mgiara

Is this an asinine and foolish idea?

I've been stressing out about the health of this E550 I bought and honestly am not entirely sure how I'd figure out "what shape the previous owners left it in".

I bought OTC's leakdown test kit but haven't used it yet. I was thinking about taking samples of the fluids I replace and sending them off to a lab for analysis.

This came to mind today when I went to buy another oil filter wrench

I'd prefer something between a coffee filter and cheesecloth for their mesh size, the mesh in this bag is not very tight so lots of "detail" might get missed, but I imagine the oil will be too viscous and flow too fast for a coffee filter and I don't know where to buy cheesecloth.

Thoughts?

I bought both the bags and the largest pictured strainer because for $10, to me, it's totally worth trying out even if just to say "yep, tried that".

mgiara

I’m open to buying a boroscope too if you guys have any interest in giving me your thoughts on what it captures.

Figuring out transmission health is something i’m not sure how to approach.

A senior member here gave me a phenomenal list of other smaller items to address and I’m making my way down that list.

Any and all advice is deeply appreciated. The car is 100% mine now no matter what, I’m just curious if I’m going to be in for a multi thousand dollar repair in the near future.

Air suspension and rear subframe are the only two major ones I know to expect and the plans for those are budgeted.

CaliBenzDriver

Do the tranny ATF soon because the frictions particulate has no place to go but stay in.

You are going to need a good scanner to read data from your car: faults, fuel pressures, brake sensors...

DFWdude

Are we overthinking this a bit too much? Straining the oil before sending to a lab? Really?

Unless this E550 is sputtering on acceleration, or bogging down, etc., I'd just drive this car and try to enjoy it for what it is... a used, 13 year-old, car.

strife

Unless the lab suggests straining, I would not do this. Metal/plastic contents are some of what they may (and probably) test for. I’d let them strain it if needed.

JettaRed

iTrader: (1)

As Cali said, unless you have proof that the tranny was serviced already, get that and an oil change done immediately. Then, change the oil every 5000 miles--forget the 10k change interval crap. Don't know your mileage, but generally the tranny fluid and filter should be replaced approximately every 60,000-70,000 miles (check your maintenance manual or search online for your specific car) or 7 years. I had the tranny service done on my SL400 with only 45,000 miles, but it is 9 years old. If you want an oil analysis done, go to https://www.blackstone-labs.com/. They will send you the collection containers free, postage paid. Save the strainers for the kitchen.

kajtek1

The metal contamination that passes engine filter is so fine, that no household strainers will catch it.
Just send the sample to lab and they will tell you.
But than what the ECU says about last oil change?
Not likely the seller would reset FSS without oil change, so that will tell you something.

Chevota

I dump the oil into a clean oil drain pan, then drain that into a jug and look to see what's at the bottom of the pan. Like panning for gold, except more you find is the inverse of finding more gold.
If you want to get more into it you can pull the pan for a look-c. Or swab it with a stick. Sometimes I spray in carb or brake cleaner to flush out the bits, which is best done with the car as tilted as best you can towards the drain.
My truck has a 1" NPT drain plug which makes all that super easy, but I've done it many times on regular drains too.

For the trans, I pull the pan and use the tranny pan the same way. There is always some metal flakes in there, like glitter, which I usually ignore unless it bad. It's sludge that worries me. Should just be a thin film of it you can wipe off with a finger but not much actual volume. If you have an actual buildup of gunk, that's your clutches giving up the ghost.
You can post pix of either and we can all give our varying opinions

You can also put a magnet in the pan or on the drain plug to catch stuff. Ever see ferrofluid? That's what it looks like when you check it. Trippy, then you wonder where the hell all that metal came from? Cyls mostly, imo.
I check the oil filter too, by letting it drain via gravity, then set on paper towels to pull more oil out, then I open all the pleats for a look-c. I've found various things over the years, usually just bits of plastic, silicone, misc unknowns, but so far I've found nothing in a Benz.

mgiara

Thank you!! I’ll start doing parts of the B service early then.

I bought a Foxwell NT530 with Mercedes-specific programming and also https://a.aliexpress.com/_mKm2OsS]one of these Openport dongles
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mKm2OsS

By the way, I believe it was YOU who gave me that extremely well written prognosis of what to address and why, can’t thank you enough!!

Are you involved in any California MB groups?

I’m in San Diego and interested in meeting the local “squad”

mgiara

Trust me, I totally understand that sentiment.
I’m just an extremely hands-on guy who spent the first half of my life with not much, so I’m super antsy to “go out of my way” to make sure this thing lasts, even though it’s market value is well under 20 grand.

I really love this car, every tiny detail about it, and it still almost doesn’t feel real that I’ve made it this far in life, to have such a fancy luxurious machine.

mgiara

That makes perfect sense.

I was thinking more along the lines of the last reply. It doesn’t have any major noticeable sputtering, only tiny little strange quirks, so I was thinking maybe I just had wave the $600 to have the ATF and engine oil analyzed by a lab, just check the cheesecloth for major “oh ****” pieces and if I don’t see any, assume I’m “ok”

mgiara

Thank you!

I do not have proof, and as due diligence wanted to change ALL of the fluids just for piece of mind, but haven’t yet. The engine oil is clean by visual inspection, and all of the filters i’ve checked so far are quality brands like MANN, so that made me feel better. I’ve just been driving my other car in the mean time to not incur unnecessary damage. I’ll push fluids and filters to #1 priority for now.

No problem. I stick to a 5k interval anyway since maintenance is enjoyable and DIY saves so much labor.

I bought it at 79k assuming that if the previous owners were especially negligent, the amount of damage would be at least somewhat mitigated with only 80k on the clock.

Thanks man!! I’ll give them a look. I got the oil change kit from FCP so it’s not too late to get an initial analysis.

mgiara

Okay, damn. This is exactly the kind of info I was hoping for, thank you.

I have to admit, I haven’t yet pulled that data from the ECU. I figured if you went to a shady shop or had a shady male friend as a female owner, they’d reset the maintenance reminder for “points” so I probably shouldn’t trust it.

I will pull this data and report back, thank you!

mgiara

Thats a heck of a setup you have! Really good insight. Thank you.

My coworker just told me I can borrow his GoPro so I’ll record and post here (if I have the energy when I do it) for you guys’ thoughts.

The trans pan has magnets already from what I’ve seen. My coworker suggested dropping the oil pan for inspection since doing so for the AT is already going to happen.

I have! Magnets and ferrous metals are crazy fascinating.

That’s a great suggestion, totally free to saw the filter in half and see what’s there!