tuner1212

I am thinking to buy a 2000 Mercedes S500 with 93K miles. I am just wondering if I can get some advice about this car especially any major/common problems and maintenance concerns that I need to be aware of.

Thanks in advance for your assistant.

Scott

Gondon

Rent a Mercedes Mechanic to Inspect the car.

whoover

There are a number of recurring problems with W220s, especially early ones. Airmatic or ABC suspension problems, frontend parts and electrical components are high on the list. And all of them are very expensive to fix. $5,000 bills for suspension failures and $3,000 bills for electrical problems are not uncommon. Many of us would not dream of owning one not covered by an extended warranty (probably not an option for this car). They're great cars, but go in with your eyes wide open.

hadam

You can get for $25000 a nice 2004 S500. Only issue with 2004 will be 7 speed transmission (first year).
Most of the bugs were out by 2005.

Skylaw

See http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w220...oney-pit.html; I concur with the advice to have it looked over by an MB mechanic.

You will not be able to get much extended warranty coverage with 93000 miles, even from a 3rd party warranty company. Be sure you are able to set aside several thousand dollars for unexpected maintenance items. Expensive luxury cars are expensive to fix when they break. If you cannot do that, look for a less expensive kind of car.

Gondon

no u cant.

trumpet1

No matter what you pay for the car, borrow an extra $10K and put it in an escrow account for airmatic/electrical problems. If it were me, I'd get a 1997-99 model 140. They have problems too but those years were fabulous for MB.
The car is more solid build , rides more German like, very classy looking, less Japanese looking, and cheaper priced too.

Just my opinion as you might not like the 140 styling. It was criticized by many but I thought it was terrific. Owned two of them.
I also owned a 2000 S500 when they first came out and just didn't like the cheapness of it. I worked hard to like it but after 18 months , went elsewhere.

tuner1212

Thanks everybody for the great input! I really appreciate. For the Airmatic or ABC suspension problems, can someone please elaborate a little more about it? Like what exactly the problem would be?

Thanks

nbbaig

The main problem is that it is expensive to fix. YOu would be better off buying a new model and actually saving money in the Long Run..

whoover

These cars don't have ordinary springs for suspension. They either have a complex pneumatic suspension with an air pump, pressure storage tanks, pneumatic struts, etc. (called Airmatic) or an even more complex hydraulic system (called ABC) with a high-pressure oil pump, hydraulic struts, valves, computers, pressure sensors, level sensors, accelerometers, servos and enough oil lines to build a pipeline. The pumps can fail in either system to the tune of thousands. ABC valve blocks are popular (and will run at least $1,000 with fluid flush). Struts leak, are very expensive and can be hard to find other than at the dealer. And most independent shops are just not qualified to repair, or even align, these suspension, so you have to pay dealer rates. You may be fine for a couple of years, but when the dreaded AIRMATIC FAILURE or ABC FAILURE appears in red on your dash, you're in it for big bucks.

Then there are the expensive electrical modules (really computers) like the SAM, DCM and EIS. A dead battery turns out to take three hours of labor to diagnose plus $1,000 to replace one of those modules. It's only a matter of time. These are not cheap cars to maintain when the warranty is over.

trumpet1

Couldn't have said it better myself.

tuner1212

At what mileages approximately would the suspension start to fail?

Skylaw

There seems to be no uniform mileage. It likely depends on how hard the car is driven and how much "abuse" (e.g., from bad roads, oversized wheels, and the like) the suspension is subjected to. Because the failures seems to originate from multiple components, it just isn't uniform.

tuner1212

Is there any sign before the suspension start to have problem? If so, once the sign show up, how many more miles before the real problem shows up (assuming normal and easy driving)?

Thanks

Gondon

Airmatic Light will show up.

Thats a warning.

Skylaw

The link in my first post above improperly included the semicolon, so it won't work. The proper link is http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w220...money-pit.html

The link discusses several of the earlier indications of problems: cracks in the upper front strut mounting plates, the car rising at uneven rates after being shut down for a protracted time (left rises faster than right, etc.). Addtional signs of problems include your airmatic pump running frequently (when parked, or if you hear it often at stop lights or when driving slowly) could indicate a leak; and running for long periods of time, especially after shutting the car down, can indicate a malfunctioning relay that will burn the pump out. Another indication is the car not sitting level after being parked for a time, or the front (or back) resting abnormally low. Also, while the airmatic pump is somewhat noisy, it is not extremely loud; if it is, it's a sign of impending pump failure.

It is normal for the airmatic pump to run for a short time during many of the situation I have described. The abnormal indications are running at excessively frequent intervals, or for prolonged periods of time; mine normally runs for about 5 seconds at a time unless I am raising the front end deliberately (to clear a parking obstacle). It will nearly always run after i start up, if I haven't driven it for several days. It will run briefly during travel, but only occasionally. I can't give you any engineering specifications.

But if you pay attention, most of the time you will see the abnormal indications long before you get an Airmatic warning light.

ksc

i may be due for a big one...my '02 has 55K miles with no Airmatic/suspension related repairs in its history and 7 months of trouble-free driving (the longest period without a trip to the dealer in my 2+ years of ownership).


starting to feel nervous now....

ebolick

DONT BUY IT!!!. i love my car but i would not recomend this car to anyone. and if the car has no warrenty you are asking for problems. i have babied my car, use to only take to the dealer and now i dont even drive in fear it will break down before i trade it in.

Gondon

lol all problems can be prevented pretty much with regular maintence, that way it can be prevented b4 it happens i guess.

But who am I to speak I had the car for only 1 month and no problems yet. Xcept I had to seal a leak, which was prob 6 -7 months old.

Seems Reliable to me.

There is a trend though most of the problems are in 2000 model. If you look around and what ive seen this past month on the forums all the 00' owners seem to be getting most of the problems.

ebolick

Normally i would agree with you 100 Percent but Maintence has nothing to do with these cars. When your shocks go out, or lights turn off in your dash, or seat plastic breaks because it was made cheaply I could go on and on....and your right the 2000's are the worst i should know i have one lol

my06clk

I agree with you.. 2000 model seems to be the absolute worst...

can't get a 2004 for 5k? that I do not agree with you.. yes you can, of course it will have higher mileage, but they are out there.. i just priced a 2004 in dallas for 27K with low miles so don't say no you can't because you'd really be surprised what's out there these days...

Happy to say that mine has been okay o far.. just normal low ticket stuff....
But I can safely say that I will never see a $2000 electrical bill or a $3000 suspension bill.. My labor is a fraction of that.

Gondon

OH my seat plastic is broken on the bottom!!!
Also my friend while playing in my car discovered the car Lighther (For Smoking) doesnt work, or we did it wrong lol..

Gondon

yea In Chicago and Texas the S500 Prices are way lower than Jersey and NY....

That 04 for 27k is it a Sport ?
I saw an 04 S430 for just a lil more than mine, but i wanted the 500 with the sport.

Gondon

no one is goona get a $2000 electrical bill lol eazy

my06clk

No but here is the link...Actually its houston..

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...00&cardist=173