marthyh

Nice S !!:-) Whats with those dents in the rear quarter ..were you rear ended..hope you have insurance,looks kinda expensive damage ??

Good luck with it !!

fastlife23

Un subd from this crap fest

DaveW68

I'm literally laughing out loud after reading this comment.

I should do the same, but like a bad car accident (no pun intended), I just can't look away.

Mike5215

He's "winning". Not in the sense where you come out ahead. More like the Charlie Sheen version of "winning". Very entertaining though. He's like the kid who comes downstairs on Christmas morning, finds the living room knee deep in horse-**** and thinks Santa brought him a pony. Good stuff!

Mike5215

No, that's not expensive damage. Thousand dollars max. It was that way when he bought it from the salvage yard. He's doing research for a book he's working on entitled "How To Get A $15,000 S Class For Only $25,000 Plus A Bunch Of Extra Parts & Labor."

mercedesbenzs55

I need someone that will put a little love into the car. I need an artist, a craftsman. Vlad is used to working with steel, not aluminum.

My next option is: Leifs. Auto. Collision. Centers! The Finest in Collision Repair! (Don't know if you have them where you live but thats thier jingle)

I'm learning that working on a Mercedes is a more meticulous and time consuming than an average car. Parts are more expensive. If you want used OEM parts its harder to source than my Acura TL.

They are more complex and demand more respect than a near luxury Acura.

Bottom line: You gotta take it slow.

Mike5215

Yes! Finally you're catching on. You misspelled "arsonist" though.

mercedesbenzs55

I gotta get it insured first

Nuru

If you want cheaper priced new OEM parts, you should research European online sources. Apparently there are some in the UK, some in Estonia, other places, and some of them ship to the USA. Germany eBay can be a good source for used parts. Just do your research, you have the time.

mercedesbenzs55

It's gotta be light stuff though, because after certain weight/size, shipping gets costly.

Mike5215

Yes! Benz55 is on a very strict budget. Pretty much watching every penny.

JonMac

But anythung not directly related to fixing the car like new steering wheels and bar fridges don't count...

mercedesbenzs55

Before I swapped out my faulty alternator with a new one , I had these fault codes pop up on my OBD-II scanner.

Does anyone know which ones may be a problem that was caused by the alternator?

P0024 - "B" Camshaft Position - Timing Over-Advanced or System Performance (Bank 2)
P0014 - B Camshaft Timing is Over Advanced (Bank 1)
P0022 - "A" Camshaft Position - Timing Over-Retarded (Bank 2)
P0300 - Random Misfire
P0306 - Misfire Detected in #6 Cylinder
P0305 - Misfire Detected in #5 Cylinder
P0562 (Fixed) - Charging System Voltage Low

I'm going to buy a torque wrench so I can inspect the plug/Coil conditions.

DaveW68

If you're going to dig in there, you might as well change out the spark plugs. It's a pretty easy job on your year of car, but I'm sure you'll find a way to throw more codes and add to the running tab. And to keep beating a dead horse, let the dealer scan the car to see what active and stored codes you have before you keep breaking your car even more.

mercedesbenzs55

How would me working on my car be me breaking it? All these codes have cleared since I swapped the alternator.


Please speak for yourself. We are not all under warranty like you Dave. Some of us have to do the labor ourselves . This it's preventative maintenance.

compaddict

iTrader: (1)

Dude, clear the codes and re-test.

DaveW68

Why are you so absolutely against letting the dealer do a full diagnosis of your car? Are you afraid they're going to find a bunch of issues that you aren't ready to deal with? Wouldn't it be nice to pinpoint all of the problems so you know exactly what needs to be replaced/repaired?

mercedesbenzs55

I hate car dealerships.

RichM

Only P0562. Other codes have nothing to do with the charging system. However, these codes are irrelevant to us as you don't say if they are current, pending or stored. As suggested, clear the codes, take it for a drive and recheck.

Mike5215

Yeah, but you also apparently hate math and common sense. It's not like they're going to confiscate the car and deport you.

The car still needs the same two basic diagnostics it's needed this entire time:

Unibody set up and measure. STAR diagnostic.

Unibody measure tells you how far out of spec the body is from the accident. STAR tells you what components are in an error state.

So far you've managed not to do either of them. Why?

RichM

There are at least three independents that I found in your area that have Xentry diagnostics. Price may be same as the dealer or not, but then you will have a more complete picture of what needs doing after the scan.

boltonblue

So a torque wrench is not a bad thing to have in your toolbox.
And your vehicle is at the point where it will likely need plugs in the not too distant FUTURE.

I would patiently prioritize my expenses though.
I probably would defer my pissing away my money on anything before I got the frame straight.
The is a reasonable expectation that the frame is out of alignment.
There is an equally good expectation that suspension alignment will be messed up due to frame alignment issues.
So little things like the inability to brake in a straight line or excessive tire scrub and wear aren't out of the question.
There may be factors the world doesn't see that make you need to be done urgently but you're not in a sprint race you're a brutally long marathon getting this working right again.

The electrical issues are largely from voltage sensitive sensors. If the reference voltages are screwed up they are likely to give you crap readings. With all of that said, I would not throw the underlying data away. Knowledge is of tremendous value, Ignored it has no value. It might be a treasure trove that guides your decision making in the future. It will allow you to make decisions based on FACTS not some wild assed guess because you read something on the internet. It's called data driven decision making and is used by a lot of smart, wealthy folks every day.
Do you have a shop repair manual for the car yet?
you can get a copy on ebay for short money.

So this is the point in the story where you to date you always ignored the costly lessons learned by others.
A lot of good folks have tried to guide you only to be spurned.
Their patience wears out and eventually leads to scorn and derision.
Take along look in the mirror, go back and reread this entire thread.
You might just learn something about yourself.

Awrryan

It strikes me that the people who are annoyed are the people whose advice is being ignored. I'm specifically referring to Mike and Dave who shift from condescending and insulting to a mild attempt to be helpful. I think it says more psychologically about them as to how upset they are that their advice isn't followed. At least that's how their posts come across. To Mike and Dave: Your posts come across like your speaking to the OP like he's a petulant child only because he's not doing exactly as you say. Your advice isn't wrong, but if he chooses not to take it, that's his choice. To rub his nose in it and stick your finger in his eye says more about you than the OP no matter how much sense the OP's decisions make to you.

Mike5215

The OP's decisions make no sense to anyone, starting with his belief he could fix the car for a grand. He's under no obligation to take our advice. We likewise are under no obligation to cease repeatedly pointing out that, had he taken that advice, he wouldn't be in the ever widening, now comically large hole he continues to dig himself in to.

Our shifts in tone and approach are relative to how close or far away from being retarded he is at any point in time. At times, he seems to be on track and we've offered encouragement. Then he'll be off on some wild expensive fool's errand and we've been, um, less supportive. I can't help how it comes off. If he wants less heat he should try being less goofy.

DaveW68

Nah.....just kinda surprised that he completely ignores every piece of good advice no matter how many times he's been told. I think any reasonably minded person who's read through this cluster-f#ck of a thread can see where Mike, I, and many other reasonable people have doled out very good advice only to have it spurned over and over again in favor of doing things that will end up costing the OP more money and frustration in the long run because he won't do something so simple and cheap as to have the car scanned by a pro.

Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. I guess Mike and I are insane for thinking that we can talk some sense into this kid. He's apparently hell bent on doing things the wrong way. I think he still has it stuck in his mind that his car is no different than working on a 1990's Honda Civic and can't let go of that mindset. He's trying to decode a Windows 7 car using a Commodore 64 operating system. So I guess this is just going to be a very costly lesson for him. Perhaps he'll learn that he'll have to listen to good advice if he ever decides to take on something like this again in the future....especially when he's more than $10k over budget and still doesn't have a presentable and safe car.