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I decided about a couple years ago that I wanted either a E55 or S55 AMG and after a length of time I finally found a car in my price range that I was happy with purchasing. It was a 2003 S55 AMG with 127,000 miles decently close to where I live. I paid $11,500 for this car and with the issues I will bring up later on I still think this was a decent price. I have some concerns that I hope you guys can shed some light on, and hopefully I haven't been taken advantage of in any way but at the same time I notice that with these types of cars maintenance will always be expensive and hard to predict.
My first concern would be window motors/sunroof motor, I was so distracted by the cleanliness of the car and the drive that I didn't notice that the sunroof and rear passenger window motor were struggling and without assistance simply doesn't work. If this is an easy fix for someone who is decently capable of auto repair let me know. I plan to take this on and figure it out but if there are any tips and tricks I would love to hear about them.
My second concern is the mechanics of the trunk opening mechanism, its another problem that I didn't notice right away. It seems to be an pneumatic system which I'm somewhat familiar with but would love some suggestions for what a common failure component might be so I can fix this issue myself.
Thirdly would be any type of overheating issues anyone might have had with this car, I had 1 overheating scenario where I was parked on an incline... I was sitting for
about 20 minutes with the air conditioner on. The coolant overheated and by the time I noticed it was throwing faults advising to turn the vehicle off. I turned the car off as it was smoking, it had drained a lot of fluid due to what I guess now was pressure from the coolant boiling coming from the connection to the radiator. This happened one time, I have never overheated since and I have been driving this car now for 2 months. I have since drained the coolant and did a full rinse, and from what I gather it was NOT the recommended coolant. (European Blue) so I filled her up with the right stuff.
The last main concern would be the shifting chirp that I didn't pick up on on my test drive, Its mainly between 2nd and 3rd gear. I've done some research and apparently its something that is generally accepted amongst owners. I have a very trusted shop that I would like to send my girl too and I personally think that it could be the torque converter. I would be interested to see if this was the issue among other owners before paying for that fix.
Lastly the washer fluid system is kind of jacked, if I put fluid in the system it will try to pressurize and it will all come out at some point behind the driver side headlight. This is a leak seeking mission that I just haven't embarked on quite yet, not a major issue but just something I'd like to mention as a possible general failure point. Wouldn't mind tips on this but I think I can figure this one out I just have to take some time tracking the lines and whatnot..... Just felt like it was worth mentioning.
Overall still happy with the purchase I just would like some feedback from some people who have dealt with this problems, I have a daily driver and this car is just something I would like to baby a bit. Thanks for any feedback.
'06 MB S55 AMG; '04 Audi Allroad 4.2; '05 BMW M3 Conv.; '92 MB 500E
I’ve never had those types of issues. You could start here... https://w220.ee/
The pneumatic system is known to develop leaks. That’s a basic disassemble and check connections exercise. Seems tedious but not overly difficult. That’s probably just the trunk and door locks. I don’t think it has anything to do with the windows. For parts (window regulators and such), I’d check eBay seller autohubshop. He seems to have a lot of good condition and priced W220 parts. Finally, for the chirp you should check your belts and pulleys — at this age, all of them. Supercharged cars eat belts and pulleys for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Finally a basic checklist... transmission fluid and filter, ABC fluid and filter, spark plugs, supercharger fluid, suspension spheres and dampers, should all have been done by now. If they haven’t been done, do those now. Otherwise the cost of failure will have you running away from the car. If they’ve been done, you bought a good one — be happy.
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For the trunk After you have verified that there are no leaks, the most common issue is the pump itself (IMO more common than leaks). I actually took one apart and there is a part internally that melts and when it does the pump fails.... in my case I actually bought a new pump and then exchanged the PCB board From my old pump to the new pump so that I didn't have to get Mercedes programming... It was pretty straightforward and I had no more issues with the pump Or the trunk operation...... ahh the good old w220... I miss them
Originally Posted by John Lawler
I decided about a couple years ago that I wanted either a E55 or S55 AMG and after a length of time I finally found a car in my price range that I was happy with purchasing. It was a 2003 S55 AMG with 127,000 miles decently close to where I live. I paid $11,500 for this car and with the issues I will bring up later on I still think this was a decent price. I have some concerns that I hope you guys can shed some light on, and hopefully I haven't been taken advantage of in any way but at the same time I notice that with these types of cars maintenance will always be expensive and hard to predict..
My second concern is the mechanics of the trunk opening mechanism, its another problem that I didn't notice right away. It seems to be an pneumatic system which I'm somewhat familiar with but would love some suggestions for what a common failure component might be so I can fix this issue myself.
The trunk locking/unlocking/soft-closing latch system is pneumatic. Operated by vacuum power through an air line that can leak. The latch itself also has some plastic parts that can leak vacuum pressure. Then also Trace the line back to the vacuum manifold and the vacuum pump behind then trunk’s left rear trim panel. That pump also operates all the door locks/soft-close latches. They will all get squirrelly if the pump or manifold fail.
The trunk automatic opener system is hydraulic. Operated by a hydraulic piston on the right side trunk hinge, and powered by a small hydraulic pump hidden in the right lower cargo trunk space next to the big battery. Move the foam pad next to the battery out of the way and you will see the pump. Make sure that guy has fluid. You should see it in the opaque plastic reservoir.
Supercharger chirp:
The Supercharger had a clutch between the belt-driven pulley and the supercharger’s drive shaft. This clutch is designed like that of an AC compressor which electrically turns on and off, depending on conditions.
When conditions are right (1500 RPM and gas pedal pushed down calling for more power) an electric signal attempts to engage the clutch to spin the supercharger’s guts. There is a slight slip on the metal clutch plates that sounds like a chirp when it tries to spool up the idle supercharger. (Some say it’s belt slip, I say it’s the metal clutch).
This supercharger clutch pulley chirp is typical on the 2003. Mine chirps in either 1st gear or 2nd gear in direct response to my heavy foot. It’s not correlated to transmission shifts.
Regardless, it is still a good idea to replace the belt, as MAW mentioned. The clutch and bearing are prone to eventual wear.
And the supercharger gear oil (see utube videos about how to suck out the Jet Oil 2 and replace with fresh) eventually should be changed if the prior owner never did it.
I don’t know what a “Transmission shift chirp” is for these cars in the 2nd-to-3rd shift. If it’s actually a transmission noise, you will be leaning more about the 5-speed 722.6 transmission.
'06 MB S55 AMG; '04 Audi Allroad 4.2; '05 BMW M3 Conv.; '92 MB 500E
@GrepAwk, is that trunk fluid pentosin, just like the other hydraulic fluid used in the car? I never knew that, but these days my trunk operation is a bit slow so that seems like something to check before the pump needs to work too hard.
first of all congratulation on the new car , its one of the most reliable Mercedes engines that i ever came across and happy driving , to answer your question i will have to do points so here you go :
1- about sunroof and windows , i'm not sure what u mean by (struggling and without assistance) so i would start by the easy fix , have u recycled them ? if u don't know that then all u have to do is open any of then by keep pressing the up untill its closed and stay pressing for 3 second then open it by keep pressing the opening switch until its fully open and stay again 3 second .. do that for all the windows and sunroof and then all will be synced . if this is not your issue then u might need new parts.
2- for this point sorry i have no input here.
3- (overheating issues) i actually had one like that before exactly like how it happened to u , the radiator plastic part on the driver side ( American style ) had a small broken plastic part at the connection between it and the rubber hose and it was leaking coolant . the second thing that could be is if the previous owner used clear water without coolant ( that could Couse this due to the air bubbles. ) or last thing is the reservoir cover failing.
4- (the shifting chirp) from what i have seen this is due to the supercharger pulley clearance to the magnet cover . there is one video on youtube about how to adjust that . i will try to find it and sent it to u after work
5- (the washer fluid system is kind of jacked) had similar experience but very minor and it turned up to be the seal for the washer motor which is connected to the washer fluid bottle ) check it out.
hope that helps .
My now-dead S55 had a slow right rear window which was something to do with the window tracks. When the window would start up, it would drag on the rear side, twist a bit in the door, and get jammed. I had to hold the top of the glass towards the front track of the door to raise that window. Make sure the window isn't torquing like that as it raises.
My car had a pretty strong supercharger chirp, but I've not heard of a transmission chirp. The supercharger chirp is heard when you start moving the car, pretty much any decent throttle level when it reaches about 1500 RPM. If you have a chirp that corresponds to shifting, you may have a serious worry coming up.
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