Jim Williams

Hey Everyone,
Completely new here for the moment. I test drove a 2007 S600 V12 and all seemed to be well, everything worked as it should with the random beeping at stops. The seller said he thinks this is due to a low voltage and that the rear battery may need replacing soon. He did also mention that some seals had been replaced on the turbo lines, I think that's where he said, which apparently is a common fail item. I was wondering if someone could give me a list of things that must be checked. We do have a local reputable mechanic that I can have check it out, but I like to know what's going on and do some DIY when possible.

Any thoughts, suggestions, etc. would be appreciated!! Thank You in Advance! I did attach two snapshots I took today!

vettebk

I have a 2007 S600 V12 Designo interior now with 75K miles. I love it.

I bought it almost three years ago at 55K miles with a 4 year extended warranty good for another 25K miles. I have replaced the radiator, serviced the ABC, serviced the trans fluid and filter, replaced front control arms, one coil pack, the voltage transformer, spark plugs, an ABS processor, the rear big battery and more recently the front starter battery and a starter. Spent close to $8500 of which the warranty has paid about $7200. Car makes annual 1000 miles trips to Florida reliably and at 21-22 mpg depending on my mood. If you maintain it, you will love driving it. If you don't maintain it, it will eat your wallet alive.

Good luck.

Jim Williams

Thanks for the info. Who is your warranty through? I’ve read some on here that Fidelity is a good company to go through.

Jim

JJKCMO

You will have a very difficult time finding a warranty given the age of the car. If you do find one, very carefully review the terms - many aftermarket warranties have an amazing number of ways to dodge coverage such as "owner cannot prove prior maintenance completed."

The best advice I've heard regarding the V12 Benz - and many other similar vehicles: "No one sells these because they do not like them."

vettebk

My warranty was purchased through the dealer and the dealer referred to them as Five Star The coverage looked good on paper but they sometimes refuse to cover services absolutely required to do a comprehensive job. For example, I needed a lower control arm boot and Mercedes will only replace the entire control arm for a torn boot. As a result, they covered the whole control arm but only one half of the required alignment. Mercedes doesn't know how to do just half the alignment (neither do I). On the other hand, they covered engine mounts, a radiator, and an ABS control module with no questions asked. I suspect that if I had put the cash for the warranty into the bank at 1% interest, it would have been an even deal even after the out of pocket costs. Still, when buying a V12; I always ask for a warranty.

tonylinc

Car Shield is a warranty that I would avoid at all costs. My friend had this sham and he needed a simple repair and waited a few MONTHS -without a car - while they "figured out" whether he was covered, all he needed was a pair of Oxygen sensors that, out of pocket, would cost a few hundred bucks max, and half a day at a shop. I wouldn't take a Car Shield warranty if it was Free.

DaleB

When I bought mine (2007 S600) I shopped around for an extended warranty. Talked to half a dozen places or more. Most wouldn't cover it due to age (and this was 2 years ago). The two that would wanted upwards of $3K, which might have been acceptable, but the specifically excluded things like any hydraulic or air suspension components (like ABC), "spark plugs, coils, and ignition system components"... you know, the expensive stuff that I would want covered. I think I've probably come out about even mostly doing the work myself, with an occasional shop visit.

I have heard of extended warranties that work out well. I have never personally seen one that did, or would have if I'd bought it.

George993

Check the records if items mentioned in this thread has already been done, if not, put aside about $5,000 - $10,000 for repairs or prepare to do it all yourself. What are the error lights/messages with the beeps? If that's "Park Assist not available" it's a normal bug in those cars which can be ignored or just remember to press the button to disable parking assist when driving.

If it is related to ABC, it's going to be $$$$$$

Good luck. Let us know how it goes

George993

Also check everything in the car (rear shades/both sunroof, all seats massage/dynamic/heat/cool etc) - those typically break and you can fix or ignore, but always worth checking to negotiate a better price. Typical door shades fix several hundred at the dealer, about $5 in parts if you do it yourself. Not working sunroofs are a few thousand to fix at the dealer, or you can fix it yourself with $2 worth of parts and many hours of labor. Check if windows work (a common software bug kills them). Leaking turbos $6500 at the dealer or $8 in parts if you do it yourself, but it's a MAJOR work to get it done. Which is another point to check - any low coolant or coolant smell/drips under the car from leaking turbos.

Disconnect air ducts from the front engine cooling radiator to engine and check inside if the radiator is leaking. Another few hundred if it does (radiator is terrible to change and cracks plastic at the air duct)

Make sure to read all the errors using dealer DAS or similar - likely will be many. Clear them all and see which come back (or read the horror list to the seller :-). If you can, check the running count of misfires - should be zero, but if the number is not zero even without the Check Engine Light it means the coil packs or voltage transformer are going bad (the packs are $1400 list and $700 or so rebuilt). The list goes on... but great cars once fixed.

Jim Williams

Thanks for all the info I went with a CPO 2015.5 XC60 r-design

George993

If you don't want a new hobby of studying, repairing and regularly maintaining your car yourself it's probably a wise choice :-) Congrats!

red996

Lol. That pretty much sums up the post warranty ownership experience of any S class. I find it fun and very satisfying. Cars are my hobby.

DaleB

Ha! Yeah... I didn’t intend for my S600 to be a project car, and it has been at times... but the driving experience is well worth it.

We had a ‘15 XC60 with the turbo inline 3.0 six. Moved pretty well, it was fun to drive in town.

stickleback123

You guys in the US seem to both get utterly and completely robbed on servicing these things (what is odder is that your MB parts prices at retail are often lower than ours at trade in the UK), and break them a lot. A friend bought a 250k mile S600 for £3k 2.5 years ago and has done nothing but drive it since without being let down; it needs engine mounts and a voltage transformer now but that's it. I have an 87k mile car and in the last six months I have:

Changed all three engine mounts for £150 in parts and £200 for 3 hours labour
Changed all the front suspension arms for £200 a side in parts and £120 in total labour
Changed the pulsation damper for £200 in parts and 10 minutes of my time
Changed a faulty coil pack - £600 for one from Clark at v12icpack (once all shipping taken into account) and an hour to change it
Changed crankcase breather - £36 part and 20 mins to do.

I've swapped out a water damaged trunk lid module for an eBay special that needed flashing with Xentry, fixed a leaking pneumatic line for the seats, few other odds and ends but nothing a keen amateur couldn't easily take on.

They're easy cars to work on, the issues are well known, parts availability is good, and generally not much goes wrong with them that is S600 specific except the ignition system. £1500 every 80-90k miles for two coils and a voltage transformer is hardly the end of the world. You also get a much tougher gearbox than the V8, and any monkey can rebuild the stone age 5G if it does fail.

Next job is front discs and pads. We get 360mm front discs here with 6 pot calipers, I've bought Delphi parts for £160 and it'll take two hours to do, or absolutely any mechanic or fitter could do it.

I think the specialists and dealers are really pulling your pants down!!

Minh

I’m an owner of S350 W221 for 3 years and everything seem be very easy for me since the car equipped with M272 engine and airmatic. Now I’m interested in S600 but M275 and ABC is completely new to me. Please advice about parts cost and complexity for ABC rebuild as well as complexity and operating cost of the M275 engine vs M272/M273? Thanks

vettebk

The ABC system is not a problem as long as you change the Pentocin fluid and the filter every 20K miles. It can be expensive to refurbish if it has not been properly maintained historically, but once you service it correctly; it is very nice. The coil packs and voltage transformer are also maintenance parts but I only needed to do mine after 75K miles and it is likely not a frequent repair. I love my S600 and when this one, a 2007, wears out; I will buy another more recent model. You can get them really cheap after 5 or 6 years.

DaleB

The expensive bits on the M275 are the electronic parts. Ignition coils, voltage transformer, spark plugs are all pretty speedy. My ABC hasn’t been bad, I replaced the accumulators and did a fluid flush. A new pump will cost you quite a bit if it starts leaking.

Anyway... the engine itself seems very robust mechanically, it’s all the “stuff” hanging off of it that breaks. ABC requires regular maintenance and the struts are expensive if they fail. Mine haven’t... yet. My advice would be to budget and mentally prepare for expensive repairs. That way you’re not shocked or disappointed if they do happen, and if they don’t then you’re delighted.

Eeyore will no doubt be along shortly to tell you why the S600 is absolutely horrible and they ALL break and you should never own any Mercedes product.

stickleback123

The M275 engine itself is very strong and unlikely to give you any trouble at all. The ignition system is an easy but somewhat costly repair, v12icpack will sell you refurbed packs and the voltage transformer isn't too bad (US$500?).

The 5G gearbox is less trouble than the 7G typically, and cheaper to repair if it does break.

ABC isn't particulary troublesome on the 221, you can get rebuilt pumps for £350 in the Uk or a new LUK one for £750, fitting is no harder than a PAS pump. Struts are a bit more than decent air struts but fail much less often. Change the fluid every couple of years and it'll be fine, it's absolutely worth the cost because it is astonishingly good; I still marvel at the absolute iron body control it exerts over a 2.2 ton limo. I personally wouldn't bother with an S-Class without ABC/MBC/whatever it's called now, the ride on Air is soft enough but my the thing pitches and rolls like a ship at sea compared to an ABC equipped car.

Almost all of the issues you'll have will be S-Class issues rather than M275 issues, you may have more of them because an S600 will likely have more toys that fail than an S350, like the dynamic seat hoses/pump, changeover valve for rear climate, stuff like that.

Minh

Thanks @stickleback123 & @DaleB for your clear and value advice. Highly appreciated.

mcypert

Minh, after about six years of V-12 ownership, I agree with what's said by the last two . Only expensive repair was one coilpack, except a $500 ABC hose at < 60K miles:



The V-12 hose makes a strange U-turn over the hydraulic pump. Not sure if fluid service made a difference or, if driving in "raised" position had something to do with it. See post # 12 in:

https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...ised-mode.html

But, I agree ABC is worth any headaches. I'm still amazed at how well it works in eliminating body roll w/o all the complicated steering geometry gizmos that would be required to get a car this size to handle that well! Just hydraulic rams and computers take care of everything. Just think of all the parts (especially those that wear with time) that have been eliminated!

Regards... Mark

SilberGrau57

This NO RESERVE auction has about two days left, https://carsandbids.com/auctions/rJv...edes-benz-s600

vettebk

I think it looks OK. For $11K, there isn't much downside. The downside is future maintenance but you will love the car. I certainly do and this one is exactly like mine down to the designo interior option.

DaleB

It'll go for substantially more than that. I'm guessing mid to high 20s.

vettebk

I paid $24K for mine two years ago with 55K miles. Almost the exact same car.

tx170754

Even in the mid twenties it is a steal, assuming you have the $ for maintenance...