peterkay

I admit I purchased a basket case 2012 S550. The car came from FL and was grossly misrepresented but what else is new! The car has just over 100K. When it was unloaded at the transport lot it looked good - the battery was dead voltage 2.8v. It started right away with a jump and revs up easily. However quick look over revealed
1. Very low on oil.
2. The coolant expansion tank is filled with oil.
3. CEL.

I wanted to add that the car looks solid on the carfax. It has over 70 service records, most from MB dealers or EU shops. It received a full service at MB in Nov of 2023 and has made exactly 23 miles since that.

It took a gallon of oil to bring it to level. I couldn't drive it off the lot because the engine temperature started to climb. Clearly, the car has suffered that stupid gasket failure that lets coolant and oil mix and then was potentially driven and maybe overheated.
Here are codes I read while I was there. A bunch of it is due to the low battery. However, these misfires concern me. I wonder if the engine has been badly overheated or run w/o oil? I visually inspected the exhaust and it looked ok but this clearly isn't a good diagnosis.

My question is based on this is it in worth taking the car to a shop or is it straight part our material and cut the loses?

1.The Power Supply In The System Is Too Low.
2.An Implausible Left Front Wheel Speed Signal Was Received.
3.An Implausible Right Front Wheel Speed Signal Was Received.
4.Communication With The Electric Parking Brake Has A malfunction. The Message Is Missing. 5.The Redundancy System For DIRECT SELECT Was Activated.
6.Communication With ESP Has A Malfunction. The CAN Message Is Implausible.
7.No CAN Message Was Received From Control Unit N47-5(ESP And BAS Control module) (171/203/209)or From Control Unit N47-5(ESP Control unit)(164/219/251/216/221) Or From Control Unit N47-5(ESP, SPS [PML] And BAS Control unit)(211/215/220/230)or From Control Unit Brake System
8.No CAN Message Was Received From Control Unit N47-5(ESP And BAS Control module) (171/203/209)or From Control Unit N47-5(ESP Control unit)(164/219/251/216/221) Or From Control Unit N47-5(ESP, SPS [PML] And BAS Control unit)(211/215/220/230)or From Control Unit Brake System
9.Start Enable 'Drive Authorization System' Not Issued. Read And Observe Repair Information. 10.No CAN Message Was Received From Control Unit N80(SCM [MRM] Control Unit).
11.The position of the intake camshaft (cylinder bank 2) deviates from the specified value.There is an implausible signal.
12.Combustion misfiring of cylinder 1 has been detected.There is a signal above the permissible limit value.
13.Combustion misfiring of cylinder 4 has been detected.There is a signal above the permissible limit value.

14.Combustion misfiring of cylinder 2 has been detected.There is a signal above the permissible limit value.
15.Combustion misfiring of cylinder 3 has been detected.There is a signal above the permissible limit value.
16.Combustion misfiring has been detected.There is a signal above the permissible limit value. 17.The charge air temperature sensor (cylinder bank 1) has a short circuit to positive.There is a short circuit to positive.
18.The outside temperature sensor has a short circuit to ground._

JohnLane

Most is low voltage.
Start with pressure test of cooling system.
Milkshake in motor oil? That is very bad.
Engine oil in coolant can be a water-oil oil cooler failing or much worse.
Proper testing will be required.

peterkay

Thanks! Great advice!

The motor oil looks good. The coolant tank is full of engine oil. I think it must be the engine cooler that failed since it lets massive amount of oil into the coolant system. I am concerned about misfires on 1-4. Is it a bank of cylinders?

BOTUS

yes should be one bank left front when sat in the car is cyl 5 other side is 1 2 3 4

you could try a borescope in the plug hole

about to watch this...

BOTUS

so.... #2 rod cap came off


NICE

BOTUS

motto - don't chip merc V8 turbos and never give it the full monty off the line on a cold engine - as every hoodie on the planet does for 3 or 4 goes before buying a new engine.....

peterkay

Well, based on the comments, I think I will trailer this thing home first before even attempting to take it to a shop. Looks like draining all the fluids and inspecting the left cylinder bank with a camera is a must.

BOTUS

as per post 2 diagnostic info is brilliant and useless on these cars - they like to throw every code for fun at any opportunity - if the battery was having a slightly bad day or a bit of moisture said hello to a connection they have a melt down (in diagnostics to the users usually nothing happened) throw them ALL in a skip then drive 5 mins and take another look - then you have some with a chance of having some validity

in the video for the M278 4.7 ltr twin turbo engine - he said they don't have spark plugs - But I don't believe him - the injectors came out easy and could look in there
as for this engine people suggest you have more issues than the earlier W221s which had the M273 V8

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_M273_engine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_M278_engine

people seem oblivious that modern stuff is tuned to death from the factory and a $75 re chip by animals re us, is a sure way to over do it and make them go bang.... if it takes a human 30 mins to warn up so they can produce 1/8bhp - and Usain Bolt 10 hrs before he can reach 30 mph in 9 seconds why does anyone think laying 500 bhp on the road before the oil has even worked out the engine is running is such a great idea ?

peterkay

The car most certainly has spark plugs. They just seat a bit lower. It is amazing how this car can go from freshly serviced by MB dealer to - mechanically totaled in under 20 miles. I really loved my SL500 rebuild experience but this maybe slight more than I can chew through

BOTUS

not really its German - they specialise in extorting money from people

tbilisi79

I was contemplating going from my 08 Sport to a w222. After doing research and learning about bore scoring and then a friend dealing with bore scoring on his GL, I decided to keep my 08 and when the time comes Ill be going back to Lexus LS460. Had an 08 back in the day, was a great car.


Good luck, hope you can get out of it cheap.