Sal -- thanks for the input. I'm glad yours has worked out. You know, I watched a YT video from some guy or other (one of the VIN Wiki videos, I think). Short story is, he got royally screwed on a deal, and ended up about $10K deeper into a Range Rover than he'd planned. In the end, he says, it cost him a lot more than he wanted, but he ended up with a really nice vehicle that his wife really likes. In my case, my $22.5K S600 will end up costing me more like a little north of $25K by the time it's where I thought it was when I bought it. I have to remind myself that all of the comparable S600s I looked at were at or above that, and I talked them down from $25K in the first place because of some oil seepage (valve cover gaskets) and an unexplained little puddle of blue fluid that I think was from the intercooler circuit. It's not the end of the world. It's just been a hassle, and the frustration of finding out that normal, same methods of troubleshooting and repair simply Do Not Apply to a Mercedes. The whole time my wife (who didn't want me to buy the thing in the first place) has reacted predictably, and I can't blame her. She does, however, agree that it's am amazing car. When we're taking a road trip or going out for our anniversary dinner, it's the one she wants to take. The comfort, the quiet, the performance... it's simply amazing. So, I've got that going for me.

Mark -- I hear what you're saying, and I'm glad you were able to get yours to behave. You reprogrammed your original N47-5, not one that came off a salvage vehicle. Now, I'm certainly not ruling out the possibility that there is some way this one could be made to work with the car... apparently it would involve chicken blood and a mask, doing a special dance around the car at midnight or something. But, it will cost me a fair amount to prove or disprove that theory, and if it actually can't be done I still have to pony up $1.5K for a new one. So far three dealers and two indy shops agree that it can't be done, and while I find that difficult to believe, I have yet to find a single person who has actually done it -- made a used N47-5 work in a different car. My son talked to a M-B master tech this morning (he's having his E550 HVAC looked at) who says he's "heard of" companies that can wipe the module so it will act like a new, un-programmed one... but of course he doesn't know how it's done or who can do it, he's just heard rumors. Sigh. The N47-5 module on these things seem to be surrounded by more legend and speculation than the Ark of the Covenant.

Don't get me wrong -- I am not opposed to spending what I need to in order to be able to get work done. I may buy a Star/Xentry/Das/whatever its current name is if I do decide to keep the car. And to be honest, I'm leaning more that way every day. After talking to the dealer and the indy shops around here, I am quite frankly not terribly confident in their ability to maintain a V12 S-class. If I sell the thing now, I'm probably going to take more of a hit than I'd like, and when it works it's an incredible machine. I don't really care much about ABS or ESP -- drove for 25 years or so without them and did just fine, thank you -- but the lack of cruise control is kind of a show-stopper for touring car ownership, if you ask me. At this point it's more annoyance than anything else.

There is good news in all of this. My front A/C has been intermittent; that's confirmed to be a bad potentiometer in an easily replaced part. $666.75 for the part from M-B, or under $75 used on eBay. And no reprogramming needed, thank God. I'll do that one myself, thanks. And, my low temp circuit had been puking coolant and running hot. I'd top it off, and after driving a while the IAT would go up. It needed to be vacuum bled, but I wasn't keen on setting everything up for that. The tech bled the circuit, and even put a new hose clamp on the overflow hose to the expansion reservoir I added. After several test drives in stop & go traffic, the intercoolers are still cool to the touch when I park the car -- so that appears to be fixed, at least for now. The little Wilwood expansion tank has darker blue fluid than before, and the level changes a little, so apparently it's working as it should. Fantastic win for information gleaned right here. The dealer charged 3 "diagnostic fees" at $160 a pop (low-temp circuit, A/C, and ESP), and while it's pretty high, I feel like I at least got some real value out of it.