So I decided to pursue an E55 AMG within the state. I am not quite local enough to visit it personally yet unfortunately so after years of reading advice here about PPI, I negotiated the price and sent the car off for inspections. 2001 90K miles.

Sent her to an indie where they only charged an hour of labor to check it out. I thought that was pretty good being that I had budgeted for ~$200. I did not want to take it to a stealership because I wanted to see if I could get a realistic idea of the car's needs versus the possibility of getting a questionable laundry list.

Car came back with electrical error codes but they said the car seemed mechanically sound other wise- vague. Unfortunately they did not record the codes This really annoyed me because that is why I was paying for the inspection, but they did offer to charge me more to investigate further. After pressing, they simply gave an opinion of the Gear Shift or EIS.

Car Fox revealed the following replacements in its early life ~20K miles.

Valve Body
Front Crossmember
Exhaust secured
Axles Checked
Axle Seal replaced
Door Trim Panel Replaced
Rear Window Regulator
Anti-theft/remotes replaced
instrument Cluster Checked
Brake pads
Alignment
Air and Fuel filters replaced
Antifreeze Flushed
4 Wheel Alignment
Brake Fluid Flush
Wiper Blade

2K miles later...

Alternator Replaced
Battery Charging System Checked

Stored hard codes but looks like a soft reset 8 starts ago-Indie. No other records. Auctioned from another dealership late last year.

The Indie opined that it is the EIS or Gear shift however I cant prove them w/o codes! My next move is to send it to MB just to verify if they see the same. Looking at the replacement history it kinda makes sense based upon what I have searched on the boards. I have not determined if there are additional keys to test. I dont think that I could get any more off the price of the car but after I verify Ill try or walk.

I thought I would get feedback from the knowledgable members here. Any thoughts?