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Picked up a 2011 s550 from IAAI in Concord, NC. It is my first time purchasing a salvage vehicle outside of Copart.
I was not real motivated to purchase this car, but it happened. My max bid was $7,000. It went to auction last week and I was the high bidder at $6050. Progressive insurance owned the car, and they did not counter the $6050, instead they offered a buy it now at $15,000. They also put it back on the auction block yesterday. I put in a new bid for $7,000. It sold at auction at $5050. I was the high bidder. This time Progressive did not counter, they just accepted the $5050. With fees total out the door price less transportation was $5993. I think considerably less than Copart in fees, but I did not audit.
The car is a flood vehicle, spent its entire life in the southeast of USA. 137k miles. Not well optioned. I purchased mainly to learn about the W221 version of the S-class. I am fluent in the W220 version, but the W220 has technology limitations so I decided to check into the W221s.
And as always- want to mention I in no way recommend ever buying a car at a salvage auction 99 percent are bad buys. It takes full time work in hopes of trying to find the 1 percent, and even that is a gamble.
Did not like what I found.... first thing, headlamps were badly weathered. MB S-class with badly weathered headlamps equates to non garage kept and owner that did not care enough to take care of.... very bad thing. Next, found a container of PEAK European Vehicle coolant in the trunk, 2/3 empty. This is my biggest concern. Why is this MB using coolant..... very bad thing. Also, has high performance Chinese made tires... MB owners buy Michelins, Continentals, and Bridgestone....... another sign of a owner with shallow pockets for maintenance.
As other pointed out and were so correct, this MB needed to be dried out. The interior was moldee and smelly. Had visual mold in the rear seating area.
Put a jump pack on it, and the dash lit up. A good thing. dozen plus errors, but it did light up. Tried to start but would not turn over. Could not get the electric parking brake to engage. Started to observe the water damage, appears to be in the rear of car, and also the sunroof interior cover is moldy. The car is on a car trailer, so I have limits on what I can do and pull out. I am 2100 miles from home, so I have to buy the tools I need.
Was able to open all the windows, move the seats, and open the sunroof. NO rain forecasted in Columbia, so I let the car air out a bit overnight. Can't get the radio to turn on, or any response from the Comand system or the joystick.
Pick up some torx and e sockets, and a metric 3/8 socket set. Start tearing apart the rear and am getting moisture and wetness all the way to the top of the rear seat, not good. I remove the rear seats and get to the Rear SAM. Take it partially apart, and and soak it in electronics cleaner. Put it back together. Try to start the car, nothing again. But I am now able to get the Comand system to somewhat work. Can't get the radio to work, but now able to eject the six cds in the system, which I was not able to do before cleaning the rear SAM. All the CDs were homemade.... another not good sign.
Brought the battery to my hotel room, and am trying to charge it using a just purchased Dewalt charger from Home Depot. Right now it can;t charge it, but it is trying to recondition the battery. Hoping a fully charged battery may provide different results.
Purchased a replacement rear SAM on Ebay for $70. Also, the communication ECU voice control computer seemed very wet, so I purchased one of this on Ebay for $55. It seemed that bluetooth was working and I may have been able to add my phone, but did not try.
Tomorrow, if battery charges, I will try to see if that can help. Next I will continue to find ways to dry out the car. I leave town early Friday morning, so I will not be able to install the replacement rear SAM on this trip.
On a good note, the body looks damage free and rust free. The interior rear seat and related items are common colors and may not be to bad to purchase. No idea if this will make it back on the road at this time. I am most concerned about the jug of coolant in the trunk. Starting to wonder if engine issue caused a flood car (insurance fraud). No sign of water in the front of car/ dash/ engine area.
Removed the battery last night. Tried to charge it, would not hold a charge. It was also a leaded battery and this vehicle requires a AGM.
Purchased a AGM battery, installed it, and tried to start. No luck. I did discover when I first connected the battery and turned the key, the car would show in Park, but disappear to no gear identified in the display. When In opened the driver door, the dash would read "car not in park". Car has to be in park to start, so getting somewhere. I have a code reader by Icarsoft, it is by no means a substitute for the IBM XENTRY SDS diagnostic system, but it can be very helpful.
Ran the diagnostics, and there were a lot of errors. Was able to clear almost all of them, which is a good sign. To include the rear SAM errors. Was unable to clear the ISM - Intelligent servo module errors. I am hopeful it is a electrical connectivity issue, and not the ISM itself. It was getting dark, but did some searched on my smartphone. One youtube video had a ISM problem corrected with a 100 AMP fuse replacement, It was a M series MB. This MB does not appear to have that fuse, but gave me a place to start searching.
Opened the under the hood fusebox connected to the front SAM. Requires T25 tool to open. Removed the cover and not good news. Lots of trapped moisture. Sprayed electronic cleaner in hopes to displace some of the moisture. Also checked a dozen or so fuses at random. Reconnected the battery, but car still showed not in any gear, to include not in park.
eft Columbia, SC earlier this morning for Tucson, AZ- so buttoned up the car last night. Wish I did not have to button it up, would much rather be airing it out, although the interior is "wet underneath" so not sure how much airing it out really matters. Summer is arriving early to Columbia, the humidity is already present.
Knowing I had to leave this morning and not able to remove the front seats and carpet, I did a few things. It will not solve the moisture issue, but my reduce some of it. I pulled the back seat out, and am keeping it out. I went to Home Depot and bought about 20 feet of PVC pipe. I cut it to useable lengths, and placed the PVC pipe under the front and rear carpets. If I had to do it again I would of brought 3 dozen bath towels, and rotated them under the carpet over the past four days. I also purchased seven DAMPRID 64 ounces containers, and placed six in the car interior, and one on the trunk. Not sure it will help, but can't hurt. They are pricey at $10 each.
Going to pull the plugs and change the oil before starting. I originally thought water did not get above the engine, but with moisture in the engine bay fuse box, I am not so sure. The plugs on the MB appear super easy to pull and replace.
Still not able to start. OBD port error codes point to CAN bus errors. I am thinking there is a connectivity issue between the front and rear SAMS modules. (Signal Acquisition Module). I have ordered new front and rear SAMS, but the ones in place appear functional, but possibly only partially.
The big issue continues to be the car's computer(s) are not talking to the transmission. Talking to the trans is required to start the car for safety reasons. The trans is a drive by wire trans, and car needs to see the trans in park to start. I hope to return to Columbia in three weeks and install the used SAMS I purchased on Ebay.
A Saturday morning update drinking coffee in Arizona.
Purchased this to learn about the W221, because IMHO the W220, which I am fluent in, are at the end of their lifecycle for rebuilding as a daily driver. Not many W220 around that are not absolutely tired, and when I say that I am refereeing to things life seat foam.... not drivetrain.
I definitely overpaid for this W221, but the used car market is crazy high, so I guess everyone in a macro sense is overpaying right now. Had this 221 been dealer maintained- I would not be saying I overpaid, although I still might be saying that.
Seeing it was parked outside, Chinese tires, and appears not well maintained,,,, and the depth of water damage... I overpaid. On a good note, the body looks very clean less the headlamps... and white is a very popular color, so I can always use this car as a collision damaged donor.
Along with the home-made CDs, found even a bigger concern. Under the dash doing some checks/ inspections, came across this:
TRAX GPS Vehicle Tracking System | PassTime GPS trax 6v
I did not know what this was. It is a vehicle tracking system for finance companies to locate your vehicle for repossession, or disable its ability to start. It is used by a lot of buy here, pay here lots.
A new world of stuff I had no idea about. Finance company installs a tracking system for easy repossession ? WOW.
Another sign that suggest the prior owner may not of been able to afford proper maintenance of a Mercedes [img]data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7[/img].
Have to figure out how to remove this module. Sucks this was installed- installation required splicing wires.
Spent the evenings trying to clear can bus errors and signal acquisition module (SAM)errors with no success. Replaced the rear SAM. Went to replace the front SAM, and realized the Seller of the front SAM only included the fuse box , not the actual SAM. So had to order another front SAM. Took the original front SAM out and cleaned it, but it had numerous signs of corrosion on the chips on the circuit board.
Seeing corrosion as some connectors, not a good thing as it appears hard to remove corrosion inside a tiny connector. I spray electrical cleaner as a start. Found major corrosion at the interior left and right fuse boxes. I ordered replacement interior fuse boxes earlier today.
Still a lot of moisture in the car, so pulled the front seats and the carpet. Something I should of done from day one. After pulling the carpet, I found some can bus connections and cleaned them.
Will be back working in the area three days next week, so if the fuse boxes arrive, I will install them in the evening.
This is quite the project. Doing the electrical connection inspection and cleaning I lost the navigation display. I sense connections are fragile, and some that may have allowed amps are no longer. Not worried about it as I will continue to go through every connection. I am worried about how to truly remove corrosion from connections, especially female connectors located inside a plug.
The seven drier buckets are doing there job. They are all 3/4 filled. I will likely replace them next week, but only two replacement buckets.
The best tool I can have for this job is the camera on my phone. Allows pictures to be taken that I can reference for wire configuration and matchup when I get back to my hotel for used parts purchasing on Ebay.
Flew home last night (on a plane heading to east coast now) and had some time to reflect. Looking at the Mercedes diagnostic screens, they are pointing to a CANBUS problem. It could be as simple as a low voltage situation, or as challenging as dozens of corroded connections. As I wait for the two replacement fuse boxes to arrive, I decided to study CAN, which I never really knew some many vehicles have. Discovered a CAN breakout-box is very helpful. Also discovered they are hard to purchase locally. Came across some really good youtube videos on CAN operations and troubleshooting. I have included one below. Also included in the pictures are screenshots of the errors, and a CAN break-out box sold on Amazon. Ebay has the tool for less than half the Amazon price, but they ship direct from China and I don't want to deal with that. If anyone knows of a CAN breakout-box that is warehoused in the USA please share the Seller. I am currently looking at the OTC 3415, $213 on Amazon but takes a while to ship (not a prime product).
I am kind of excited to learn about CAN in cars. Something I had zero knowledge of, and discovered it is common in most newer cars/ trucks. I am doing this work in the evening, learning something rather than sitting around watching commercials on the TV. There are a huge amount of benefits troubleshooting this car, much more than just this car. I am learning a ton and getting my mind back into electrical/ electronics beyond simply 5VDC and 12VDC.
The entire interior needs to come out. Anything else you are doing is an effort in futility. A couple of years ago there was a thread where the OP took the entire interior out to sort a flooded car. There are electronics under the seats and carpet that the car needs to operate properly. You also paid $2500 too much for what is probably going to amount to a parts car. You won't know until you get every stitch of interior out of the car from the trunk liner right up to and possibly including the dashboard.
if you'd posted this on 1st April it would make sense....
the SAMs are NOT plug and play.... the official way is to get the right part (there's about 10 to pick from each end - dependant on the toys in the car) then programme how it works using an online connection to Mercedes...
some of the simpler stuff can be done manually... these days you will find loads of modules on ebay very cheap... If they came out the same spec / engines' car u have a chance... FYI they have up to 60 ECUs / Modules that can be programmed specific to the car... a base one will have 40 or so and a high spec one about 50
as u will see most are low down.... the right answer is to walk away and consider 5k a lesson learnt
I enjoyed reading the thread so far. Keep up the updates. While this is not a project I would not tackle, in the end it all boils down to swapping out some bad components...not exactly rocket science...So yes, it can definitely be fixed if you're willing to put the time and money in it.
I suggest you try to establish where the communication breaks down on the CAN bus before attempting to swap everything out. One bad component can throw the entire CAN bus (of which there are a few) into disarray, based on how the component failed (shorted, etc.) If you have SDS you can look up the wiring for each component in question and bench test them. If you can get them to wake up and start putting out data on their respective CAN bus pins then you know they're working.
@MikeKerr7 interesting project. How is coming along?
Why are you spending time and money on this? Is it a $5k-$10k training course, or do you plan to sell this car, or refurb and sell other W221 flood cars? I have no opinion on your reason, just curious to know what it is.
No rust, but water sitting in the foam padding for likely ten months. Surprisingly, some things worked well like seat and window controls. With the interior out, I went the the wire junction boxes on both the driver and passenger side, and cleaned each connection pin by pin. Kind os a tedious action, but provides some confidence that connections are being inspected.
@MikeKerr7 interesting project. How is coming along?
Why are you spending time and money on this? Is it a $5k-$10k training course, or do you plant to sell this car, or refurb and sell other W221 flood cars? I have no opinion on your reason, just curious to know what it is.
This is just a project. I rebuilt three W220s. Two were floods, one was a fire. W220s are a tired platform, so I am moving up to W221s to try and learn. No way can I know how this will turn out. But it is fun for me. I am 57 years old, my children are adults.... better than watching TV...
Here are links to some of my prior MB rebuilds. Not I am not an expert at this by any means. Also should note- used car prices have shot through the roof. I think I should of paid $1500 for this car. But market says it is worth over 5k wholesale. Tomorrow may be worth $500 wholesale... who knows. The cats on a W220 sell for $1200 to scrappers right now. So the market is simply unpredictable and maybe non-logical to many, including me.
This is just a project. I rebuilt three W220s. Two were floods, one was a fire. W220s are a tired platform, so I am moving up to W221s to try and learn. No way can I know how this will turn out. But it is fun for me. I am 57 years old, my children are adults.... better than watching TV...
Here are links to some of my prior MB rebuilds. Not I am not an expert at this by any means. Also should note- used car prices have shot through the roof. I think I should of paid $1500 for this car. But market says it is worth over 5k wholesale. Tomorrow may be worth $500 wholesale... who knows. The cats on a W220 sell for $1200 to scrappers right now. So the market is simply unpredictable and maybe non-logical to many, including me.
This forum has been dead for a while. Hopefully, this gives us a shot in the arm we need to get it going again. I'm looking forward to following this thread.
""Do you sell the vehicles once they are returned to roadworthiness?""
No, I typically keep them. Causes some problems at home with my Wife with the cars around. I have given a few cars away to co-workers and people in need.
Replaced the front SAM and partially replaced the interior left and right interior fuse boxes earlier this evening.
Ran into a problem replacing the left and right interior fuse boxes. I don't know how to get the red wires to release from the old fuse boxes. I am posting a picture of the wires I am trying to figure out how to remove if anyone has a tip- please share it! The wires I am talking about are on the very corners of the fuse box.
find benzninja and get his system, it will help a lot, the w220s were easy to work on, i had 4 got 2 now, no coding required, but the w221 is a different beast with the electronics, i have 1 and a gl. i bought system from benzninja(not advertising for him) it will hapl a lot if your going to do this for a hobby. my 2 cents worth!
Stopped by the car during lunch today. Just had a few minutes. Last night I attempted to install two interior fuse boxes, but could not complete the installation because I didn't have the proper pin release tool. So I have the new boxes installed, but about 50 percent of the connections are still on the old fuse boxes with no connection. I didn't not bring the keys with me last night.
At lunch today, I put in the key just to see what would happen. To my surprise- she showed as being in park. She had not ever showed being in park, which prevents the car from being eligible to start.
I was a bad boy, and turned it to start. Being bad was she could of been hydro locked. I took the risk, and she turned over and started pretty quickly. Message came up to wait to move the car because the air shocks were filing (she is on a trailer so i was not going to move anyway). Shocks filled up, and about a minute or two the car died.
I checked the fuel gauge, it shows 1/4 filled. I turned over again, she turned but would not start. I am guessing it is a possible power issue to fuel pump, or water in the fuel.
Curious what's the plan to deal with all the mold and spores that are likely in every crevice of the car... I know ozone generators can help, but also have a lot of limitations.
Curious what's the plan to deal with all the mold and spores that are likely in every crevice of the car... I know ozone generators can help, but also have a lot of limitations.
Currently the interior is out of the car (see pictures). I do have an ozone generator, but not sure what role it will play.
In addition to the W221 I am working on, I have a W220 S500 down here also. It is just sitting, so I put a gallon damp rid bucket in it. Is in filling up nice and good. I have to assume most cars in the southeast have moisture in them for six months of the year. So I am thinking mold not so much of a problem with the interior being removed and dried out... I could be wrong....
Currently the interior is out of the car (see pictures). I do have an ozone generator, but not sure what role it will play.
In addition to the W221 I am working on, I have a W220 S500 down here also. It is just sitting, so I put a gallon damp rid bucket in it. Is in filling up nice and good. I have to assume most cars in the southeast have moisture in them for six months of the year. So I am thinking mold not so much of a problem with the interior being removed and dried out... I could be wrong....
While you have everything out...you mind posting some pics of the wiring conduits located in each side of the car by the doors? Thanks!
""While you have everything out...you mind posting some pics of the wiring conduits located in each side of the car by the doors? Thanks!""
Will do. It will be about three weeks, I will head home tomorrow and will return in three weeks.
I I went back to the car this evening to button it up. Added three containers of heat to the fuel tank. I was able to get the car to run for 20 minutes without dying, but do seem to hear a misfire. Not to worried about it, thinking a dirty MAF.... but only time will tell.
04-18-2021, 05:48 PM
