Jason08

Hey everyone, (*I hope this isn’t too long winded)

I just bought a 03 E55 AMG (W211) with about 63k miles. Silver with black leather interior. I paid 21k in Northern Virginia. I needed a car, and this car although in good shape, had a rough past according to it’s carfax. It was originally a lease vehicle, then re-sold as a Mercedes certified pre-owned vehicle. Then it was repossessed at one point. Then it had a couple more owners, and then it ended up as a trade at Moore Cadillac in Chantilly. I’ve kinda been kicking myself for not holding out for a car with a service record history, but I fell in love with it as soon as I drove it.

I come from a long DSM background. So it’s been hard for me not to research what can be done to improve the car. I’m not trying to do anything over the top, as that is what gave me so many headaches with previous cars. I want to keep this car perfectly reliable, keeping up with all maintenance items.

THE IMPORTANT STUFF:
So far, I have purchased and installed the smaller supercharger pulley, belt wrap kit, and ASP pulley set from Shardul (everything looks great). I have ordered a tune from Eurocharged, but has not come in yet. So I’ve been driving on the smaller supercharger pulley and the stock tune for about a week and a half, and I’m seeing some white-ish dust that almost looks like wax that hasn’t been buffed out all over the exhaust tips, and rear bumper. At first, I just buffed it off, but it has come back. I’m sure it is a function of the car running too lean. I’m just hoping that I didn’t cause any serious damage, and I wanted to see if anyone else has ever encountered something similar.

The car is running fine, and pulling hard. I haven’t run it full out yet since I’ve done the pulley installation.

Other things that I’ve done since I got the car were:
- an oil change

- got the dealership to give me a print out of the code history, and a PPI that I was really unhappy with – I didn’t feel like they went over the car at all, and they were trying to close when I picked the car up (I got the car there at 9:00 am, and I got there at 3 to pick the car up, exactly the time they told me to be back), and they basically told me that I could call with any questions ($260 wasted)….so pissed….anyways – nothing egregious on the code history print outs

- rear diff fluid change (Castroil 75w 140)

- valve cover gasket and re-sealed that upper part with new RTV

- spark plugs (NGK LFR7AIX)

- Spark plug wires (bosch OEM; from rock auto)

I plan on doing the Transmission flush. I sent a sample of the transmission fluid to Blackstone, since I know that I have the crappy valeo radiator – they do not perform glycol tests. They look at sodium and potassium levels to determine if there is antifreeze in the transmission oil. My tests came back with negligible levels for both. I still plan on replacing the valeo with the Behr radiator, but funds are tight right now.

When I replace the radiator, I also plan on installing a new heat exchanger, and bosch pump (so I don't have to drain the coolant twice).

Finally, IF ANYONE KNOWS OTHER MAINTENANCE ITEMS THAT THEY CAN RECOMMEND, PLEASE POST

I will be posting pics of the car later today; and I’ll also post pics of the residue on the exhaust pipes

Thanks for reading! And thanks for the support thus far! I’m happy to be a part of this community. I took pictures of the stuff I’ve already done, and I’m hoping to augment the write-ups that already exist for these items.

-Jason

novae500

Congrats on purchase. With the mods that you have, i wouldnt even go 50% or more throttle to play it safe until you get the car tuned by Eurocharged. Looks like you pretty much will be baselining the car with new fluids. Some of the common things that new owners replace are:

CPS sensor (crank position)
Tranny harness that sometimes leaks tranny oil
voltage reg on the alternator

Jason08

So after I got the aluminum/Shardul pulleys in, belt wrap kit (shardul), and smaller s/c pulley (shardul/eurocharged). Eurocharged and Shardul are both great vendors, as many people on the forums have expressed. I'd like to echo the positive feedback.

ISSUE:
I drove the car for about a week, not getting on it too much, and one day, I noticed that there was white residue on the exhaust and rear bumper.

I stopped driving the car and waited for the Eurocharged tune to come in. I got the tune, and drove the car for about an hour last night. I am still noticing the white dust (albeit, there seems to be less of it accumulating than last time). Please see the pics below.

1) If anyone has any insight as to what this could be please let me know. The car wasn't producing this dust prior to the installation of said parts.

2) If there is anyone in the Northern Virginia/DC/MD area that might be willing to take me for a ride in their car, so I can see if some of the noises mine is making is normal, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks again for the support!

[IMG]C:\Users\charles.happ\Downloads\IMAG0306.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]C:\Users\charles.happ\Downloads\IMAG0295.jpg[/IMG]

*files are also attached incase pics don't show up

E55Greasemonkey

You could still be lean, if your fuel system has problems. The fuel filter has a 50k service interval, and it's not uncommon for the fuel pumps to draw excess amperage and burn the electrical connectors. If there is a dyno nearby it would be worth it to do a dyno run and they can see your A/F ratio. Typically the exhaust tips are black inside even on a stock car as they are tuned to run slightly rich.

Jason08

is it unsafe to get on it while it is running like this?

How do they measure my a/f ratio?....do they hook something into the exhaust pipe? Should I purchase wideband o2 sensor?

can the a/f ratio be seen in the eurocharged logging feature that I got with the tune?

I'm going to search the forum for a write up on the fuel filter, but if anyone has something off hand that I can use as a reference, that'd be greatly appreciated.

E55Greasemonkey

The fuel filter is part of the LH fuel sender.
EC datalog will show the A/F.
At the dyno they put a probe in the tailpipe.

djrabbi

I am in Reston and can meet up with you.

With those exhaust, I would just chop them off and get them Powder coated again

2EASy

Congrats on the purchase, I'm in fairfax if you ever want to meet up. I need to get my smaller SC put on also.

Jason08

Thanks for the input.

I plan on doing some logging tonight when I get home from work. Do you have/know where I can find tables to compare what my a/f ratios should be? I'll compare my logs to these tables to determine if I'm lean.

djrabbi and 2Easy: let me know when you're available, and I'd really like to meet you, and see how my car compares to yours, so I can make a comparison to determine if my car is functioning normally.

djrabbi

I am going to NJ this weekend and will be back Tuesday. I am free whenever

Jason08

looks like I just want to be at an a/f mixture of about 14:7:1 throughout the entire power band.

My apologies for the newb questions.

If I'm lean throughout, should I contact Eurocharged to richen up my tune?

I just got off the phone with the MB dealership, looking for the fuel filter. E55Greasemonkey was right - it's a part of the fuel sending unit, which is over $500.00. I think that I'd be having other symptoms if there was an issue with the fuel sending unit, and filter. I really have reached my limit with how much I wanted to put into this car.

novae500

i'm in reston/loudoun. As for the fuel sending unit, w/the miles on the car, its probably time to replace it. Or consider if you fill the tank all the way up and later smell gas fumes in the back seat or standing outside near the rear doors. I had to pay out of pocket $900 for replacement of DS sending unit.

Could the white residue you see be dried coolant?

SavMan

You dont want to be at 14:7 under WOT, you will probably see low 11's or possible even 10's from a stock tune.

shardul

iTrader: (1)

no way 14.7 is too lean. you want to be at 11.8 at WOT

you can hook up a fuel pressure gauge to the fuel rail.

Jason08

I've checked the coolant level, and it hasn't changed. Is there another way to determine whether it's coolant?

I haven't smelled any gas coming from the vehicle.

Max.H

Welcome to the forum. A word of caution.... 14:7 is stoich, thats what you should be running at IDLE in a perfect world. If you're wondering if stoichiometric is safe to run through out your entire power band. I would strongly recommend you do some more research before modding your car. Engines failures on these cars are costly.

Crissus

That white stuff looks indeed like coolant. And judging by the rust inside your tailpipes, there is something wrong there.
Never saw Rust at any 55K engines tailpipes, rather black residues.