Help locating mechanically totaled x166 GLS 550
As the title says - I am trying to track down a x166 with cylinder scoring as the next daily driver.
While I know most people are explicitly trying to avoid these for this reason - my schtick is pretty simple -
Depreciation on these in the US is insane and if I can find one with a nice knock and a scored cylinder or two I am hoping I can get it for very very cheap.
I am in Germany where these hold their value and geographically very close to Poland, Lithuania and Hungry - all of which have great shops that specialize in sleeving these motors and doing a complete rebuild on the engine as well as replacing all the "while you are there stuff".
This problem is a known quantity so prices for the tear down and rebuild can be negotiated proactively before the vehicle ever arrives in the shop - keeps the guys doing the work honest.
I'm been watching CoPart and IAA for some time but competing with the Nigerians, Georgians and Ukrainians for these things make broken units go for more than I've seen rough (but not knocking) retail examples go for.
I finally got access to Manheim a few months ago - but after watching for a while I get the feeling the guys who get the "knock of death" aren't trading them back into Mercedes or their local Lexus dealer for $5,500 on trade - as I see not a single M278 cross the block with a CR of like 1.2 noting a hard knock. I've seen P0266 cross the block, I've seen all sorts of repo garbage cross the block - but not for what I am wanting to purchase one of these for. The only ones I see with the knock noted I am after and a CR of like 1.2 are all M157s, which are out of my budget.
So I figured there have to be techs in here or people more involved in the industry in the US than I am that could point me in the correct direction. Where do these things go to?



