2002 S430 . 20 year dream turns into nightmare .
 

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Well its a long story but I have wanted a Mercedes since I was 25 years old. I have owned every make and all kinds but no Benz. Reason being is I have always wanted the S Class and that much for a car that I would not drive much is insane. Well I promised myself many years ago I would own an S class by the time I was 45. See I worked on a s 500 for almost 6 months installing a massive sound quality audio system in it back in the 90s. I fell in love with the car. . Well in two days I will be 45., with 4 boys and 2 year old girl we adopted the day she was born I have to admit a new S Class is not happening .
So my wife says, why not get an older clean s430 or S500. . So I think, hey I can put a massive system in it and keep at the car audio shop I now own and use it as a demo vehicle . And it keeps my promise to myself to own a s class before I am 45. So I looked and looked but couldn't seem to find one that wasn't trashed or way over priced.
To my surprise my two oldest boys along with my wife actually found 2 in Florida and they tell me if I want one of them, they will buy it for me for my 45th birthday . . So we drive 6.5 hours one way to look at them. I pick what i think is the better car . We buy it and head home.
30 minutes into our trip home I get an error on the dash that says "DISPLAY DEFECTIVE VISIT WORKSHOP,". I call the guy we bought it from and he says its from a missing taillight bulb. and promises me its no big deal. I hang up and call my wife who is in my other car behind me . She says my taillights are blinking on and off and she cant tell when I am braking. . 5 minutes later all of this happens. No power windows . No A/C . . NO power seats .. The vent shade seems possessed by satin and keeps going up and down on its own . and finally no fuel gauge., Now its 90 degrees in the Florida swamp with 90 percent humidity . I have no AC and No way to roll windows down. SO i call the seller back and he will not answer. SO I KNOW AT THIS POINT I JUST BOUGHT A TOTAL PIECE OF CRAP!!
I decide to keep driving as my boys are working in Orlando and we can stop at their hotel and I can look at things , Its obviously electrical and I do car audio for a living so maybe its something simple. We stop in Orlando and I disconnect the battery and let it reset. Now the car doesn't want to start and still all the same issues plus no turn signals , no wipers and no radio. . I tell my wife I cant drive this car without wipers . it will rain for sure. So we leave it at may sons hotel and drive home. I call a transport company and they pick it up and tow it to a Mercedes Dealership a buddy of mine works at as GM. They try to scan it and it will not scan . SO they pull the carpet and find about 3 inches of water and the canbus is sitting in the water , He tells me he thinks the car has had a water issue for years and that for them to fix it with his discount I am still looking at 3 or 4 grand deepening on what all the water took out .He sends me all the wiring diagrams and all the cars service and warranty records. I had a carfax done and knew the car had never been reported as wrecked and no flood damage was ever noted. SO I have the vehicle brought to my shop by the transport company. We pull all the seats and carpet . Carpet and padding are soaked.. There is a good 2 to 3 inches of water in the floor and under the backseat .


So here is where i am currently .I replaced the front cowl. I checked to make sure the drain box on the passenger side is free and flowing fine. Replaced the rear SAM. Replaced all the can bus connector ends . I have no malfunctions in the car at all . everything is back working . But we sprayed it down with water for about 10 minutes Saturday with no interior . And i am getting water still at the passenger firewall. and in the drivers kick panel area. kick panel area seems to be drip where as the firewall I can not tell where its coning from as the padding is still there. Any ideas of where I should start looking. I would normally just say screw it and get of rid of the car letting someone know the leak issues . But my wife and boys bought this car so it became special the minute it was purchased for me. I apologize for the novel.
I was hoping to have the car back together so i could take my lil girl trick or treating in it on my birthday but that doesn't seem like its going to happen .
Attached few pics of the car and my baby girl as I cant help nut share her pics as she is our lil blessing.

Cover the reservoir and black plastic grille area under the windshield passenger side with plastic wrap and do the water test again- see if that stops the water from entering the cabin

Yep, the seller thought that you got screwed. Hopefully, karma will take care of him.

As tusabes hinted above, the drain valve in the HVAC plenum at the right rear of the engine compartment is the most common problem causing water entry. When the drain valve gets plugged by leaves and debris, the water builds up in the plenum until it spills over into the HVAC system, then runs under the carpets, wetting electrical units along the way, and flows to the SAM (Signal Acquisition Module) under the rear seat. Eventually, the water causes corrosion and electrical havoc.

The fix is labor intensive, but you sound as if you will not have a lot of trouble doing it. Basically, you have to clear the drain. In addition, Mercedes says that you should drill an additional hole in the side of the plenum (like the overflow drain hole in the side of your bathroom sink). All of this is covered in threads on this and the BenzWorld forums, as well as YouTube. The carpets have to be removed, and the foam padding allowed to thoroughly dry. Every electrical connection on the floor needs to be cleaned an treated. The rear SAM will need careful cleaning and treating.

You will also need to make sure that there is not actually another leak on the left side, perhaps around the windshield or from the sunroof.

Start by going to the W220 encyclopedia at the top of the page ("START HERE") and drilling down thru the subjects to find the information that you need.

Be of good cheer - the odds are excellent that you can fix the car with the skills that you have, and the beautiful young lady will have a really neat ride. Do your homework, and ask questions when you need to...

Tech12volt,
I know it is a long read but check this out...https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...ins-clean.html
Hopefully you will sort everything out at no time and get to enjoy the beautiful car :)

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Well she is my car for sure now and to make this more mind boggling . I was looking over the service records today and look at the date the car was originally sold. Today Oct 31st is my 45th birthday . My mouth dropped when i saw this

Happy Birthday!

Have you learned anything useful so far? Any progress?