this guy was on my bowling team ... yeah well he ended up getting in a bunch of trouble. rumor had it that he wasn't going to finish the season anyways because of his legal woes - then to compact matters he went and trashed this beautiful E55.

His roommate was able to middleman the deal as the guy is now locked up for what sounds like a very long time and they needed a substantial chuck of change right now.

i paid $11,000 for this bad boy:




lets start with the good:

Keyless start +++ Works fine. Car unlocks and starts without the key having to be in the ignition.



electronics all seem to be working fine actually. Air conditioning blows, heater warms.. *** warmers work.. CD player works ( thanks previous owner for the wonderful T.I. CD )

The engine starts up fine, it roars like a truck in comparison to my nissan altima.

the car is giving one error message: SRS Restraint system malfunction visit workshop:



it looks like theres some panels missing from where the seat belts go into the wall.... and the side airbag blew in the passenger seat :\








The tire pressure sensors work ( okay two errors Unfortunately they are showing that the front two tires have no air - and by the looks of it the wheels on the front are pretty f**ked up - I have no way of knowing till i get them off whether they are still perfect circles :\




there is some damage to the fender above the front passenger wheel


the only thing that is stumping me is the item dangling from a little cord right here - its leaking some sort of reddish fluid... is this part of the struts or the airmatic or something? NO idea what it could be; hoping someone'll know.





this is right behind the front passenger wheel.
can someone identify whats going on here??


as far as repairs my buddy is a gearhead and has owned something like 30 cars and done all the work on them himself - so if any of these fixes are DIY it'd help out.

so far just looking online Ive found a couple possible replacements:

for the fender:

http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/de...e&apwid19DR682


for the wheels:

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/pts/2682332757.html

As far as the airbags go - Im guessing that you cant just stuff em back into the car - should i cut em out and sew up the leather interior where it tore apart and the bags came out ? Or am i gonna have to buy a whole new Seat and inside door panel? Same question for the material the inside of the roof is made of.

 

tranny fluid from the pump?

 

the red fluid is from the airmatic shock

 

Why would you want to risk the safety of yourself or a passenger by cutting them out and sewing up the leather?

 

So it looks like the idiot nailed a curb straight on at high speed.

Wheels should be easy fix...back part seems to be airmatic blown out from violent suspension hit. Fenders are easy fix for a pro.

Airbags will be the most costly to replace. I would think with Benz being so safety conscious, with those airbags deployed, she would be throwing all kinds of SRS codes like you are having now.

Wildcard out of all this is.......how bad was the suspension damaged in the curb hit.

Only way to tell will be to get her on a lift and then on the road to feel it out.

Fingers crossed for no major damage other than pics.

 

How long is lockup, tell him not to drop the soap by the way

 

well if the airmatic is trashed, time for the KW coilover makeover for the suspension.

 

That pic from under the car... I can see you will need a pair of Piston Return Springs. Yours are jacked up. MB dealer sells them for way more than this site does... I'd get four, in case your lateral intake compressor is crimped.


Piston Return Springs

 

From the looks of the pictures, you need to replace the headliner, along with the curtain airbag... I can see it torn just above the pillar.

Do not forget to check the seatbelts to see if the tensioners fired. If so, you need to add in the cost of replacement.

Hate to tell you this, but these cars are super picky about airbags.

 

This is going to be a nightmare. From what you'll spend on airbags and internal fixes, you'll be up to what the car would have cost you flawless.

 

Yes once the side curtain air bag have been deployed the whole headliner has to be replaced. It is a special made to order part.

 

if he hit the curb hard enough to blow the airbags, it mustve caused more damage than just the shock. I'd check if the arms are bent underneath and the subframe while ur down there.

 

This is a pretty foolish comment considering we don't even know what year the car is or the mileage. Looks like it might have 70K based on odometer but can't really tell.

Figure it needs 2 airbags, headliner, right front suspension, wheels, light body work, & programming. You are probably not into it for more than $5k if you use wrecking yards and elbow grease.

I think the OP stumbled on a nice opportunity. Yes, I do think it's more work than he thinks it is, but most of it is pretty basic stuff if you are mechanically inclined.

 

I assume the car is not Salvage title ..... if its clean title, fix it drive it and sell it.

 

Clearly I haven't been visiting these forums for almost six years and therefore have little to no knowledge of A. What an E55 is worth on the secondary market and B. What it costs to fix one.

Foolish.

 

Ill trade you my BMW for it haha.

 

+1, I think this was a bad decision.

 

Fair enough. So what do the "experts" say the car is worth once it's fully functioning?? What does it cost to replace a couple wheels/tires, all right front arms, both struts, airbags, headliner, and some labor for chassis alignment check, fender, and programming?

Since I'm the newb here I'm trying to learn everywhere I can.

 

That was tough to swallow a little haha.

 

I'm in the same boat

its an 03. 100k Miles (AFAIK these benz engines will go to 200K & beyond with TLC... )Its fully loaded has the Distronic cruise control, Pano Roof, Parktronic. The title is clear no previous accidents reported

To be completely honest my initial thought was 2-3 grand to get it driving again (this was admittedly just the outside damage, not including the internal stuff) and if i drive it for a couple years... well hell i think a lot of people would be surprised to find out it was an 03 it looks newer. that being said if i can get it all fixed up and sell it for more than what I put into it... then id be good.

if it starts looking like its gonna cost 8-10k to repair it, then yeah - i'll have to walk away.

Has anyone ever parted out one of these things before? Wonder how much all the good remaining parts would get me? Engine alone ought to fetch me 5 grand right?




I found ONE headliner online that looks like it'd work. Cost is 400

I'm guessing the "stealership" will charge a whole hell of a lot more for it so I might jump on it while i can because it seems to be pretty rare.


Everything else? Im going to try and order as much stuff OEM / online / off of forum classifieds.

It may not happen overnight but it looks like one hell of a gorgeous car and I'm not gonna lie... if you see the car from the drivers side or from the back it just looks amazing sitting in my garage, and in my head I look 10x as amazing driving down the street in it


appreciate everyone's input so far

 

I saw a thread describing that - looks badass. What would that run me?

 

What is your location?

 

It's even worse than I thought as it's an '03 with 100k miles. One in GOOD shape would go for less than $20k, and the OP picked it up for $11k. In all likelihood you can't replace that seat airbag, you're going to replace the seat which is costly. All in, to do it right, you're in for $8k+, and that's just in parts.

 

Common case of, I can afford this E55. It's only xxK. What they fail to realize is, that it's still a 90k vehicle when it comes time to fix it...

 

No that we know its an 03 with 100k, it becomes a horrible decision. Better start the part out process. I wouldnt put a dime in that thing. It was only worth 15k in great shape with those miles and year. That thing is trashed and at 103k, its pretty worthless to fix if you already have 11k in it. Hell, it still might have the shiaty Valeo radiator that is a nighmare.