Me thinking you should have had a taste drive before buying any more cheep cars you mechanic is probably too embarrassed to take the money off you and not testing the engine first before doing anything else on the car it’s equivalent to taking the car apart and finding out it was only a blown fuse just because it’s a Mercedes, does not mean it’s gonna last longer than any other car on the road you just paying thousands more just for a badge
considoringthat new s class cost a house its still a bargain if you got budget of 15k and what luxury and comfort this merc would worth every penny spend
Yup! At the start when Matt said he could have a 4.5k-5k car after sorting it out, I immediately said a 5k bill would be more likely 🤣 - He knows.....but sometimes it's worth a gamble 🤭
i don't think they didn't charge you out of sympathy. it's the right thing. they never should have fixed all those small things before addressing the possibly terminal more expensive issue. they were at fault and regardless of sympathy they were morally obliged to not charge you in my opinion.
Honestly I agree. There was a clear issue with the engine lacking power at the start of the video. What were they doing with all the brakes first??? As if it was the only thing they know to do with such a car. Sort out its runability issues first before the wear and tear items
They know he has a youtube channel and can shame them, that is the only reason he was let off the bill. A normal Joe Soap would have had to pay before being given the keys to leave the garage with the car.
Totally agree! Cowboys. Go to an independent Benz garage. Those brake parts are proper cheap for Benz. Discs and pads are at least around £500 alone. Also you must use the right oil in those diesel Benz’s. You can’t go cheap with a Benz if you do you will pay at least double again, stay away from grease monkeys 😂
In 2012 I was about to grab a 2006 with many upgrades and a crazy low 1800 miles from new..it was £25000. Somebody was faster as I went home to get my wife to come back to look at it. It was sold…and I have often wondered how it fared. By now it would have been around 95000 miles but would have looked brand new with full MB Dealer service history…£4795 with luck?.Maybe a great escape! Would you like a one owner 2001 E55AMG that had full MB history and 96000 miles from new but bought for £500 around 10 years ago as it would not start and many men have struggled with it. The rain has eaten it and it does not move easily even towed but the interior is superb! Rule one…don’t buy big old Mercedes!!!😬😬🫣🫣🫣🫣
Seats, sunroof, alloys, air suspension, doors, boot, bonnet, infotainment system, cluster, interior trim, headlights, taillights, all of the modules, then still have engine/gearbox
Made a similar mistake 2 years ago. Bought it for £4.5k, spent £800 on work - it was then great for about 200 miles. It then let me down on the side of a smart motorway, at night - took 5 hours for the RAC to come. Found out it needed another £4k spending on it - turbo, those oil cooler gaskets, bunch of gearbox solenoids, break lines, to name but a few. I ended up selling it for parts for about £400. Lesson learnt - no such thing as a cheap S-Class!
With hindsight maybe the mechanics should have done an initial road test before spending money on the service and brakes. Would have saved you both time and expense. 👍
Feels strange that they didn't? Why would you go about changing out breaks when there is an engine light on and the owners says it's down on power? Better go change out the rear brakes!
" I don't want to end up massively overspending on this" ...That rings a bell 🤣 Manufacturers decided a few decades ago that longevity is not a profit-turner. Modern day cars should come with a 'Best Before' sticker. An oil leak from a top-end Mercedes engine was unthinkable a few decades past.. 18 years might sound a lot to millennials but as high-end cars go, it should be just a few heart-beats, it once was.
Save it! Go to Dronsfields in Radcliffe & you can get salvaged & reconditioned parts with a warranty. Once sorted with all the service of work done, history, you'll have a good £5k - £6k car ready for another decade on the road
@gabrielstoica2591 If the car was properly sorted, I would. I've been a Mercedes man for 26 years, & when properly looked after, these cars are sorted. But just like any other car, if neglected, you get issues. There's not a 18 year old car on the planet that doesn't require maintenance & a bit of TLC. We're always too ready to ditch things showing a bit of wear & tear, when a few quid can keep them going & help reduce needless waste. This car needs saving mate.
@@JustAnthonyX it really doesn't need saving. You would spend a few grand sorting it out, only for it to start going wrong again a year later. If you are going to spend a fortune running a car, it needs to make your heat beat faster or something, a 2006 diesel merc, however luxurious, doesn't do that.
I'll watch this later tonight when I get some peace and quiet....Yep, watched it, good video, and wasn't surprised at the outcome...Some cars are less of a risk to rescue, others not so much..
Engine lack of power is a common fault on the v6.you can overcome it for 40 pence fix.its the swirlflap motor.puting it in limp mode.you can overcome it with a 4kohm resitor in the plug.takes no more then 30 mins.and will take off engine light and resume full power.
Matt, oil leak, coming from the turbo intake, will track along the loom into ECU. Can be cleaned if your lucky, that coil light, will be the same issue, oil leaking onto the swirl flap motor. Used to have the same issue with Jeep Grand Cherokees
Matt I love it when you venture into S Class Mercedes always gets me thinking 🤔 which troubles my wallet. 😉always enjoy your videos. OG follower from NZ & UK since your first video 👌nice Monday surprise video 👍🙏
He probably does. If he's a regular business customer thats constantly bringing in cars, he probably spends a fortune with them. So I imagine a grand of labour isn't too painful for them. Especially as business customers are normally the best customers to have as they are far less hassle generally. I imagine he has quite a good relationship with them.
Pity Car Vertical doesn’t check your cars out before you buy them. Never spend money on servicing until all faults and dash lights are fixed. Probably a good idea to avoid the first year of manufacture with Mercedes, this model has well documented gearbox issues that were fixed from 2007.
I was once given the previous S Class to drive for a wedding and within 24h it came up with several warning lights of things that have failed in the 24h it was in my hands. So glad it was not mine and I didn't have to deal with it!
These barges are tempting - but they're an order of magnitude more complex and risky than the E-Classes or Volvo S80s of the world. Thanks for sharing the less than fortunate outcomes, too!
This S class is in very good condition for its age, it is such a pity that it has so many faults and issues. Great advice Matt, there are many tempting, aging , luxury cars out there, which had eye watering price tags when new, 15 to 20 years on, now within reach of the budget car buyer. It’s worth remembering though, just because the car is now cheap, the parts prices are still premium.
Gutted for you matt, know you like saving these older motors but me thinks that this was 1 too far, kudos mate, you're a proper car guy, by the way absolutely love the channel and keep going with the Sterling work you do
I remember the days when I thought I wanted a used Mercedes on a citroen budget. so so pleased it never happened. In fact I bought a Citroen and never looked back services, faultless MOTs and tyres all it's ever needed
What mechanic lets you off a bill of £1016 ? Just WOW !... I have never ever heard of such a thing from any tradesman. Matt, to say you have a very great mechanic is such an understatement ! I think you should give the Merc to your mechanic, so he can fix it in his own time and sell it on and recoup some of his expenditure.
Bearing in mind the sheer volume of work Matt puts their way, (and the fact they missed the main problem while doing all the bits and pieces) it's just the cost of doing business sometimes - especially when most of it is labour. It's not an uncommon approach when a garage fails to sort a car for a regular and trusted customer.
They know he has a youtube channel and can shame them, that is the only reason he was let off the bill. A normal Joe Soap would have had to pay before being given the keys to leave the garage with the car with zero chance of getting the money back.
@@AminaAmina-xq4bb No, the mechanic missed the main fault. I don't think they could present a bill for servicing a car like that and expect to be paid. If it went to court, the judge would say that the service work had been negligent - engine still in limp home mode...a christmas tree of warning lights each time the car is started. That's not a service. I have no idea why the mechanic missed those things or dealt with things in the wrong order.
If you decide to keep it, you should cover it up to protect it from weather. Or you could sell it for parts. Seats and the rest of the interior looks good. Wheels, even in that state, look nice.
You're a big boy Matt and you fully knew the riskiness of such a purchase however, you're a fab content creator and gave us another entertaining video. Bravo to you and your mechanic, who was probably upset that she gave you the car back still faulty. Onwards and upwards.
Common problem with these. Good engine, cheap sensors! Oil leaks from the sensors and sometimes from the injector loom, travels up the wire by fluid convection and gets into the ecu main plug. You can tell which sensor by puling the connector. New loom to the ecu and clean the female end of the plug in the ecu carefully. You might want to open it up and check the board for contamination. Mine took 2 cleans after the new loom but itran fine after.
Hi 😊 Matt, my wife purchased a c class for £3000 it's a 2005 reg runs fantastic. My daughter has a 2005 reg c180 magnificent condition. If you get a good Mercedes for good money 😊 it will last for ever. That S class could be lovely 😊
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I feel your pain mate, as a fellow retiree, I'd suggest you look into passive index fund investing and learn some more. For me, I had my share of ups and downs when I first started looking for a consistent passive income so I hired an expert advisor for aid, and following her advice, I poured $30k in value stocks and digital assets, Up to 200k so far and pretty sure I'm ready for whatever comes.
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You don't necessarily need to replace the whole wiring loom. There is a kit to sort this stuff out. I have a couple of videos, in German, in which they solve this kind of issue. I'll something around
I had one of those S500 2008, best car i ever had when it worked properly. Yet the most expensive to run as well. On some days i feel bad that i sold it, on the other days i think i did the right thing as it was too much to handle for a daily driver. I had to replace one abs sensor up front as well. And 2 starters, and some wiring and all of the brakes... bought it for 14500e, sold it for 8500e after a year and a half, spending some 5000 on it in maintenance alone, road taxes, petrol excluded. But hey, what a car!
My neighbour in Chelsea has run one of these for years and i can’t remember it being serviced. Always seems okay she picks me up from the pub frequency.
About 18 months ago I bought a 2010 S Class with 135000 miles. So far not too many problems, it was a Merc company car so fingers crossed and hoping for the best. I think only 1 previous owner, that helps (Merc) If it needs over a Grand to mend something I will sell it for parts.
With a 2010 model you should be good and it being a Mercedes company car those are well taken care off since they were with Mercedes, so I shall assume that maintenance were at official Mercedes Mechanic's with OEM Parts, so you should be good.
Good morning Matt. A friend of mine here says you make 10 decisions and one of those is wrong. If you stopped after that bad one it might have been the 3rd of 10 and you miss out on the next 7 good ones. It takes courage to keep going and making those next decisions, I'm sure you will.
Matt take it to your merc specialist. S class has to be plugged into star diagnostic or you will fail to do a proper fix of pretty much anything on it……speaking from experience. My dad is on his second the first was a ‘bargain’ high mileage full service history good condition one bought for 2750 that after 11 months no issues got a gearbox fault intermittently occurring after 900 spent at one garage and a further 700 at two more (and them estimateing the fault would likely be around 6-7.5k since the work already done was the last of the simple things) over the next few months the problem became more frequent and less easily reset now needed a period of time switched off before it cleared we sold it to Partco for 1750 collected from our house then he selected the new one an really low mileage amg 350 lwb it is nice and the previous owner pointed out the old one being sold for 4.5k and knew the garage selling it and it was one oil seal and a couple of sensors and some plugs replaced in the loom but it was easy enough fix. Then the amg needed a abs cable for mot garage done it didn’t use star and ended up doing the 4 and still not clearing the fault took it to merc specialist put the original 4 bk on and plugged it in job done……moral of the story is s class needs star diagnostic!!!!
Love how heated seats and a reverse camera are highlighted as things that stop this being a base spec S class... These are luxury cars, even in 2006 these should have been essentials
Heated seats were standard on the 221, I think reversing cam as well. Most of them are prestige plus trim adding ventilated seats, adaptive cruise and other goodies.
Were the W140 era S class models less worry ? I recall one that belonged to a Hong Kong dignitary for sale on Ebay several years ago that had low mileage and looked immaculate. They certainly had an air of something built a lot better.
Those cars were amazingly well built. Every knob, every switch, every trim looks and feels like it was built to last 100 years. Engineering quality like that is long gone.
@@stephenlester7286 The only thing I don't like with R129 SL's is the hydraulically operated roof. A real hassle if they leak fluid. Barring that, they're fantastic cars.
I picked one up for a friend a few years ago,with very low mileage,in exc condition all round. Drove it about 250miles and found it boring. My much older xjr was a far superior car in handling and performance and unlike the S class the gearbox did'nt pack in after a year! Congratulations for your honesty on this review
Easy to fix. You get your mechanic to solve the basic, sothat it does not explode on the road, you drive slowly to any eastern eu country, like estonia latvia bulgaria even poland, there you can get it completely fixed and in top condition for half price, then take a week for a vacation in that same land, its'cheap and tasty. after its fixed put it on sale online while you drive back :))) that's how it's mostly done.
Loss of power in a Merc can mean the intercooler(s) failed or are blocked, and the ECU automatically goes to a form of "limp-home" mode that disengages the turbos to avoid overheating.
Another quality German car with their reputation for reliable engineering!! I'll stick with my most reliable car ever and I've had a lot, oh and by the way it's French. I know you've got your fingers burnt but it made a good video keep the good work Matt
Yep, my current Merc is affectionately nicknamed "the money pit" it replaced the previous eclass money pit, that replaced the BMW really deep money pit. Love German engineering ( when it works as intended ) lol
I suspect that for that price, it has quite a number of major issues. I doubt you'd be able to find a clean, reliable W221 S Class for that price anywhere.
Anything of this era onwards is very complex in order to meet emissions targets yet still be driveable. A lot of valves, actuators, numerous sensors all with a finite life. Stuff 10 years older will probably last longer so long as it hasnt got serious rust.
I've been running around in a newish Q7 recently - astonishing piece of engineering but I'd not want an old one, the sheer amount of stuff to break is dizzying and Audi want over a grand just to sort a broken knob on the rear climate controls.
I'm guessing the thing on the front seat is the turbo that's gone. If I bought a car which I never will as I can't drive but if I did I would have had a meltdown.
This was a really insightful video as I have always eyed up a W221 considering how cheap you can get them. I guess this demonstrates there's no such thing as a cheap luxury car as you'll end up spending the premium one way or another.
Great video Matt - as with all you do thanks for your honesty and open approach. I'm no mechanic or car sales person but I do have 4 older Mercedes that I run and therefore really enjoy what you do. I think your summing up is spot on don't buy a cheap one and they can be expensive to fix................ but they can be rewarding, they look good can be great to drive and if you spend a little more £4k or so and get 2 years out of it then thats great value motoring at the same cost as 2 months depreciation for a flash EV! I think your instinct is right there's a good car in there, I think it deserves another round of looking at? The interior looked good. the outside was fair but as identified needed some minor work. You mention warning lights were coming up, ABS and ESP were shown, and then the engine light, but apart from the sluggish running it did feel solid to you when you gave it a short drive. The work done for £1000 service, battery, oil, brakes and sensor is stuff you would have expected (having said that it passed an MOT in late 2023), but maybe not the corroded back plates. I have an ML 2005 with the 3.0 turbo diesel - I've had the lack of power issue - as you said, it turned out to be the turbo actuator - it was £250 for a refubished one to be supplied and fitted - straight back to normal after that - so worth a look? (I can't remember if this fault lit the engine fault light, if not then the other favourite is the camshaft position sensor circa £150) I've also had ABS sensors replaced
I had an an E46 touring where coolant leaked through the sensor on the block and made its way through the wiring loom into the ECU. The connectors all corroded and I needed a new ECU for £1000. 6 months later it started running badly again and the same thing had started happening. My local BMW specialist wanted to fit another new ECU and had never heard of this issue. I only learned of it through internet research after all the problems.
The oil in the wireing thing is a know problem to many models, sadly. Most often an easy fix but if the mechanic doesn't know what he/she does it'll end with a massive bill
Sounds like it'd be a good one for a Merc breakers to take off your hands. Plenty of useable parts still, unless the wiring loom problems have actually damaged the electronics of individual components.
Its really interesting,. I had this issue before too, oil was leaking down the cam sensors, in a w211 e200, this lead to serious problems, or at least could have, I adjusted the loom in such a way that leaking oil needed to fight gravity to make it any further, seems to have worked, no issues 5 years on.