W220 S55
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,264
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'06 MB S55 AMG; '04 Audi Allroad 4.2; '05 BMW M3 Conv.; '92 MB 500E
Mine has been fairly bulletproof for over 9 years and almost 100k miles. But you have to stay in front of the maintenance. It’s not a “break fix” car, meaning, you don’t want to think you’re going to drive it until it breaks, fix it, then keep going. That’s reactive, and any Benz will break you that way. Stay proactive in your maintenance and like most things on a Benz, if it breaks you’ll only replace it once in your ownership. It also depends on how you drive it, garage kept vs. outside, etc., YMMV.
maw
maw
Thread Starter
Member
Joined: Dec 2018
Posts: 103
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W211 E55, W210 E55, 94 Daihatsu Mira TR-XX, (Sold)W203 C55/C32, (Sold)04 S211 E320 Designo
Mine has been fairly bulletproof for over 9 years and almost 100k miles. But you have to stay in front of the maintenance. It’s not a “break fix” car, meaning, you don’t want to think you’re going to drive it until it breaks, fix it, then keep going. That’s reactive, and any Benz will break you that way. Stay proactive in your maintenance and like most things on a Benz, if it breaks you’ll only replace it once in your ownership. It also depends on how you drive it, garage kept vs. outside, etc., YMMV.
maw
maw
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,264
Likes: 367
'06 MB S55 AMG; '04 Audi Allroad 4.2; '05 BMW M3 Conv.; '92 MB 500E
One last thing, common to both cars, is the Pentosin hydraulic fluid that drives both the SMG pump and the ABC system. When it first came out 15 years ago, people thought it was a “lifetime / no change interval” fluid. They thought that for transmission fluid too. History has shown that to be nonsense, in both applications. So if you change that Pentosin every 3yrs/30k Miles, you wont have trouble out of the SMG (BMW) or ABC (MB) systems.
GL,
maw
Member
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 212
Likes: 70
2003 S55 (SOLD) , 2012 S550
I sold my 2003 S55 with 250k on the clock to ItalianJoe1 on this board.1st engine and 1st tranny. Not sure if he still has it or drives it but he drove home 200 miles without an issue. And YES...get after that ABC... If i had to do it over i would replace all accumulators, rebuild the valves and replace every rubber pressure hose in the system. I spent over 4 grand on repairs JUST because hoses kept blowing.
Good luck.
Good luck.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,264
Likes: 367
'06 MB S55 AMG; '04 Audi Allroad 4.2; '05 BMW M3 Conv.; '92 MB 500E
I sold my 2003 S55 with 250k on the clock to ItalianJoe1 on this board.1st engine and 1st tranny. Not sure if he still has it or drives it but he drove home 200 miles without an issue. And YES...get after that ABC... If i had to do it over i would replace all accumulators, rebuild the valves and replace every rubber pressure hose in the system. I spent over 4 grand on repairs JUST because hoses kept blowing.
Good luck.
Good luck.
GL
maw
