Hi guys,
i decited to get an S65 to replace my 06 Cls55Amg.
i found one for sale for a cheap price but it comes with a story.
It was bought last year from an insurance auction and it has a salvage title due to mouse poop found in trunk.
the car is in flawless condition, it’s a champagne colour with black interior.
The seller says when he bought the car he was able to drive it home and drove it a few times , with no issues, no warning lights. However he also says the car intermittently wouldn’t crank over when he tried to start it. But by turning key off and back on it would go.
he parked it before the winter and now that he decited that he’s selling it due to his original idea with the car fall thru, he tried to start it but the car wouldn’t power up at all no dash , or interior light absolutely no electrical power to the car. He checked the batteries and they are all charged also replaced the battery in key fob still nothing.
It has only 60000 miles it was a 1 owner car with great service records.
I would love any input if I should takle itsince it’s a very good price or just wait for the sorted out car and pay almost double for it?

 

The first question is how did moose poop get in the trunk. It is hard to imagine that happening at random without some other major problem. Rat poop yes .....

The fact that he is using a key also raises my eyebrows. I am pretty certain all S65 came with keyless go. At some point someone removed/disabled this if he is now using the key.

It has an electrical problem of some sort. If you can sort that and repair it yourself it could be a good deal a bad ground or battery cable could be a $10 fix, but these are a bear to find and isolate. A bad steering column or contacts and it could be a few thousand. Bad modules or datalink and then you might never be able to isolate it and fix it. If you are not going to do the work to fix it yourself I would pass. If you are, I guess it depends on how cheap. Worst case you part the car, is it cheap enough to break even on that after considering your time and labor?

 

First of all it was mouse poop not moose.
second he changed the battery in key thinking maybe that was the problem, and I believe all these cars you can pop out the button and use the actual key to start them at least the other 3 Benz I have I can do that.
The price is 17K Canadian so I consider that a very good price. However I wanna be able to drive it not wanting to part it out.

 

First of all, it's decided not decited.
Second, it's up to you if you want to take the chance and buy it.

 

OP the 221 S-65 uses a starter battery and a house battery. One of these that sits for a while without a battery tender on the battery will need both of them replaced.

It it has been said that the most expensive car out there is a cheap Mercedes..... S-65 is a complicated machine. Be ready to drop multiple thousands when 'IT' happens. That said.... The car may be fine.

Good luck!

 

17K Canadian sure does seem like a good deal but these cars can be finikey.
In my opinion it is not the best idea to buy the cheapest car available but instead search and find the correct one that you really want. I ended up buying my S65 in California and I live in Maine the opposite side of the US. I also bought the car site unseen but I knew the history of the car and the ownership.
But that all being said if you like fixing things and like to gamble I say go for it.
Good luck
Johan

 

I totally agree with you. The biggest problem is that when I decide to get a vehicle , I don’t have to much patience. Up here in Canada this cars are really hard to come by, and when I look at the Us market I can find some nice ones around 30k is that’s 40k Can. By the time all said and done back home probably looking at 50k Can. So my theory was that if I get the car here with specially this low miles I can spend 10K and still be on the winning side.

 

Well it is a machine and it can be fixed.

 

Glad to hear that it was mouse poop. If I opened a trunk and found a moose, well, I just don’t know.
BTW, just purchased an ‘07 S65. Everything works except the sunroof but, surprisingly, this is a fairly cheap and easy repair with a used motor.
Electronic gremlins like you describe can be get expensive very quickly. For example, a new key runs almost $500 US.

 

Thought that I would add this. Mice eat everything! What was in the trunk could be isolated incident but if they were in the car for an extended period, I would assume that the wiring, insulation, upholstery, etc. could have sustained major damage.

 

I have an '07 S65 and while I can't address the mouse poop, I also have the issue where the engine occasionally doesn't turn over when engaged. I've talked to my service advisor ad nauseam about the issue but they're never able to replicate it. I've had the batteries changed but that didn't solve the problem. At the end of the day, this is more of an annoyance than a problem and I wouldn't let this be the reason to not own the car.

As to the question about keyless go, for mine there is a disc that fits into the keyhole. It's removable and the key can be used interchangeably.

It's a fantastic car to drive but It's very expensive from a repair standpoint and I wouldn't have continued to own it without an extended warranty. I bought it around 2010 when it was still under factory and purchased an extended warranty right after the factory expired. I renewed the extended when the first one expired. Sadly, the dealer who sold me the policies is no longer in business and the extended warranty company doesn't return emails or calls for a referral to another dealer. I know this sounds crazy but I'm not making it up. Each extended policy more than paid for itself well before they were 12 months into a 60 month term. They have covered most every repair and my MB SA is incredulous.

 

So just figured I’ll get back to you guys, I decided to roll the dice and purchase the 2007 S65 and I have to say what a trip and what her story was. For me to get the car started all I had to do is charge up the battery in the trunk and the car fired right up and the only warning light I had on was the airbag light.

The car runs and drives absolutely amazing even though I’m a proud Owner of an 06 CLS 55 this car just blew my mind, Me and my friend spent the last two weeks going over every wiring,every wiring harness in the car we took the car apart and repaired every wire that looks like may have been damaged by the mice.

Not that we have put it all back together and test drive the car . I did have to replace the trunk battery was bad I only have a couple of things that I cant get going I am looking for some advice and help with that.

1 radio doesn’t work , no tuning or frequency numbers on display, no sound from CD.

2, sos inoperative

3, no interior lights.

4, overhead console has no power I think. Almost feel like I have a missing harnes in the ceiling.

Yes I have checked all the fuses multiple times and they are all good.




Ohh and I almost forgot, When I’m just driving around very rarely is randomly I get ESP, Parking brake and Cruze inop. warning lights on and off but it only last for about a second and it’s fine again, reading the forums, I’m thinking the used battery that I had at home could be the culprit for these issues.

What do you guys think?

And for the record I just like to say thank you very much for everybody in this community for all their posts and comments, Without all these useful information I wouldn’t have been able to fix this car so fast an easily. Thanks for all of you guys.



My new addition to the family

 

Congrats! BTW, you have some sort of aftermarket grille, don’t recognize the symbol but it looks okay. I just purchased an ‘07 S65 myself. The only non-working part is the sunroof which just kind of grinds away. The reason that I mention that is because I naturally assumed that fixing this would be a PITA. After reading, though, on the MB forum, I found that replacing the sunroof motor is not a big deal and have already picked up a good used motor. To replace it, you have to pull down the overhead console. Apparently this is no big deal. You could gently pull down the console (you have to disengage the rear view mirror first) and look at the wiring to it. Read this forum for details. BTW, I get a Parking Assist Inop message about every time I drive but it goes out again. Probably a computer gremlin. Sure glad that it was mouse, not moose damage.

 

I'm glad i'm not loosing it lol. I thought i was imagining things since it only does that every once in a while

 

First, I found it odd that the car looks cleaner then the mouse poop?
Second, I don't like the grill and why someone would want to change an original $200K car/grill or any aftermarket items to this car? Just for your information or appreciation, if you was to replace the V12 engine alone, you need 130K.

My opinion, sometimes leaving the car to its original specs can be more appreciated.

Regards,

Eric

 

FWIW..... The 275 in my S-65 spat a front main bearing shell into the chains for a dead lump.

I found a replacement with 30,000 miles on it. All up under $20,000 and she runs great.

Were I doing it for a client this would be a $28,000 job assuming a nice motor can be found for similar $$$.