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Those saying I should have returned it to the guy: The process of waiting on Mercedes, the 2nd Mercedes guy and then convincing James to do it followed by waiting for a suitable time to start work on it was months. Then only after a lot of work was done did I bother to do the car wash, then I was washed with sadness for the true realisation of the water damage.
oh yeah mate, you should be able to get an exhaust for it that makes it sound at least as good as ole jeffy, those german V8s can sound proper incredible. oh, and btw, you might want to go to some windshield shop to reseal it anyways if you haven't yet, should it happen to rain on a trip in the german luxury kayak
I wouldn’t eat this cost, man. A Mercedes with electrical and water damage issues that was sold under false pretences is not worth it. The cost, time and frustration will be 100x worse than you think it will be. I had a late 2000’s BMW with a similar issue (and bought it for the same reasons you bought this… funny enough). I wanted a refined, get-in-and-go German reliable machine… and I got thousands of dollars of electrical gremlins to sort out. They treated you poorly at the dealership. Don’t let them get away with it. Love ya bud!!
Stat warranty in SA only applies to cars under 15 years old and 200,000km. I don’t think this one qualifies on the age front, pre-facelift CLS ended production in early 2008.
A licensed motor car trader must provide a statutory warranty if the car: is less than 10 years old, and has travelled less than 160,000 kilometres. unlucky cuz
Limitations don't apply to roadworthiness. Flooding in the cabin during rain and malfunctioning dash lights would have made the car not roadworthy at the time of sale. Those issues must be fixed by a dealer regardless of cost.
-mid 2000s German car - questionable history -lots of mechanical and cosmetic issues -man also has his own "nugget" fleet with each "nugget" having their own nooks and crannies I am all for it for this channel to become what is basically the Aussie equivalent of Hoovie's Garage, keep up the nugget content mate
@@anusername8350Very accurate way to describe them, especially pre-owned. I have a pre-owned GLB200 from 2020. Just 2020, so surely it's got a few years left in it at least. Well, it was already showing red flags. Most notably, tyre pressure. And boy, I was forced to get some new tyres. And some will say it's just tyre problems, nothing much. Mate, that problem alone took a solid few months to deal with.😅
For James to just say "no" is a foreign concept. Through all the memes, James has been up to work on whatever you give him. For James to refuse something means it's truly something awful
Not really, he's just an actual mechanic, no mechanic wants to go home after work only to have to work on the same shit again when they get back The nuggets are something different and a hobby, but he works on modern cars all day
James needs to investigate the injured Mercedes mechanic. Some one - or some THINGS - will stop at nothing until James alone has to work on all the European cars in Australia.
@@Arum638 Having worked with german cars, I completely understand his frustration. Add in some water damage which is ALWAYS FUN to diagnose. I understand.
I always wanted an 80s SEL because they were only a few grand up until recently. No idea what it would have cost to keep running, but with such a low entry cost it doesn't really matter. Now the decent ones are expensive, and still have that risk of needing a lot of money, so that dream is dead.
@@AfferbeckBeats actually the 80's Mercedes are quite reliable. Back then Mercedes was independent and over engineered their vehicles. 90's and 2000's especially was all s**t because of cost cutting and eventual Chrysler merger. Feel free to research all of this but you on the right path mate.
@@AfferbeckBeats It depends on the difficulty of finding parts, and well, thanks to the response to COVID some used cars go for new prices. So... yeah, hard to really gamble now. Like the Dank man says, "it depends on how many people are willing to help keep these nuggets alive"
You can't set the clock because the clock was set on the original headunit. Pro tip: disconnect the battery and connect it at 12am or 12pm. The clock will default to that time
I can absolutely relate to that feeling of something being perfectly great until it suddenly isn't anymore. Then you look at it completely differently for the rest of the time you own it and there's always a little bit of lingering doubt.
We saw this alot at the tech shop i used to work at, we called it "losing faith". It would happen alot to people when theres multiple things wrong with there device even if the repair cost was way less than the cost of the machine people would still lose faith and buy a new machine.
This is how I feel about my first car I'm driving as of this year. Previous owner said it was fine and just had some bumper damage. Like hell it does. I had to splice in new connectors for the spark plugs. The actual PLUGS that go onto the coils were broken. Not the spark plugs, the plugs that go on the things holding them. I could write a wall of text of the issues with my car found by either me or what others have noticed on it. The short of it is that this thing's not been taken care of and has signs of being worked on by a crooked mechanic because of things like the rear headlights' brackets holding them in place are broken. They didn't slot them in, they just put them onto the slot and then bolted it it. It's like if you put a drawer into a cabinet by slamming it in diagonally. Silver lining? I'm getting a nose for sniffing out these issues. I'm figuring out what's wrong with my car just on how it runs or the way things look on it.
@@JossRickardnot the cars fault it was owned by brainlets... It was a repo car... That explains everything. I've owned a repo car before and doesnt matter what brand and what model they tend to be absolutely ruined no matter what. All my friends own used mercs, audis and bmws, i myself own a b6 passat and interestingly none of us have any issues like this... Mine is on 370k kms... Gearbox shifts perfectly, engine runs like a dream, everything works... Its almost like taking care of them will make them last 🙄
@@waifuracer6516 this era of Mercedes are junk. Even on the Top Gear episode it was on, the headlights were broken, on a brand new, press vehicle. This model in particular had caused me a ton of grief, trying to keep them on the road.
Professional mechanic here, I feel James' pain on this one. We always tell out friends not to buy that tempting piece of good looking euro trash because htis is so often what it turns into lol. And then WE get stuck trying to sort it out. But hey, another nugget for the horde!
And its a 00's Merc, probably the worst of the trash of that period, when Merc decided that making reliable cars was too expensive and not profitable, so you went from cars that were nuclear in relability, to being heaps of junk that you could put at an equivalent level of reliability to a french car, but with none of the cheap level of parts, and nonsense stuff like SBC
@@MysteriousFigure To be fair SBC isn't much different than the integrated ABS units found in modern cars today. They recalled all of the sbc cars as well and will replace any parts related to it for 25 years after date of manufacture of an afflicted car for free. My 05 with 130,000 miles didn't need an SBC pump until last month. 18 years seems like a good run to me for an original part. M112s, M113s, and 722.6 transmissions from this era are also near bulletproof.
You would hate to hear my roster of soon-to-be attainable dream nuggets: -01 Saab 9-5 Wagon -84-86 N/A 300ZX 2+2 -E30 325ix sedan -5th Gen El Camino And on top of that, I've been eyeing an 8-series pretty much all of my life, and that 20k value will be quite within my reach. At least I have the common sense to idolize the V8 840ci and not the V12...
Hi Wade, I can’t even begin to express how sorry I feel about you buying this lemon and as a benz enthusiast, I would like to share a couple of observations. First of all, I am afraid that the car might have been rolled at one time, as front windshield leaks don’t usually happen without a reason, at the very least the car must have sustained some sort of roof damage (hail?, hard to say really) and since moisture must have been leaking inside of it, there is a pretty likely chance that mold has formed pretty much everywhere (a common place for it is the seat foam under the upholstery and, of course the sound deadening). Secondly, you should definitely look into replacing the balance shaft and idler sprocket as those parts are a common failure point on the m272/m273 engines and can lead to major engine damage. Furthermore, I would definitely check the underside of the car, behind the cover panels especially as the w211 platform cars, of which the cls is a close relative have been known to have rust problems in those spots (less likely to happen in australia, but worth checking nonetheless, considering the fact the the car has been on a forklift and could have sustained some damage there. Lastly, I would definitely consider a visit to a MB dealership as they do make their service records available to the public upon request, and are able to read more of the stored computer information hidden in the cars computers. Also, I would definitely look into returning the car to the dealership who had sold it as this seems like an open and shut lemon law case, and wouldn’t bother keeping the car as its resale value will probably be quite low, considering the damage to it, and the potential cost needed to bring it back to a respectful state. Here’s hoping you can find a way to get rid of this piece without it being a burden to you. Cheers
Oh, and also a minor nitpick; the rims are based on a Brabus design, not amg. But since they appear to be fakes (and also the rear ones seem to be too narrow, as the originals would be wider at the rear axle) I would advise throwing them out and putting some used OEM alloys on it (less blingy maybe, but definitely less likely to bend and snap after hitting a pot hole).
I'm wondering if a bad repo, or the fork lift tweeked the frame causing the windshield to misalign. Then it probably sat in the repo lot with a bad windshield seal for months slowly causing more and more water damage
he's rocking a M273, that doesn't have a balance shaft. The idler sprocket is of concern, but that isn't nowhere as bad as a balance shaft (source: I own a 2005 SLK 350)
I occasionally do vendor work on a used car lot that specializes in older luxury vehicles. It’s incredible how few are in good condition. Destroyed upholstery, ground up wheels(or mismatched ones), and ridiculous mods done by previous owners are super common.
Headsup: the car lowering when parked (and hissing out) means that the airbags in the air suspension have a leak. don't delay too much on changing em out, otherwise you will burn up the compressor from overuse.
I had a car salesman who told me the car being sold was perfect, despite my mechanic listing a few issues. The salesman said “If you won’t buy it, I’ll find someone else who will for more!”
Depending on what the issues were and if they were bad enough I would of said “Good they can take this POS off of you and you can scam the shit out of them”
Oh man this sucks!! We do pre purchase inspections in our workshop and although we have informed customers not to purchase vehicles based on what we find, we've never seen one that bad! Hit me up for a free one next time as I'm in Adelaide 👍
you could try your case with your local ombudsmen, despite being out of the statutory warranty period if you had one...they might justify it still being valid due to how messed up the car actually is
@@themuffincatwould be easier if it was a proper old merc, I've got some experience on that poor bastard's fat cousin (the 2nd gen mercedes ML, one of the diesel V6s) and it can be quite annoying to work on at times, and just a damper (it had electronically adaptive dampers and air suspension mind you) would set you back the same as a new set of dampers and suspension arms for a normal car
Given it's water damage that's the biggest concern, and given how many electronics are in that thing, I'd be thinking it wouldn't so much be an adventure as an exercise in emptying your bank account every month for the rest of your life.
As a Mercedes mechanic and the owner of an even more notorious SuperNugget (an S55 amg), I wish you the best of luck! I’m probably not the first person to say it but the engine counterbalance shafts are a major timebomb on the early m273 (mostly 07/08, you can actually find out if yours is affected based on the engine #). The transmission debris is worrying as those 722.9 transmissions are very stout and reliable. As far as the water damage goes, you definitely want to get the interior apart ASAP to see the extent of the mold/corrosion and to start drying everything. Of course if you get everything sorted out a CLS with that drivetrain is a serious machine! Really too bad so many were abused like this one 😢 PS James I feel for you, nothing worse than working on a turd of someone else’s making.
Second this, when looked after. These cars are crazy reliable. But unfortunately, to many people abuse and don't service their cars. then claim their trashed because its having issues at 120k while never having an oil change in it's life. The 7G tronic transmission are generally bomb proof. Almost as good as the 5G tronic that preceded it. and yeah, the balance shaft is an issue. Same goes for the V6's.
I have 2011 E550 and used to be an MB mechanic, but I 100% agree good sir with the M273 paried with the 722 transmission, it's beast if maintained. truely love this engine with the sound on top of that in addition to the W212 looks.
I will agree. The 9G in my W213 E class is absolute buttery smooth. Seamless shifts, but If you put it in Sports+. she can shift hard when you want that fun! Crazy that to get in 9th gear, I have to be doing 125kmh, and I'll be doing just over 1300rpm at that speed too...@@Nuggeteer-iq4oj
My 2006 Mercedes CLS is my pride and joy. It makes me sad watching this video with how much abuse this one as gone through. Truly an epic car that deserves to be fixed up and treated better! If you fix this up, you truly have a beast!
And thus did we come to the first recorded case of a car dealership being the subject of an arson attack... with the ignition source being a 4th gen iPod nano with an expanded battery, 24hrs after a warning note reading "THE NUGGET IS ARMED" was delivered sharpied onto a roadmap-style manual for Chinese electronics.
_So like mate there was this time when i bought a used Mercedes mate, like proper luxury mate, i saw the price it was 19.995 and i was like yeah I'll sell the house for it cause this is better than my house anyway, so like i got it and once i got it id had like a thousand problems mate, i talked to the owner mate and he was like "nah the car's fine" so in the night i took an old iPod mate with like a spicy pillow of a battery on it and a device set to puncture it mate, i left it next to his office and drove off to just enough so i can safely see the spectacle mate, and it was glorious mate, anyway good this thing has a 5.5 v8 mate cause I'm running from the cops mate, absolutely amazing mate, i have no house to go to though. Can i have 50k?_
It really depends, you absolutely have to do your research on the vehicle because there's a good chance the salesman knows bugger all about cars and is just trying to shovel units, or they know everything about it and just want it gone for any price
@@InvisibleSquids That and I’d suggest a pre purchase inspection if you’re buying an expensive car. Obviously if you’re picking up a 5k car it’s not going to be perfect, go wild. But a PPI on a big purchase is something I always suggest to my customers. If a dealer is confident in their unit, they won’t have any issue with you having it inspected
It all depends. My dad was a mechanic and he would never sell a car like this for 20k. My uncle, on the other hand, would totally sell a car like this for 20k. He's a lot richer than my dad is.
That’s rotten luck, that is. And those 0-100 numbers on Jeff are obscenely bad. I had a 1990 Volvo 740GL that would put up a time of 9.5 seconds with a naturally aspirated inline 4 cylinder with a 4-speed automatic transmission. And that thing was built like a goddamn tank!
I did the exact same thing recently, picked up a 550i twin turbo V8. Check engine light came on during the drive home 💀 luckily I have BMW's workshop tools on my laptop (ISTA+) and I was able to see it was just a pre-cat O2 sensor. Generic OBD II scanner said it was the post-cat sensor. You *REALLY* need the workshop tools for these complex European cars, otherwise you'll be chasing faults endlessly.
Ya know, having worked on a few Mercs for the past two decades and even gutted two of them to exchange parts, I gotta say: You have bought a challenge, not a mistake. The price was definitely way too high though. Get the gearbox back in order and check for known major engine issues of your specific engine, see if you are affected. If these two components are fine, the rest is mostly parts and quite a lot of fiddly work, but nothing impossible to solve. Even the fiber optics aren't too bad to replace and most likely still there. If you can't find used parts, you will be surprised that quite a lot of OEM parts are still available at the dealer and some of them (most plastics) are often cheaper than used parts.
I love how even though he dropped some legit money on this thing, and it seemed to be a decent deal and not a bad looker, especially by this channel’s standards…it’s still an absolute colossal nugget like the rest of them!! I’m sorry Wade, but damn that’s funny! And I’m convinced that if he bought a car, brand new, like literally just came off the assembly line directly into his hands, it’d turn into a nugget instantly!! XD
I recently bought a VZ wagon and I've nicknamed it the Asylum due to the drivers side door randomly locking when it rains. Seriously works perfectly when it doesn't rain.
Mate, Bruce 2 isn't the nugget shepherd. YOU are the nugget shepherd. You've been given this great gift of gathering all the nuggets on the road and guiding them in their nuggetness. Even when you're not looking for a nugget, the nuggets come to you anyway.
I really hope you manage to make this car into what you wanted. Sucks that so many people dont care about lying to someone and potentially putting their lives in danger for a few bucks.
12:18 hearing (I assume) James laughing his ass off and commentating on the disaster unfolding is a welcome addition to the video Edit: okay yeah it is Wade but still hilarious
i've always been confused by the used car salesman scam meme, but then i realised in the uk and europe, by law, the car sales company need to warranty the vehicle for 6 months for any undeclared faults, but apparently thats not a thing elsewhere
@@blizzy6427 Yupp! It's what happened with my sister's nugget! She bought a used Toyota from the local Toyota dealer, which had apparently a of issues that were not only undisclosed, but actively dangerous had it not been fixed. Her windshield had a hairline fracture from stone damage, the undercarrige was faulty, as well as a lot of other issues. Most she did not have to pay for to get fixed (thanks dad for being Stubborn and knowing her rights!), although certain issues we've had to fix ourselves (the tires, the faulty packaging with the windows, the atrocious smell...). But mostly, if you buy a used car from a dealer, you get protections. Just...don't buy them off of Finn (our Facebook Marketplace) without checking up with dealers and getting yourself protection. Heard some real horror stories from those adventures, haha.
@@blizzy6427the problem is they won’t sell you old cars, so you only can get them from private owners. All dealers don’t bother with them and dump them to Africa or so.
@@blizzy6427 It's very situational. Misfires are difficult not to spot though. But this one would have most likely won in Consumer Disputes Board here. Mainly because of the windscreen+water damage that the seller absolutely would have noticed and did not disclose
Oh Wade, I know how you feel and have been here.... finding that car you really want exactly how you want it, for a price you can really afford... but knowing deep down during the purchase that something is kind of off, but you buy it anyway...
I feel ya mate, I got got by a crappy used car salesman as well, I needed a car, time was up, I needed something, and the corolla I was sold was absolute rubbish. At least I only paid 1000 usd for it
Ugh, the American version of these things shows up all the time on Craigslist in my area for $7k, $12k in actually mint condition. The engines are so unreliable, and the American version's angled tank-nose looks HILARIOUS. You got ripped, and they didn't even give you a 1-year parts n service?!
12k USD is 19k AUD, and the Stalian’s get screwed because of having to import everything which makes prices higher. Honestly the price isn’t as awful as it sounds, but the car is.
@@kristoffer3000 you guys are talking about the m113 5.0 v8 the M272/3‘s are ticking time bombs if its not one bulid After 2007 because of that stupid gear sprocket
James is a damn hero and gentleman, and I am deeply sorry to hear you're dream car was a bust. Nothing quite as disappointing as a wish being granted but via a monkeys paw scenario.
@@Respectable_Username it was a local car dealership and I am talking about a weekday inspection, but if it were far away and you don't get a local mechanic, sure would be expensive but also strange to do that
Seems like a important enough of a car that it would be worth putting the time and effort and money into fixing it and getting back to pristine. You obviously really enjoy that model and find it to be very nice looking, and that drive train is crazy good.
Man those things are Emperor Nuggets. You always see them with dead suspensions, huge electronics problems and awful maintenance costs because of how complicated it is to work on them. In Europe, most of them are driven by drug dealers which is nice...
Ironically, it's not all that hard to work on these cars. The air suspension can be remedied with a coil spring conversion in a weekend for the cost of 2 air struts and the error light coded out with a handheld scanner. The lower end models of the W211 cars had coil spring suspensions and the W219 shares its suspension and drivetrain with it. So you can go buy rear suspension arms for an e320 and fit springs and front struts bolt right up with no modification. Electronic issues are usually related to unremedied trunk leaks. There's a large fuse box and computer module back there, as well as the audio gateway for the fiber optics. Water gets in through the radio antenna and makes its way down to the computers through capilary action when the rubber seals dry out.
My Dude,I've worked on the 500 Series as well as other Mercedes for a Private Car Mechanic You got yourself a Phenomenal Car (If its maintained well) and seems like it did not go well from the previous owner I mean you got to hand it to the car,its a 2006 and with 180k you sure got yourself a Very good Deal The Engine might need 0W-40 or 5W-40 will work,the Leak you have in the car was seems to have been borked as it never got replaced since 2006 A New Aftermarket Professional Seal would fix the issue. The Rims look seriously sicc on it,but do be worried about the Suspension,when they die,you will have to lift the car up to get the replaced,one customer had its 500 SL (Cant remember if its was a CLS or SL variant) stuck in his Garage because it was hitting the floor,it was also in a cramped Garage so fixing it was a Nightmare. It could explain why it got lifted for you with a Forklift as its old Air Suspension might have died. That Screen in the Interior looks nice on it,not standard for its class but a really good upgrade. Overall for the 20k you got it for,a Astounding car,I wanted one myself but I got me a i30N
The air ride suspension should be the reason you don't want that specific CLS. It's prone to breaking and very expensive to repair. This also has that strange brake system that needs replacing after x amount brake uses? Also very expensive. Good luck keeping this thing on the road.
The air suspension wears out rather than breaks - you have to accept that the bags and shocks will develop leaks by 125-180k km and budget adequately (I just did mine on a puny C350e!)
@@Wha_SAAB mine didn't make it that far, sadly. and somewhat annoyingly, Arnott's don't make em for my specific car (2015 C350e), so I'm buying a mix of Mercedes rear bags (actually built by Continental) and Bilstein rear shocks and fron struts. it is what it is and within budget. *shrug*
I have not laughed as hard as I laughed when you got to the car wash at anything in probably 6 months if not a year 😂😂😂. That is not a leak. You bought the most expensive shower head in history 🤣
Ah no. I know the feeling though. I used the exact same rationale when I was buying a car and got a mid-ninties merc with ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEMS. The electrics are completely fried, and it's a nightmare. Also had a fun thing where the drains were plugged so after a rain when you accelerated or braked you could hear the water sloshing around inside the frame.
That was actually heartbreaking. The thing about the water ingress though is that it's not necessary for it to be from the windshield. Unless you can tell the windshield has been replaced before, it's very likely that the sunroof is leaking. I know you said that the water drainages "work" but that doesn't mean that the pipes going from the sunroof to the drain in the a-pillars aren't cracked, like they were on my w211 that I fixed last month, which is basically the same as the CLS; or it could also be the seal itself of the sunroof. I can't attach pics in the comment, but for starters I would remove the headliner and see where exactly it's leaking fom.
I feel you pain. I paid about 7 grand for my car only to find out it wasn't technically road legal. Lexus IS300 wagon so it was excedingly rare, and I'd just lost my sedan so I was sad and desperate. It only got certed when the mechanic was sure that I wouldn't turn around and sell it. I still have it, and love it, but the issues are... present. Mainly rust.
I'm glad to live somewhere the local government doesn't breathe down my neck about rust. Because _everything_ is rusty here. Sucks your Sportcross is eaten up, those are awesome.
Damn what a shame man. I’m sorry you got screwed. This is one of the reasons why I’m afraid to buy a used Benz. At least you’ve got another nugget haha. When you were laughing in the car wash, I felt that pain lol
Just gotta be super careful about which Mercedes you're buying in terms of its history. I love my CLS that I bought, I got the 350. It's my dream come true!
Worlds first 4 door coupe? The 7th generation Pontiac Grand Prix came out in 1997 and you could get it with 2 or 4 door, and they both had the same roof line. In fact I remember hearing somewhere that some GM folks were upset that companies like Mercedes took that design philosophy and claimed it was their idea
I'm really sorry this happened to you, and I hope you find a way to make the best of the situation and get this car at least vaguely reliable. That said, until further notice, I will be referring to this particular vehicle as Jeff 2.
Sounds like you should be looking for a replacement dash and everything behind it. That's going to be the only way to truly fix the electrical issues since the whole dash is jank now.
12:19 this was the best clip I’ve seen. Thank you for this carwash clip. MINT! I know it sucks, I’m truly sorry you’ve had to deal with all this. But that clip was straight out of a meme
no papers mostly means :mileage rolled back: look at the pedals and the steering wheel if they are worn out a lot then it means it possibly has a rolled back odometer
I think he might have meant that he could mod the donkey vans stock engine to make that power. He said it's related to the Mitsubishi Evo motors. A 5.5 litre v8 van would make an awesome sleeper though
used car salesmen are awful. got a 2017 santa fe in almost mint condition from one back in january, guy said the "emissions were bad" only to find out literally the night we got the car it was actually the entire ECU that was cooked and the car wasn't even supposed to be for sale until it was fixed
