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New owner of a 2009 G550. I have been lurking around G Wagons my whole life and finally decided to jump in. I bought a 2009 G550 with 67K miles. The car is from Ohio, I live in Portland Oregon so I really took a leap a faith buying on photos, video and carfax. When the care arrived it immediately took it to MBI Motors where I live for a, ah hem..., a pre purchase inspection. Keeping fingers crossed, and luckily the rig checked out ok and they said it had no big / obvious problems. They only found, rear diff leaking a little, rear shocks leaking a bit and they told me the whole exhaust system has a lot of rust. So the salt used where it lived for many years had really eaten away at the exhaust system. They said I should be fine for now but was told to be prepared to replace the whole exhaust system at some point and that the cost to replace the whole exhaust system would be $10,000. So I was wondering if that sounds right? I do not expect maintenance for the G to be thrifty and am prepare to do what it takes to keep it on the road. $10K sounds high for pipes though. I am surprised MB does not use stainless steel. I have a 1989 VW Vanagon Syncro with a Subaru motor in it and it has a SS exhaust system. for $10K I would think SS would be in order?
There was 3 quarter sized what looks like bubbling paint, I assume rust is underneath? Wondering if this is common with Gs?
Door hinges also show a little brown and looks really dry, should I smear some a axle grease on these hinges or something to aid in the movement and also keep further rusting at bay?
MPG, Im hoping for 10-13 and am prepared for this. Do you guys think if I add a roof rack and rear bumper, this one
I would be getting a lot less than 10- 13? or will these items not effect the MPG? I was told that if I wanted a tow hitch I need this bumper. Total added weight would be about 200 lbs
The car is awesome and I absolutely love driving it.
Welcome to the board.
Sounds like you do have a little rust issue, not really a common issue unless you live where they use road salt in winter I think.
Getting replacement OEM parts can actually be more expensive than going aftermarket. I'd look at some aftermarket systems like those from Mansory and Lorinser: GWagenParts
Just make sure you're getting one for the G550 NA 5.5 liter engine, and not the later G550 bi-turbo!
I'm personally not averse to looking for a bargain elsewhere as well, like eBay, but you have to do your research.
Last edited by Limey Hooligan; Feb 9, 2018 at 12:07 PM.
New owner of a 2009 G550. I have been lurking around G Wagons my whole life and finally decided to jump in. I bought a 2009 G550 with 67K miles. The car is from Ohio, I live in Portland Oregon so I really took a leap a faith buying on photos, video and carfax. When the care arrived it immediately took it to MBI Motors where I live for a, ah hem..., a pre purchase inspection. Keeping fingers crossed, and luckily the rig checked out ok and they said it had no big / obvious problems. They only found, rear diff leaking a little, rear shocks leaking a bit and they told me the whole exhaust system has a lot of rust. So the salt used where it lived for many years had really eaten away at the exhaust system. They said I should be fine for now but was told to be prepared to replace the whole exhaust system at some point and that the cost to replace the whole exhaust system would be $10,000. So I was wondering if that sounds right? I do not expect maintenance for the G to be thrifty and am prepare to do what it takes to keep it on the road. $10K sounds high for pipes though. I am surprised MB does not use stainless steel. I have a 1989 VW Vanagon Syncro with a Subaru motor in it and it has a SS exhaust system. for $10K I would think SS would be in order?
There was 3 quarter sized what looks like bubbling paint, I assume rust is underneath? Wondering if this is common with Gs?
Door hinges also show a little brown and looks really dry, should I smear some a axle grease on these hinges or something to aid in the movement and also keep further rusting at bay?
MPG, Im hoping for 10-13 and am prepared for this. Do you guys think if I add a roof rack and rear bumper, this one
I would be getting a lot less than 10- 13? or will these items not effect the MPG? I was told that if I wanted a tow hitch I need this bumper. Total added weight would be about 200 lbs
The car is awesome and I absolutely love driving it.
thanks guys,
KB
Welcome! Nice looking G! I too just purchased a 2002 with 182K miles on it last month. I changed all the fluids (transfer case, diffs, transmission, engine oil) and changed the air/cabin filters. Did a underbody check and all looked good. I would definitely do routine maintainence yourself if time permits! It feels good working on your G then driving it, knowing everything has been done properly.
10K seems pretty expensive, not sure if the cats are also eaten up by the rust but I'd look for used pipes/mufflers on ebay/craigslist. Or even find a nice G63 setup and get that nice rumble.
I averaged 12.6mpg on the last 350 city/highway miles I drove. Sucks but the feeling of driving the beast makes up for it.
Also I would exercise the diff locks every other oil change or so! They tend to get stuck after long periods of no use.
Anyways, your G has a long life ahead of it. I am probably going to keep mine forever and am expecting to see 300K+ miles.
so a while back i had an Audi and the exhaust blew a hole through the "flex" pipe, which is a flex mesh that connects the down pipe to the begging of the flat part of the exhaust. Anyways it cost me 1k to get it done by the dealer which i thought needed to be the place to go....big lesson learned. hindsight is 20/20 i wish i brought it to a muffler shop and had them patch it. take it to a muffler shop first and see what they can do. Chances you might need patch work, i highly doubt the ENTIRE exhaust really ever needs to be replaced. and for the rest of your to-do's i would find a shop that specializes in german vehicles in your area. once your car is past the warranty mark forget about the dealer, you dont need them anymore and they will put a laundry list of things you dont need done
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