/M3

After owning nothing but BMWs all my life, I would have never imagined myself being in a Mercedes-Benz forum But I love my new (to me) '03 S55 AMG, so greetings to my new friends!

The summary is that I just bought this car. Has 69,xxx miles and no service history records. I would like to go through of every single maintenance item in the car. I am a DIY person so I really don't mind the cost of the needed parts as I know the car will return the favor.

Before even driving the car I did a quick oil and filter change with the 0w-40 German Castrol (I know it says Mobil 1, but this oil has never disapointed me in my BMWs) + Mann filter. Well not really quick, 2 hours of draining, throwing a quart of new oil while draining (I know it was probably useless), clean the oil filter housing, spray a degreaser, brush and rinse off the entire engine compartment from the bottom and then to the top as it looked to have never been washed before

I am currently waiting on my motor air filters, 10 liter of Pentosin CHF 11S hydrualic fluid and the filter to do a full ABC flush, the AC Delco supercharger oil and the NGK Iridium IX spark plugs

But in the mean time I wanted to get done with a few things over the weekend. I will be flushing the old antifreeze with the blue Fuchs coolant. I know the procedure, so no problems there. However I wanted to confirm a few things before changing the transmission and the differential fluids. From what I have been reading on the forum is that 1 liter of 75w-85 fluid is what is needed for the differential. Is that correct? And what is the amount of fluid needed for the transmission? I bought the 4 liter Fuchs ATF fluid for the job.

After finishing all this, I will start the buffing process then a Swissvax leather cleaning and conditioning to follow.

A few pics for now

rockykhan

She is a beauty !

/M3

Thanks bud! Those wheels have to go though. Can't stand chrome wheels. I am in the hunt for the 19" two piece AMG wheels. Not sure what you guys call them

maw1124

19" AMG 2-Piece... I haven't seen them for sale in a while. They were around $850 per (rears), $800 per (fronts). Welcome to the dark side. One of my stable mates is an E46M. You will find the torque on this side unlike anything in the BMW stable, except maybe a TT Dinan 750 (if you remember those).

I checked my records, my trans took 8 quarts.

Cheers,

maw

/M3

Yes! Those are the wheels. If anything like BMWs Atlanta’s Craigslist will get me some soon for under a grand.

The S55 is much torquier than anything I have driven. I sold my 46k mileage Dinan S2 E38 (with non VANOS M62 motor) to open up a space and get the S55 and I have a few grand left over even after getting the S55. But I do miss my E38 and I am going to get a low mileage example again but this time a V12. Can’t beat the smooth torque of the V12, dual pane glass, leather dash and doors and etc.

From what I have searched it’s showing 3.9 qts for tge E55 transmission fluid chane. Am I missing something or does S55 have different tranny? I maybe better off measuring how much I take off before adding and maybe get a tranny dipstick before touching it.

Also I found out that my intercooler pump is no good from the posts I’ve read. I did a few hard pulls on the highway and the car went into a mode where the accelerator pedal became unresponive after about 30% of push. Just ordered the updated Bosch part ao I am holding off on the coolant flush as well until I get the pimp.

I also have a E46 M3. I don’t know what would I do without it. One of the greatest track oriented road car ever. Mine is Active Autowerke Supercharged, 510 hp to the wheels on pump gas.

grane

Check an OM online at the MBUSA site for tranny capacity. The capacity of the 5 speed tranny is much greater than 4 qts. Dealers in USA don't want to do a proper transmission service on the 5 speed trannies because it ties up two techs to drain out all the fluid from the "sealed" torque converter. Make sure you use the fluid spec xxx.14. Search elsewhere on the forum. Believe anything Glynn writes about fluids. His doubters are

Glad to see you are doing a complete ABC service but you may need more Pentosin. One has to drain the struts too.

Oh, I spoke to a fellow who builds Top Fuel and Funny car engines for a living about replacing the supercharger oil. He smiled and said it wasn't necessary in such a low load application. Check the spec on the Mobil site and you'll see it only has to be replaced periodically on helicopters and such that has the SC at full duty and cycling almost constantly. Unless you track the car all the time you don't.

/M3

Good to know, I just went ahead and bought another 4 liters of the Fuchs Titan ATF 4134 (approval 236.14). That should do it.

The supercharger oil is easy enough of a job to replace at every motor oil change actually and cheap enough at $11. I don't think it'll hurt to have new fluid in there after 14 years

So I need more than 10 liters of Pentosin CHF 11S? Man, this car is a one thirsty beast

maw1124

You shouldn't need more than 10 liters of Pentosin. Expect the system to take between 5 and 6 liters. I tend to do that every 30k miles. Given how robust (and therefore expensive) are the components in the car, fluid changes are worth their weight in gold.

Much like the Pentosin in the E46M SMG pump, these were formerly spec'd as "lifetime" fluids (ABC, transmission and S/C). Well, time has proven there is no such thing. Imagine the longevity for hardware designed by MB to work with lifetime fluid, when you change the fluid and filters at regular intervals. In the case of the E46M, it's an SMG pump ($4k or "rebuild"). Here, it's the ABC valve blocks ($1500x2 or "rebuild") or worse, the tandem pump.

You get the idea. You're experienced.

Cheers,

maw

P.S. You might throw a fuel filter at it as part of this refresh. It's cheap and easy, and one never knows what prior owners ran the car on. I ran a bottle of Chevron Techron through as soon as I got mine, and changed the filter immediately afterward. Flush it into the filter, then dump the filter, sort of thing.

/M3

Absolutely correct. I never ate that lifetime thing in cars. I had a liter of Pentosin CHF 11S fluid left over from my E92 M3. I used that to top off the ABC & the steering fluids in the mean time.

Oh and I already have the Mahle fuel filter if you look at the pic I posted above. Like you say; cheap and easy enough to replace.

E42AMG???

What is the part # on that fuel filter if it isn't to much trouble.

Nice too know there is a few people with s55s and bmws. I have a e36 328i turbo'd

/M3

The fuel filter part number is 0024772701 or KL 65 for the Mahle part number, which is OEM.

E42AMG???

Thanks

/M3

Usual commute to work yesterday, cruising at about 90 mph and I decided to floor it. Everything was fine until I touched the end of the accelerator pedal. The car immediately cut off the power and went into what you would call a "safe mode"; where the pedal became unresponsive after about 30% but still drivable. Turned the car off at a red light and waited until the green light then fired it back. Everything was back to normal. Just to make sure it wasn't one time thing, I floored it this morning again and same.

Searched a little, people say it's the intercooler pump. I believe there is an updated Bosch intercooler with the part number 0392022010. Any input on this?

maw1124

Intercooler pump is a known upgrade. I have a Pierburg unit (here...http://www.carparts.com/details/Pier...E&gclsrc=aw.ds), which was OE for BMW but which my guys say flows better. But that usually happens after a few runs when the IATs get too high. You shouldn't have that problem on your first pull. So while I would definitely upgrade, I'm not sure that's your problem.

It almost sounds like a kick down or shift solenoid, both of which are on the valve body (I think). On my '92 500E, they were separate and under the pedal. Moving them to the valve body complicates matters. First though, check your transmission connector plug to make sure it's not wet with fluid. If it is, clean it and replace it. Also, get in and check the TCU, to make sure Fluid hasn't wicked its way up the harness to the computer. I'd do that for starters before anything else. The trans plug is another known failure item. Let's hope yours is fine, or hasn't been leaking for too long. Obviously, trans fluid in the TCU has landed many 90's and early 2000 era MB's in junk yards.

Part numbers for the trans plug attached.

Cheers,

maw

/M3

Thanks for the info Maw, really appreciate it.

I would assume that when doing the trans fluid flush+filter+gasket, I would most likely discover that. The plug in mention, is it the part below?

http://www.rmeuropean.com/Products/2...G56-V4010.aspx

I already ordered the Bosch unit before seeing your post. It was $99 shipped so no big deal. I'll start with that first. If that doesn't solve the issue, I'll move to the next thing.

The antifreeze/coolant that is currently in the car is clear unlike what I bought (blue). So I have to flush it anyways. We'll see what happens.

Btw, just found and bought the set of wheels I wanted. Craigslist has done it again

maw1124

Yes, that's it. Yes, you'll readily see it when you lift the car. Yes, get that "coolant" out of there. Yes, the Bosch and Pierburg units serve the same purpose and should clear the IAT issue, unless I suppose, if you're tracking the car or something (not sure what that would be).

I see, you wanted the "65" series wheel (shadow center), which for some reason seem more readily available than the 19" 2-piece without the shadow center. Good stuff.

Hopefully the kick down issue is simple.

Cheers,

maw

PS. BTW, good decision keeping the original forged polished 19s on the E46M. Those are NLA anymore and I think they look great (which is why I kept mine). I need to have them redone though -- not quite up to my spec. I think some idiot tried to paint them.

/M3

They must have kept on adding water to the coolant reservoir tank to top it off. That's probably why it's clear. Will get it out as soon as the new intercooler pump comes.

I am not planning on tracking it. Too heavy for that purpose. Will be my daily. I do 80 miles of driving every day, which 95% being on the highway.

Even though I didn't really care as long as it was that particular style two piece wheels, the shadow center should look great on white.

I had a set of factory Competition wheels on the E46M, which the previous owner had them painted in gun metal I sourced a really clean set of factory 19s as the paint on the Competition wheels were chipping. IMHO looks better, just not as light as those ZCP wheels.

amstel78

Nice ride! I too had an E46 M3 a while back. It was a good car, but needed work to get it to where I wanted it. Ended up with PSS9's, camber plates, adjustable rear sway bars, and brake upgrades. Weak point in the BMW was the rear subframe which would tear over time unless reinforced. Ended up getting rid of the E46 for a 2006 Mitsubishi Evo IX MR.

Now that I'm older, I decided to move up to a family car that was still fun to drive. S65 fit the bill nicely.

/M3

maw1124

I did mine in 2011 at about 80k miles. Part number then was 215 330 07 07 -- not sure if it's been superseded or not.

Here you go, pick your poison... https://www.ecstuning.com/Mercedes_B...n/Control_Arm/

Obviously I'd go OEM, but it's your experience.

I've never heard of anyone doing strut mounts on these, especially at your mileage.

Cheers,

maw

/M3

Thanks for responding Maw. So this car only has two control arms with the same part number? Would that part cause alignment issues? Both my front tires have inner wear.

maw1124

maw1124