Midnight s600

Alright so i knew this car was going to problematic when i first got it i was prepared however not once have i ever heard of someone who has owned one of these cars get so many major issues in less than a week. It started of as a random cylinder one misfire look into that cant find anything on it but one post which didnt help after buying the part it recommended and fixed the other guys issue. Then it became the transmission whirring and falling out of gear for no reason look into that can not find a single thing on it have an idea what may fix it but before i can even get to the part now the entire ****ing bank of cylinders on the left side is misfiring. I have had two friends who have owned these cars both got the average issue from time to time and one major one every blue moon both of their cars had far higher mileage than mine. By the time they chose to trade them off they were happy with their experience with it and moved onto another mercedes.

I assume i already know the issue with the entire bank of misfires but any tips are appreciated thank you.

Senecat

Coil pack.

vettebk

Probably coil pack. See clark for details at v12icpack.com. Could also possibly be the voltage transformer but probably not. Clark does those also. My left pack, 7-12, seems to go more frequently than the right pack; but that could just be my car.

nath_h

Regarding a bunch of things breaking...I had my CL550 for a couple months when a whole bunch of parts broke on the passenger seat massage system. I had purchased an extended warranty, costing the company $8000. They were disbelieving that the car could have gone that sideways, so soon after I bought it. Yesterday I was driving it, and the driver seat massager went from 3 to zero, and wouldn't fire back up. Now the driver seat is giving me a code. I'm worried the insurer is going to think I am somehow causing this stuff, which I'm absolutely not. I guess our cars are just old and complicated, and things let go from time to time.

BOTUS

is it a turbo?

on some they have low charge cooler water level and that doesn't' help them run right - but the incompetent diagnostics doesn't tell you

DaleB

Misfires will be the coil pack and/or voltage transformer. It's not uncommon, and the parts are failing due to age, not necessarily mileage. They're old cars.

@BOTUS is correct that you need to check the charge cooler system to make sure it's FULL. Mercedes designed that system, in typical German fashion, to work great under ideal conditions with flawless maintenance - and if those conditions aren't met, then all bets are off. As for the transmission, well, good luck to you, my friend. If I were a betting man, I'd say you're not going to solve those gremlins without a rebuild or replacement, but you could maybe get lucky.

Just so you don't feel alone, mine (also a 2007 S600) had a bad ABS module, bad coil pack, bad voltage transformer, bad charge cooler pump, leaky coolant reservoir, bad hydraulic accumulators, cracked vacuum hoses, leaking valve cover gaskets, the AC never did work right, and a few other smaller issues. The car had about 47K miles when I bought it, although I have my suspicions that either the odometer was rolled back or it had been disabled for most of its life. Oh, and when I bought it the transmission fluid was low and burnt, and the transmission developed more and more issues over the two years I owned it.

Like I said, these are old cars. I had a ball with mine, but it was also the single most aggravating and expensive ownership experience I have ever had and was about to get much worse. I traded the car off when it became obvious that the transmission was about to fail. Consider what's about to happen to you as a learning experience, and like all learning experiences - there's a tuition to be paid.

nath_h

@DaleB , I see you are in Omaha...who did you use for your extensive repairs on your S? I'm in Des Moines, but not super happy with how my local service experience has gone so far. I would travel to Omaha for larger problems, if I could find reliable and responsive help.

DaleB

I took it to Star Class Motors here once; they have a really good reputation and came highly recommended. I gave them a list of things I wanted looked at. I got an estimate of over $14K which included a complete misdiagnosis of a couple of the problems. I ended up doing most of the work myself, which saved me over $10K. We have a place here where you can rent a lift bay by the hour, which really helped. Most of the work was not terribly difficult to do. Probably the most trouble I had was getting the driver side pack in and out. It's like one of those stupid little puzzles with the bent nails, where it's impossible to get them apart until you discover the exact way it works, then they just come apart. Anyway, for the most part the car is pretty easy to work on. I should know, I did it... a lot.

I think you've either got to do the work yourself, or be OK with writing really big checks, often. Some here have S600s that give them no trouble. That was not my experience, nor is it yours.

If you want my advice... take one of two routes. The blue pill: Cut your losses, sell the car, hope whoever buys it lives far enough from you that they won't hunt you down. Chalk it up to experience, and if you really want an S600 you know what to look for next time.

The red pill: Strap in, pull out your credit card. Pull both coil packs and ship them off to Clark at v12icpack.com for rebuild. Buy a new VCT from Mercedes, since no one has a better solution right now. Use the down time to replace all 24 plugs with NGK iridium. Replace your water control valve (buy a new Mercedes part, NOT a Chinese aftermarket!). Look over the car very carefully for any sign of oil or coolant leaks and fix them. Check the charge cooling system and vacuum lines under the hood (PTFE tubing for 3D printers works GREAT for replacing those when they crack). Ifthe charge cooling system is not 100% perfect, replace the pump with a new Bosch pump and take it to a dealer to have the system bled. Then when the coil packs come back and you have the car running again, take it to a GOOD transmission shop and have them rebuild or replace your transmission -- you're going to continue to have problems until you do. And somewhere along the way, you're really going to want to buy a laptop with the hardware and software to diagnose and update your car.

Or take it to a dealer or independent shop and see about a home equity loan for about what you paid for the car, maybe more.

WHPH28

DaleB

I know, but he's got ignition and transmission problems... if he had ABC problems he'd hit the trifecta.

Senecat

Tranny issues are secondary to misfire. I think the tranny will be happy again once he's running on all 8 (12, in this case).

DaleB

Ten bucks says it won't.

BOTUS

a gearbox that needs rebuilding will be under more stress without a misfire - it won't mend itself ????/

Senecat

The tranny is getting orders from the TCU, which reacts to the state of the engine via ECU. It's all a mess because of the misfire. Bad data all over the place. Fix the misfire, other problems go away.