ProV1

Sup fellas, what should I pay particular attention to before taking delivery? Other than the standard:

Condition of paint, body panel alignment, interior, wheels & tire wear
Check all switches & electronics
Check for rust: spring perch, door seals, trunk key hole, rocker panels
Driving: check for steering free play, acceleration, transmission shifts, etc
Under the hood: check for general condition, inspect engine oil, all fluids

I own a 97 E420 so I'm pretty familiar with W210s. I understand the E55 will have a sophisticated onboard computer w/ FSS.

Also, I'm told that the 'dashlight by the tach' on the right is not illuminated. ?

ProjectC55

If the tranny shifts smoothly and works well when you floor it. Then chk all of the above especially the body alignment. Is the car a salvage titled car I did'nt chk in the ebay listing?

ProV1

thanks. and it's a clean title car, checked both carfax & autocheck. no problems

bzliteyear

not sure how to check, but i spoke w/ my mercedes advisor and some of the other items that go wrong as the car approaches 70k+ include:
motor mount
pixels in dashboard(sometimes cov'd under warranty by nice MB advisors)
transmission mount
catalytic converter
ignition sensors
spark plug wirings(my car's prior owner spent about $1K on this)
brake pads/rotors

good luck.

ProjectC55

yes that's basically regular maintainance one would do himself. ignition sensors and pixels in dash,I never had a problem. Bought my car with 73k miles in 2004 still going strong. 1k for plugs and wires is a rip off. I paid a fraction of that cost. Denso or Bosch Iridiums and Magnacore wires.

felthove

I was told that engine mounts tend to crack on these babies because of the torque. I'd also look for pixels being out on the temp gauge and the gear display -- those tend to drop pixels.

ProV1

what is the fix if the pixels are out? do you have to replace the whole cluster, or a single bulb? does MB USA have an extended warranty on the pixels, similar to 7yr/100k coverage on S-class?

glennbaz

You have to "exchange" the whole cluster. I think it's about a $750 job from MB. Don't know if they've done anymore covering the problem under warranty. Also check for any type of "drone" noise while cruising around 62 mph. There was also a similar problem with the Catalytic converters going bad and making noise. That's a 2 grand repair. These cars are not cheap...

4runner

Check the attached link on cluster repair. These folks are reasonable and also located on ebay with outstanding feedback.
http://www.bba-reman.com/catalogue/D...ledProduct=556

jimmydagreek

Yes, you can have the pixels repaired by a company like the one suggested by 4runner. That's actually pretty cheap compared to some of the local guys I've gone to that want to charge between $350-400 bucks.

You should also listen to the engine for any type of ticking sound. This is usally caused by the lifters which is pretty comon when people use cheap oil. This is not a cheap fix so pay attention closely. The ticking gets louder as you rev the engine. Happened to my '97 E420 and I had to have all of the lifters replaced; it was bad and expensive...

Good luck!

MARK CUMMINS

Take the Vin to a MB Dealer and have them run the Vin to see what warranty work has been done and (IF) any service work was done at a Dealer

Also Have the Shop that is doing the PPI scan the car for codes


Dont forget about the Harmonic Balancer