they eat oil like crazy (2 liters per month).

Slight tune on them, and they blow up.

Don't buy it.

Seriously ppl quit recommending the M278's, if they can't be bothered to research the hundreds of post showing how good these engines are, they don't deserve them.

(And above I was having a nightmare about my old S85 M5 and my N63 550i)

LOL!!!

I have a 2010 E550 with all gizmos other than the night view assistance. It has Airmatic like they used to come with as standard and this has been the single most expensive repair item as I had to replace all four air springs/struts (did the work myself, very easy job) but other than that it has been rock solid other than I had to replace the starter (did the work myself too), which seems to go out at 8-10 years like the air springs.

It seems there are more issue with these cars starting from 2012 year model with the bi-turbo engine. Issues seem to be with brakes but I cannot say how much the engine has to do with it. The 5.5 Liter engine prior to 2012 seems rock solid and the one i have still runs without burning a drop of oil between oil changes that I do every 5000 miles.

I just got a 2013 S550 that I now drive. Don't need the E550 that much anymore but cannot let it go for a book value of well less than $10 000. It has 180 000 miles on it but they are 85% highway so comparing to a city car it has only about 65 000 miles on it. Awesome car with all gizmos working (has driver assistance package). And it is the best looking E-Class with the hockey stick DRL's on top of the best ever Bi-Xenon main lights in the front.

My 2011 e550 has all the gizmos other than driver assistance (unfortunately). I currently have 65,000 miles on the clock, when did you have to replace your airmatic suspension?

My car was first registered in mid September 2009. I replaced the springs and struts just about a year ago so the original springs lasted about 10 years.