Mike5215

Dave and I are equal opportunity a-holes. If we can't help by talking him out of it we'll still pitch in for the sake of the car. At the end of the day it is one more 221 spared from the crusher.

Before we get too carried away, we sort of expected it would run since it was obviously on the road when it got rear ended. It would have been catastrophic if it had serious mechanical damage.

The real hurdle has always been a safe and cosmetically sound body repair.

boltonblue

reminds me of an old tale.

A little bird in Russia refused to join the pack which was flying south for the winter. It refused to listen to its' parents and elders thinking it can tough it out.
Winter came and It was so cold so the bird froze and fell to the ground covered with snow. A cow came by and dropped some dung on the bird. The pile of cow dung warmed the bird and brought it back to life. It lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.A passing cat heard the bird singing took the bird out of the pile of cow dung, and ate it.

Morals of the story:
(1) Don't discount experienced advice of people who care for your success.
(2) Not everyone who ****s on you is your enemy.
(3) Not everyone who gets you out of **** is your friend.
(4) And when you're in deep ****, it's best to keep your mouth shut!

in this case it's one and two that apply.

mercedesbenzs55

Haha! I like that it's dynamic

mercedesbenzs55

Im changing the oil and agm battery tomorrow morning. Then getting a permit to get an estimate for the frame pull. Anyone know where the best price on our oil filters are? I would like to use OEM

desired_speeds

great place to get a lot of parts is autohausaz.com



GL with the project! I recommend getting the car scanned via star for all stored faults.

superpop

I would check with a few indy shops on what they charge for an oil change. This car takes a ton of expensive oil and I have found that it is worth the few bucks to have someone else do it and they can do the scan at the same time.

Abrown3mtg

One thing I haven't seen mentioned:

A LOT of the warning lights and such can be triggered due to the battery going flat and having low output. As you drove the vehicle and the alternator put out enough power, those items cleared. I would plan on having the car scanned, replace the battery, clear the codes, put 15-20 miles on it, and rescan it to see what pops back up. A bad battery can cause a TON of misc fault codes.

mercedesbenzs55

Ty for that. I might just go to my oil change guys tomorrow. See what they charge.

Where do I go to get my car scanned? What does it cost, I'm trying to avoid the dealer.

I'm also changing the spark plugs tomorrow.

Abrown3mtg

See if you can find an Independent mechanic in your area that has a STAR (mercedes specific) diagnostic computer. inquire how much an oil change is.... ask if you bring your car in for an oil change if they will scan it for you. (hopefully free). You can see most, but not all faults with a run of the mill OBD scanner.

As for spark plugs, I would hold off. A.) if there isn't a problem with the current plugs, why spend the money? See what the out of pocket on the big wild card items are first. B.) If you don't "gap" the plugs properly, there is a chance you can introduce more fault codes into the equation and have to work backwards.

Don't get ahead of yourself on this. Get a baseline by scanning, replacing the battery, than clearing the codes (start fresh).... drive it a bit in a safe setting/time of day to take into account it's current damaged state. Re-scan it to see what/if codes came back and compare them to the original list.

Get the car on a rack. Figure out frame/body repair costs.

circle back and start replacing all the misc little stuff.... Frankly, I'd get the car on a rack and find out where you stand before you invest ANY more money into it.

Oil change and scan would be the only thing I'd even consider doing prior, but frankly, rack would come first for me.

I am 100% for doing things on a budget. I've done many projects the same way/on a budget. I like the challenge. However, when there is a white elephant in the room, you need to address it before making the rest of it shiny and throwing money away.

Quadcammer

eh, new plugs are like $60 and they are pre-gapped. Its nearly idiot proof on this motor.

Yidney

I'm with those who say not to put a dime into it until you get the body and frame work done. It's not like you are going to put a ton of miles on it. As for scanning, you ought to own a a basic OBDII scanner anyway. You can get one for $50 or even less on ebay. It won't read tranny codes or ABS codes or some other stuff, but for 99% of basic check engine light codes, it works just fine. I use it on all my cars. I'm a little surprised that a guy who is not afraid to pull a bumper cover, etc. doesn't change his own oil.

Mike5215

If you saw the YouTube video he made of him removing the rear bumper (It's on his Go Fund Me page) you'd suggest strongly that he do as little of his own work as humanly possible.

Really, the car just needs to run enough to get it from his house to his body shop, and it needs to stay there until the collision repairs are finished.

1bad540

Id skip the oil and the plugs, get it straight and painted, wash it and do all that when your done.

mercedesbenzs55

The engine is running tough from oil sludge and the battery is dead. I Need to get it done or it could kaput on me midway to Vlads.


yidney, I bought an obd 2 scanner last year for $216. Ill d can it this evening.

nycphotography

Wow. My OBDII scanner was like $25, plus a $5 phone app.

Search Amazon for "OBD Bluetooth"

KNBS550

I'd skip the plugs too.

The cheapest route without DIY I know of is to go to Walmart, buy two Mobil Synthetic in the 5 quart size for about $30 each, an oil filter, and take it to an indy or place like Speedy Oil Change, if you have one in your area. Where I live, they will charge $35 just for the labor to do the oil change.

mercedesbenzs55, you remind me of my kid at Christmas. The enthusiasm is jumping off your posts. I know it's hard to contain the eagerness to do lots of things to the car, but trust me you will have plenty of opportunity to shower it with cash if and when you get the car straightened out. As an owner you experience the occasional failure of a part here or there. Can't wait to hear the prognosis from Vlad's body shop on Saturday. Good luck.

Abrown3mtg

Hold on.... you have an obd II but asked people how to scan the car/where to go? Yet you are diagnosing cat failure, oil sludge, and bad plugs? What plugs did you buy? Leave them alone for now. Like I said TO GET A BASELINE. Also, do you have a mityvac? Correct me if I am wrong, but the oil on the e550 is changed by suction from the top of the engine vs drained like a typical car?

Get the car to an indy for scan and oil change, leave plugs alone, OR straight to the rack.

xpl0sive

oil change is virtually idiot proof on this car. I believe there's a DIY somewhere on the forum.

"engine is running (r)tough from oil sludge" "cats are clogged from sitting"
Where do you come up with this stuff? Do you have any idea how an engine works?

Vitaliydw1

This is a bit off topic. Iam new here and cannot find out how to make a post or a thread? Can anyone guide me?

xpl0sive

you just made a post....?

anyway, here's a good thread about oil changes. Pre-2010 cars should all have dipsticks. To get the oil filter housing unscrewed you can use a proper oil filter attachment, a strap wrench or hands of steel and manhandle that *****

https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...il-filter.html

Mike5215

He has as much as an idea as he does about how collision damage works. But, what he lacks in knowledge, experience and expertise he makes up for with blind, rabid enthusiasm, which is pretty much the same thing.

Mike5215

First, the forum requires that you buy a totaled Mercedes, have it fork-lifted and trucked to your house, pushed off the truck, and then start yanking parts off it. We all had to do it.

Mike5215

Welcome to our world. It's like herding cats.

egalt

"Items may settle (or become "ungapped") during shipping"...

RichM

I would like to know how MB55 diagnosed the "sludge" problem causing rough engine operation.