whit32

2003 Mercedes S55 AMG sedan, black exterior on black leather interior, 101k miles, 5.4l supercharged V8, automatic transmission. Excellent mechanical and cosmetic condition, very clean interior. This is a 493HP, $110k (original) German super-sedan that I have really enjoyed owning, it’s an awesome car. Tons of torque, handles great with the ABC suspension control, and a really large and luxurious interior with lots of cool gadgets to play with.

I’ve done a lot of maintenance and fixed the common weaknesses that affect these cars. There are no error lights or codes. The ABC pump has been replaced with an OEM Luk unit, the supercharger pulley was replaced with a billet aluminum pulley, The engine was replaced due to a cylinder failure with a replacement engine with only 49k miles (engine failure is not common, this was a weird/freak occurrence). The drivetrain has been trouble-free in the 8k miles since the engine was replaced. Doesn’t burn or use any oil. This is a really solid car that I’d expect to have many many years of life left.

Active Body Control (ABC) eliminates roll in corners. Soft touch doors, heated and cooled front seats, HID headlights, great sound system, 15 way power seats, massaging and dynamic seats (bolsters inflate when going around corners!). Includes maintenance records, two remote keys, owner’s manuals. Factory Bluetooth hands-free phone adapter, dash-mounted cell phone holder, prewired for a Valentine One radar detector.

$11,500. Clean title and carfax with no accidents. I just pulled a carfax, can send it on request. Southern car it’s whole life, no rust, no dings, no leaks. Everything works as it should. Black paint is glossy and except for a few very minor chips and scrapes, it looks great from any distance. The car is all stock except new (~8k miles) wheels and tires.

Recent maintenance:
- Brand new 18x9 Konig mesh wheels all around
- 265-40-18 Sumitomo HTR-ZIII performance tires
- New OEM ABC suspension fluid and power steering pump
- Transmission flush
- ABC suspension fluid flush
- Power steering fluid flush
- New front bumper and paint
- New supercharger pulley
- All new belts and pulleys
- New intercooler pump
- New air pump (emissions)
- New motor mounts
- New transmission mounts

Issues (I am picky and will describe every single fault):
- There is a bit wear in the leather at the top of the steering wheel -- just feels a bit rough.
- Both rear shocks sometimes make an audible “clunk” when going over certain shaped speed-bumps. This is a common noise, and doesn’t affect driveability (some say they “all” do that). I removed the rear shocks and inspected, could find nothing wrong.
- The auxiliary oil cooler was leaking and has been bypassed (it’s a tiny cooler, really not needed unless driving the car on a racetrack or going 200 MPH)
- A small (2”) piece of side moulding trim is missing behind the right rear door
- The supercharger clutch squeaks when engaging. Normal for these cars, works fine
- One of the belts squeaks a bit when cold, goes away when warm
- There is a tiny bit of driveline vibration when cold, not bad enough to worry about, possibly a slightly out-of-balance driveshaft.















More pictures:
https://*******/photos/xakzkFCxLPjZGTBo8

C3Duece

nice price. Probably won't last long.

2MERKS

Nicely done...looks amazing! GLWS
2MERKS

2MERKS

Nicely done...looks amazing! GLWS
2MERKS

ashirji

Do you have the stock wheels? Any idea of the cost to R & R the oil cooler? I had the same motor in a 211 e55 and here in FL in the summer oil temps are a concern. Car looks very nice.

whit32

I do not have the stock wheels. They were pretty curb-rashed up so I sold them off.

The oil cooler will be pricey, I've seen them come up used on ebay for $400. Will need lines also. Odd that you have seen big oil temps, the few times I monitored with the scan tool IIRC they stayed right around the ~210F thermostat mark. That cooler is only like 8x8" square.

ashirji

Thanks for the reply. I forgot to mention that my 113k was not stock. I had split cooling, a bigger heat exchanger, and a smaller S/c pulley but even then, with a bit of a pounding the thing like to get hot. At 90 ambient, going for 3-4 pulls it wold pull timing and get up to 215-225. If someone is going to cruise and not modify, you should be fine but my problem would be is just too much to play with to avoid temptation, and it gets hot in South FL. Looks like a very well-kept example, at a very fair price. Good luck on the sale.

whit32

I would be very surprised if your car was really pulling timing at 215-225 oil temps -- that's nothing. Modern synthetics handle 250+ all day with no problems (typical temps in a race engine).

But I don't know what the Merc's oil temp management system actually does, but my guess is that you were losing power because your intercooler pump is dying. I had a chance to do a couple laps on a track with the S55, same symptoms -- power cut after a couple of WOT pulls. In this case, the S/C disables if the pump isn't keeping up with the intercooler. New pump fixed it.

ashirji

Previous owner replaced the factory Bosch with Johnson, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was at fault. From what I've seen, these cars really don't like high IATs either. Car also had a tune which probably exacerbated the problem. Either way, not trying to hijack the thread, and wish you the best luck on your sale.

AKnight55

Oil temps are different than coolant temps. You guys are discussing two different things.

whit32

Not really discussing two things .. just to clarify: prior poster mentioned a power loss on his car when "hot" and attributed it to oil temps. I suspect his power loss has nothing to do with oil temps, but that intercooler pump failure (coolant) is a far more likely explanation of power loss, due to the ECU cutting the SC clutch when it detects the pump is not working. The oil temps he reported (215-220) are just fine and no reason for concern.

I don't know if the ECU detects this via coolant temp or flow loss, but I can tell you the one time it happened to me, main engine coolant temps (dash gauge) were still fine, so either there's a secondary temp sensor or flow sensor for the intercooler circuit.

PillDrive

Nice looking car.
One question.....why are your Tail Lights from a 2002 or older s class ?

whit32

Hmm, I have to be honest I never noticed that. After you mentioned it I had to do some research, and it looks like any car built after mid-2002 should have been the newer style. I have no idea why (or if?) they were replaced. I do know that the prior owner bought the car CPO, so maybe the dealer swapped them for some reason and put on the wrong ones.

Weird because there is no evidence at all of any accidents, and everything else looks original (except the front bumper which I replaced). I can guarantee that the car has never been hit in the rear, it's all original paint.

FYI it' definitely a 2003, and a later one at that:

whit32

FYI just did an oil change today and replaced the transmission electrical connector with the updated piece. The old connector was weeping just a little bit, looks better sealed up now. Took it for a sprited drive in the nice weather, running perfect.

mrbobby

I can't seem to load the additional photos, something about the site no longer valid. Is there any visible wear on the driver's side door post (typical of a lot of S 55's)? I'm curious as to why you went away from the original staggered wheel set up. Why?

whit32

Hey mrbobby, I'm travelling this week and replying from a tablet so I cannot easily figure out the photo issue ... as for wear on the driver's side door post. do you mean damage to the seal, or to the seat? There is little to no wear on either, I am sure I can find or take a picture when I get back in town later this week.

Regarding a "square" setup over staggered, it's pretty common (at least amongst BMW enthusiasts, for two reasons -- get better front grip and turn-in with the wider tires up front, and to be able to rotate tires front to rear. German car companies do a lot of things to dumb down cars to make them "safe" for americans, including staggered wheels, lots of rear camber, rear toe-in, etc. If you know how to drive (!!), un-doing a few of these things make a car a lot more playful on the street, if you're willing to accept the inceased risk of doing so. The S55 turn-in characteristics really benefitted from the wider front wheels, even at normal spirited driving speeds.

mrbobby

I'll look forward to the photos. Even though I'm looking for a black '05 or '06 I give consideration to this one.

Bobby Kenyon

Interested in more photos as well. This S is beautiful!

whit32

FYI the car is tentatively sold. Will update later today.

Let's try the photos link again. This forum appears to mask URLs (maybe it's just my low post count?)

https://*******/photos/xakzkFCxLPjZGTBo8

goo <<DOT>> gl/photos/xakzkFCxLPjZGTBo8

whit32

SOLD