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After many years of hunting, I’ve located “the one”. Been lurking here for years learning from the conversations and all your discussions have really helped.
Meet the Speed Sled. A two owner 2005 E55 with 149K miles. It’s been in Nevada and California its entire life, and its new home will be in Southern California – south Orange County. Its new role will be a Friday/Weekend car. Plenty of rubber will be embedded on PCH.
It is 100% stock (yay!). The prior owner had all service records since it was new (even the original window sticker). Driving it home after purchasing it was A BLAST! In its stock form (which I plan on retaining) the acceleration is just BONKERS! How in the hell is this thing even legal??? I love it!!!
It has two minor issues which I’m going to be diving right into:
The driver’s side Keyless-Go door handle doesn’t work. Won’t unlock. The options are to get a used one from a wrecked car off of eBay or a new one from mbdirectparts.com. ***FIXED*** See post #12
The passenger seat occupancy sensor thinks someone is in the seat all the time. Have to drive around with the passenger seat belt fastened even when there’s nobody there to keep the seatbelt chime form constantly blaring. ***FIXED*** See post #46 I’ve got these silly little faux buckles for now until I can figure out the seat sensor(s) issue.
The only thing ‘missing’ (that I know of) is the automatic rear sunshade. I’ll get to that at some point, gotta figure out how much of it is there/missing and start parts chasing. ***FIXED*** See post #52
Mechanically, it seems to be solid. For now, I've got to get it smogged (thanks California), re-titled, registered, insured, bla bla, bla. I'll be driving it in a couple of weeks.
Much more to come!
Last edited by MetalE55; 05-28-2022 at 11:11 PM.
Reason: Fixed another thing
Congrats on the car. Keyless go handles are very common and can be changed very easily. Make sure to get one already painted and I would probably buy new because used ones are prone to fail as it’s a very common problem
Door handle is on the way. My local Mercedes dealer got within $20 of a price match MBDirectparts.com so I'll buy it locally. Won't hurt to get to know the parts counter guys at my local dealer anyway.
While I'm waiting for it to arrive, I plugged in my scanner (I've got a Foxwell NT644Elite Series scanner that I use for my GMC truck. I'll see how it does with the E55...it'll probably be limited).
I pulled a bunch of trouble codes. Since everything seems to work except my drivers door handle and the passenger seat occupancy sensor, I'm going to try to clear them all and see what comes back.
Here's what was reported:
ESA driver-Electric seat adjustment driver (with memory)
9063 No normalizing of head Stored(Event)
9203 Hall sensor of component M27m4 (Head restraint raise/lower motor) is faulty. Stored
DCM-RL-Door control module rear left
9207 S21/3 (Left rear power window switch):The switch lighting has a short circuit. Stored
TLC-Trunk lid control
9011 The supply voltage of the control unit is too high (overvoltage). (If no customer complaint exists, the fault can be erased.) Stored(Event)
9403 Relay 'Close trunk lid' remains in the switched state (contact sticks). If no customer complaint exists, the fault can be erased.
NAVI-Navigation system
D302 The cable to the GPS antenna has a short circuit. Stored
TELE AID-Control unit
D611 Component GPS antenna is faulty or the lead has open circuit. Stored
D612 Component GPS antenna or the lead has short circuit. Stored
D614 An incompatibility between GPS position and the position determined through the wheel sensors has occurred. Stored
D631 Component CTEL antenna or the lead has short circuit. Stored
D632 Component TELE AID spare antenna is faulty or the lead has open circuit. Stored
None of these things seem like show stoppers to me. Funny thing is, I don't see any mention of passenger seat occupancy sensor (not sure what the exact problem is with the seat yet, but there's definitely something wrong). Anyway, I'll clear all and drive it for a while and report back what pops up again. Wish me luck!
Last edited by MetalE55; 09-14-2021 at 02:44 PM.
Reason: Spelling is hard
Fresh drivers side pre-painted Keyless-Go door handle from my local dealer.
Ready to get-it-on!
Cross your fingers that the Keyless-Go functions work after installation. All the other door handles work fine, and it's a REALLY cool feature when things are working properly.
Ask your local dealer if they have a parts website. Mine did and I can order at internet prices and pickup locally and this usually beats any other price with shipping.
Hi kevm14...that's a good tip. I'll do that. I imagine that they don't since I'd assume they'd link something like that off of their website (all they have is a "request parts" portal and they email you back...one part at a time), but it definitely doesn't hurt to ask.
Yesterday, I re-connected my code scanner and told it to clear all codes. They all got cleared except for: System diagnosis(CAN)
930E Synchronization of the DTC memory cannot be ensured. Stored&Current
And these which were there before: TELE AID-Control unit
D611 Component GPS antenna is faulty or the lead has open circuit. Stored
D612 Component GPS antenna or the lead has short circuit. Stored
D614 An incompatibility between GPS position and the position determined through the wheel sensors has occurred. Stored
D631 Component CTEL antenna or the lead has short circuit. Stored
D632 Component TELE AID spare antenna is faulty or the lead has open circuit. Stored
Not too worried about any of these at the moment. I'll drive it around this weekend and see if any of the previous stuff that came up in my prior scan comes back.
Last edited by MetalE55; 09-18-2021 at 09:43 AM.
Reason: Spelling
Actually I think they intentionally don't advertise it. I just checked the dealer website and you can actually order parts but it doesn't direct to the site I was given, and the prices are higher.
But it goes to show that all these "random Mercedes parts websites" are just dealer websites trying to add revenue by extending to internet sales. The parts lady only told me because I was trying to get them to match an internet price (they were charging list). So when I checked, they actually BEAT the internet price from a dealer I was using in NY, but no shipping and I had it same day since they had it in stock. I was pretty pleased with this discovery.
Wow....OK. That's pretty awesome kevm14. I definitely haven't bought my last part, so I'm going to investigate this further.
On that note, getting some coffee, then going to tackle this Keyless-Go door handle install.
The drivers door handle install started off fine, then turned into a rabbit hole that ate the entire day. I very carefully removed the existing door handle and replaced it with my brand new one I got from the dealer. No dice. still no Keyless-Go functionality. neither button worked. Even on my new part. So, back apart it came. New handle acting the same as the old handle? It's not the handle.
Then I started to realize I had a bigger problem here. I noticed that the forward most hole where the door handle attaches to the car has a female side plug that accepts the wires coming off of the handle. This plug was just loose inside the door and not attached to anything. I wasn't sure if that was OK or not, then I realized that when I bought the car a couple of weeks ago, the prior owner said the drivers window had just recently started making a clunk noise when rolling it down and he didn't know what it was..
I think I know now.
Searching this forum brought me to a thread where someone mentioned the plug sits in a little clip that pivots inside the door. Mine wasn't like that. I didn't really want to, but the door panel needs to come off. If you've taken the door panel off on one of these cars, you'll know you can't access the area directly behind the door handle since there's sheet metal covering it. So you've gotta get on the floor and look up.
Then I saw it. My loose plug with a CUT WIRE!
But it's so tight there is absolutely no way I can fix it. This bracket has to come out.
At least it was a clean cut :/
So a little solder, heatshrink and electrical tape to keep these wires together and out of the way of the window that guillotined one of them. I clipped the plug back into its "perch" and it all seemed to be A-OK. Checked wires for continuity and both checked out good. There's no way I'd have been able to do any of this work while the bracket was still installed in the door.
Now to fish it back into the door where it belongs. Putting it back together was also challenging, but eventually it all fit back together. I could not imagine how much a mechanic or a dealer would have charged for this work.
Re-installed the new exterior door handle and test fit the door panel so I could plug in all of the connections to get power to all the control units in the door. There's like 6 different connections from the panel to the door and I wanted to be sure I could still operate the window and not hear a clunk. That worked, window up and down...no more clunk. So I closed the door, locked it. and grabbed the handle...
KEYLESS-GO! Yeah! It works!
So now I've got a spare handle since there was probably nothing wrong with my original one. No biggie.
I'm taking Sunday off
'06 MB S55 AMG; '04 Audi Allroad 4.2; '05 BMW M3 Conv.; '92 MB 500E
Looks like you got a good one… she’ll clean up great… the Tele-Aid problem is likely a fuse… you will see people code it out (Tele-Aid) and replace head units these days, so you can cross that bridge when you get to it.
Nice job. If it makes you feel any better, I ran into a dumb problem that I caused on my road trip in July. I had just replaced the right rear door latch assembly because of an inability to open the door from the inside. So I got that done before the road trip. On vacation, I rolled down the right rear window all the way down for the first time since that repair. The window stopped before the bottom and then sort of violently went lower. I got worried that the regulator just ate itself. Nope. Window rolled up fine. I didn't touch it for the rest of the trip but later that day I realized the right rear keyless go buttons had stopped working. When I got home I realized what I had done. I accidently routed the harness for the handle behind the door frame and not with the bundle of wires where it was supposed to go. So the window simply caught the wires and ripped the plug right out of the door module. Lucky for me I was able to glue the locking tab back on, route the harness properly and plug it back in. Everything was fine, lucky for me.
Does any one else's E55 "chirp" like this? Is this some kind of stock supercharger pulley magnetic engagement/disengagement? I've searched around a little bit for an answer, and it seems that others have mentioned the pulley doing whatever it does with engaging/disengaging (not sure which) makes a chirp. But since I've never had an E55 before...is this the sound?
You've gotta listen really closely. It happens shortly after we get going.
One of the things that drew me to this particular E55 was how clean it was overall, especially the interior. For having nearly 150K on the odometer, the seats are in what I’d consider pretty fantastic condition. I saw many examples while hunting for an E55 that had the typical wear on the bolster and plenty of cracks in the perforated part of the leather.
Today, I’m going to try to keep them nice.
Before picture of the passenger seat. Spoiler…the after will look very similar since its already in such great shape.
The tools (this leather conditioner smells JUST like MB factory leather).
Even though the seat looked really clean beforehand, this gross stuff was all over the white towel I used after scrubbing it with the leather cleaner.
Passenger seat after conditioning.
Drivers seat. I can see some creases starting to appear in the bottom of the seat, but hopefully keeping them conditioned will help prevent actual cracks from forming.
Fun and easy!
Does anyone know if the rear seats in the E55 are actual leather like the fronts? They feel very similar, but they may be the MB-Tex faux leather…hard to tell.
Right-on...thanks Fountain35 for the confirmation on my chirp. I had a feeling it was normal, but since this is my first E55, I'm treading lightly here at first.
Now, I've got some rear seats to clean/condition!
Congrats. Beautiful car. Where in South OC are you? If you see a silver E55 on dark grey SL65-style (I forget the proper name) wheels in the RSM/Coto de Caza, that's my old car. My dad bought it off me and is now doing performance and restoration of little issues.
Here' a build log to keep track of some of the highlights so far. I bought this car as my “fun” car (not a daily driver). This is the first car I have ever purchased that was for fun rather than utility. Even though I only live a few miles from work it has made such a difference being able to “enjoy” the drive to and from. I’ve had this car since September 2021 and been loving every minute of it.
2021 September
Replaced driver's door handle (already detailed above).
December
Fixed separating sun visors by disassembling them, cleaning/lubricating them, and re-gluing them using Gorilla Glue "White Glue"
Added a Bluetooth receiver so I can stream Spotify from my phone (the Mercedes stereo isn't the best and there's no satellite radio...but this car isn't about the stereo ). Connected a TUNAI Firefly LDAC Bluetooth receiver to the AUX input located in the glovebox. Tapped into the brown wire for the cigarette lighter below the stereo/CD changer for switched 12v power feeding a 12v to 5v hardwired step down converter with dual USB output.
The new cowl looks great. I've got the same issue on both my 211s. If it's not too much trouble, do you have a part number by any chance? I poked around an online parts fiche but was unsuccessful.
Thanks
09-11-2021, 03:13 AM
