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So I took the car on a test drive after changing the oil and after 4 miles the ABS error light came on. Then the restraint error light came on.
I got to a stop sign. As I lightly pushed the throttle the tranny went into what I only know to be limp mode. When I give it gas it takes much more then usual to get it to go. Then my oil gauge went to 0.
I restarted the car and and it was out of "E.D. mode" and the oil gauge worked again. I went to the next stop sign and it limped again. But wouldn't get out of gear 2nd gear. I restarted and came to the last stop sign before the house and it had a moment of power then no response from the throttle. Oil gauge showed 0.
I pulled over and restarted again and barely made it to the house so it wouldn't E.D. on me again.
"Items may settle (or become "ungapped") during shipping"...
most platinum plugs will crack if you try and re-gap them.
any of the plugs I've bought have cardboard sleeves protecting the tips.
they don't "ungap" in shipping.
What a cruel, cruel heart that Mercedes has. Gives you confidence by hiding its flaws. Then BAM! Pay time!
I hope its an easy fix!
I'm not sure where you gained all of this confidence about your wreck after reading through this, and almost every other thread on this board about all of the problems people have with their cars. You've been warned over and over about the many potential issues you'd be facing outside of the body repairs. There aren't many easy fixes when something goes wrong with these cars. Your scanner will give you very limited info that is very generic to many car models. It really needs to be scanned by STAR at your local dealer or a very good indy. This is not something you should put in the hands of Vlad or any other Russian friends. You need to spend the money to get a proper diagnosis and get it fixed right. Otherwise you may cause even more very expensive problems.
I'm watching Graveyard Cars right now on TV. Too bad they only bring Mopars back to life
I'm in!
Netflix or hulu?
How I wish I would someday see a W221 restoration project.
I'm not giving up on her. Even if something catastrophic happened, I would just buy a donor car and swap things over and sell the rest... Its not like these car are appreciating... ..yet.
Besides the pull and dent repair, I can take car of most issues myself.
Last edited by mercedesbenzs55; 03-17-2016 at 10:25 PM.
I'm waiting on my Dad to find it in his house. He purchased it last year and never used it. Hes looking for it at the moment.
What a cruel, cruel heart that Mercedes has. Gives you confidence by hiding its flaws. Then BAM! Pay time!
I hope its an easy fix!
Welcome to the jungle, these cars are a very demanding mistress. Get it to a good indy shop and have them run a scan before you simply throw more parts at the problem.
Listen, there's a point in any endeavor where you have to accept that you misjudged your assumptions and it's time to cut your losses, and stop throwing good money after bad. I'm not saying you're there yet, but it ain't looking good. It's a painful lesson (all the good ones are) but know when it's time to pull the plug. This is a totaled, poorly maintained 08 with 80,000 miles and a laundry list of mechanical issues. Its long term prospects as a safe, reliable family car are slim.
I'm not giving up on her. Even if something catastrophic happened, I would just buy a donor car and swap things over and sell the rest... Its not like these car are appreciating... ..yet.
How I wish I would someday see a W221 restoration project.
I'm not giving up on her. Even if something catastrophic happened, I would just buy a donor car and swap things over and sell the rest... Its not like these car are appreciating... ..yet.
Besides the pull and dent repair, I can take car of most issues myself.
Graveyard Carz is on Velocity. And you most likely will not be able to handle most issues yourself. Most indys won't even touch these cars...and those are the pros. Helping your dad pull a motor with a cherry picker when you were 8 doesn't mean that you can do repairs or take care of all of the other issues that are going to come up. At your starting mileage, known issues, and undocumented service history, if you drive the car say 10k miles per year, figure it will cost you around $8-10k per year in repairs and maintenance....if you're lucky. And that's not including the costs to straighten your car and do the body work.
Dave, I don't think it was the battery. Because the accessories were working fine and seemed to have plenty of power when I used them before I started the car. The car started with no issues so maybe both batteries were fine?
Why is it that sometimes the left side of my dash seems to dim and I loose power? This happens rarely, but when it does it bounces back or the car starts to hesitate.
Its embarrassing to tell you guys this after the redicule, but sometimes its better to be honest and get help than to suffer with dignity.
Last edited by mercedesbenzs55; 03-17-2016 at 11:04 PM.
Graveyard Carz is on Velocity. And you most likely will not be able to handle most issues yourself. Most indys won't even touch these cars...and those are the pros. Helping your dad pull a motor with a cherry picker when you were 8 doesn't mean that you can do repairs or take care of all of the other issues that are going to come up. At your starting mileage, known issues, and undocumented service history, if you drive the car say 10k miles per year, figure it will cost you around $8-10k per year in repairs and maintenance....if you're lucky. And that's not including the costs to straighten your car and do the body work.
Are these cars seriously that unreliable? Not just this thread, but I've read lots of S class threads because I've been a fan of luxo boats since I was 18. The general consensus seems to be not that repairs might be expensive if something major goes wrong, but that that it will be expensive because major things will go wrong. And well south of 100,000 miles. Really? It's rare for these things to make it to 100,000 miles w/o major repairs? There's a a fine line between tolerating the cost of a highly tuned exotic and living with crap.
There's a a fine line between tolerating the cost of a highly tuned exotic and living with crap.
Yes, that's the line we walk. The S Class new is a $100,000 + car. We pick them up in three or four years (or more) as $45k-$50k cars. So the car depreciates by half and it's a steal. But the cost of parts and labor doesn't depreciate at all. The car has an unbelievable number of systems controlled by an unbelievable number of microprocessors. Many parts are unique to the 221 and not available aftermarket.
The mistake buyers make is to presume that a German built high dollar car is expensive because it's reliable. It's expensive to buy because its expensive to build, and it's expensive to build because it's full of expensive gizmos. Mercedes' target buyer for the S buys or leases for less than 4 years, and they offer a warranty for that period, so their customer is taken care of. They make nothing on the sale of a used S, and couldn't care less about reliability of a used S, other than those they choose to certify.
The way to own a used S is to have it under warranty...CPO or 3rd party...for the entire duration of ownership and sell it before the warranty expires. Build the warranty into the purchase price calculations and finance it into the car if you're financing.
Been there...right now you're probably sweating bullets. I wonder if there's any relearning the system has to do after being low on power for so long? Maybe alx can chime in. Get the car hooked up to a STAR. Hope it works out, but this definitely brings in an additional wrinkle, no pun intended.
holy **** this just got to a new level. OP actually thought his gas gauge was an oil pressure gauge. I don't even know where to start. I guess let's start with the simple stuff. If your "oil pressure gauge" is reading 0 that means you don't have any gas. Try putting some gas in it and go from there
Listen, there's a point in any endeavor where you have to accept that you misjudged your assumptions and it's time to cut your losses, and stop throwing good money after bad. I'm not saying you're there yet, but it ain't looking good. It's a painful lesson (all the good ones are) but know when it's time to pull the plug...
I once was told, there are three ways to learn a lesson.
1) The hard way
2) The expensive way
3) Both 1 and 2
OP indicated that his oil gauge went to 0, then worked, then went to 0 again.... I believe he has 'oil'.
If he's replaced the battery, is there any resets he should have done that may be causing the glitches ?
Could the wrong type (wet/gel) battery be the problem even?
03-28-2016, 07:21 PM
