Hi Jack, greetings from Perth Oz, I've recently had an ABC pump replaced on my SL55, which was still throwing error codes after i got it back. The codes indicated low system pressure once the car had warmed up and either on sharp turns or going over a large bump. I refurbished the valve blocks with a £50 kit (it was needed as fixed a problem with the car sinking after parked up for a few days) but the issue remained. To solve it, I used a gopro, inspired by your ferrari 308 engine bay footage, but inside the car to monitor the pump pressure using a code reader, whilst recording the intercepted voltage at the ABC pump suction restrictor valve - i ran a thin wire from under the bonnet to a voltmeter on the passengers seat. By intercepting the voltage using my own connectors the car didn't throw any codes. That meant, almost unbelievably, that the restrictor valve connector at the pump was the culprit. Turned out it was loosening with thermal expansion i.e. when the engine bay warmed up - and its grip was likely initially loosened when the mechanic removed it to replace the pump! As it costs zero to squeeze the connectors so they grip better, reckon that'd be a good first thing to check if your car is still throwing codes after the pump is replaced. It would have been good to get a base line pressure reading on yours before the pump gets replaced. The dash message you got indicates the pump can still produce sufficient pressure to be able to drive i.e. you get a drive carefully code at about ~165bar normal pressure is ~ 190bar and a do not drive code at i believe 140bar or less - plenty of refs out there to help. Cheers.
Apologies all for the music.. it's only on for a minute.. but was supposed to fade to much quieter.. Editing mistake. Seems to sound worse on a phone than when listening on my laptop.
Yeah, for B roll or intro shots a little bit of classical music can be nice and appropriate, but not when you're talking. Every day's a school day....?
I don't know why you use it. Channels started doing this about a year ago. It adds _zero_ to your video. It doesn't enhance any sense of production value, is very distracting (even on a lower volume), and doesn't suit the content ( stirring hero music over the description of corrosion on the body don't go together anyway ). Just my feedback. Not dissing.
Love the channel and respect what you've done and how you may want the videos to become more professional but not sure the music is the way forward. Top Gear in its prime managed it, but they had a huge production team who could spend days in post production getting it just right. Anything less can jar...
This car brings memories... I had almost same spec car from Japan and only 60k km (30k miles). This is perfect car if you are DIY person. First thing to buy is diagnostic tool MB V.2-3 Icarsoft or cheap Chinese Star tool. Then you can pinpoint electrical issues easily and they are 100% coming to be issue. For ABC chassis there are nowadays huge aftermarket of parts and DIY videos and guides on here internet. Example abc struts are not anymore over 1000€/£ each. Also fixing solenoids can repair lots of problems on ABC system. In my CL500 I used RVS treatment for powersteering and it made my ABC sagging lots of better. "RVS is finnish company witch makes oil additives all sorts and are very good." With these cars it is last option to repair them at the dealer.
Well done, I bought one of these a few months ago and have just finished restoring it - including the ABC…which you should not change to coil overs! I can tell you everything about these and the best place to buy parts! Look out for rust under the plastic panels.
Jack, you may find you fix the pump, then it’s the valve block and each of the 4 “shocks” right after it. The fluid can get contaminated and that has an impact on all the components. You could investigate the coil over shock conversions. I think you need to replace the pump with one that just does the power steering in that case
ABC delete is another viable option. Yellow Speed Racing coilovers are circa £1100. You can recuperate some of the cost by selling old struts if still good enough (rears are in demand).
That's a dead tidy early 2000's Merc and is very nice looking, The comprehensive service history file and complete tool kit is a big bonus, That's got to be a surefire future classic?
Incredible cars when they are running properly, that sounds about right, my 2012 W212 E class throws up all sorts of problems, However my 1990 R129 SL doesn't put a foot wrong. I think this is going to be an interesting series of videos.
I'm so pleased that you decided to do this, I have a similar mindset when it comes to these cars, I had Mercs for years and never came unstuck although my 600SEL did test my patience a bit!
Some people sell coilovers conversion kits. I know i would buy one directly if i were to get an S class from the same era. Like CEIKA CUSTOM COILOVERS FOR MERCEDES BENZ S CLASS W220 (99~05) $1,390.00 USD.
I've longed had a bit of a eye for one of these, but not in humdrum grey. I don't get why anyone would pay that sort of money for a car and have it in such an unimaginative body and interior combo. Fingers crossed it all works out okay and you end up with a SL that doesn't try to bankrupt you.
Always thpught the roof on these looks like one of those cheap gazebos people take to the beach to keep the sun off them. The ones that go flying off down the beach at the merest breath of a breeze...
Mine went on my SL55AMG and I was quoted £1800 for pump, got one on eBay from Poland £450 with warranty all is now sweet, I kept the old one as you can recon them!!
This only works because it’s going to make good content. To buy that car under any other circumstances, even if your handy with the spanner’s , means you need your bumps testing 🙈😂👍
The suspension pump isn't the least of your worries, it's the suspension legs. They're £1000 a corner if they go. Some delete the hydraulic system entirely and swap to a damper and spring arrangement. If it's like my 2006 SL500, the check I was advised to carry out before purchase was press the suspension raise button once to lift the car to the first level, then press the button again to take it to the second raised level, then press again to drop it back to normal. If all four corners don't raise and lower evenly, you've got trouble with the corner(s) that raises slower or drop faster than the rest (or not at all if it's really bad. Obviously you can't do that with a knackered pump. Also, my indy mechanic tapped into a setting on the diagnostic set up he's got that raises and lowers each corner in turn, looked really funky when he showed me it on test, looked like one of those yank gangster air suspension thingies!
A few things wrong with this. The pump and accumulators' health is more important than the struts. If the pump fails and is left to run it can contaminate the whole system (so consider needing rebuilt valve blocks (x2), struts (x4), accumulators (x3) and pulsation damper, plus lines etc). If an accumulator fails it can also contaminate the system (this is what happened to LegitStreetCars's CL65) and/or cause dangerous pressure spikes. If a strut fails it just typically leaks and can be replaced easily. Raising the suspension like that won't diagnose a bad strut unless it has a major leak and if a strut is that bad, the lack of pressure will likely turn the system off and the red ABC warning will show on the dash on startup. If the car isn't raising or lowering properly it can be a weak pump, bad seals on the valve blocks, worn accumulators or a leak somewhere and it takes someone with knowledge of the system or a diagnostic machine to work out what's wrong. The test is called a rodeo
I’d look at removing the ABC and replacing with coils and dampers it’s a common replacement still cost a bit it would probably make it more sellable in the future too
Beautiful cars The CL I’ve owned three. Including a V12 ..All absolute Nightmares, real Nightmares, One Common fault costs upwards of £7000 to put right by Mercedes ! So why Buy a nightmare Three Times you may ask ! Just couldn’t believe Mercedes could be that bad so chanced my luck again and then again Loved it’s looks My heart did the rest ..
Quality content Jack as brave as you were in Lockdown with every ones fave 308 serious car for the money good luck with this one but a clean MOT says a lot its a calculated punt looking forward to the Merc inspection always good value.
There is a former Mercedes mechanic on RU-vid who has been unable to repair the suspension on this same car after more than a year of work and replacement of parts!
@@abc33944 So very expensive. I do my own mechanical work. As such I have saved many tens of thousands over the years. As well, expertise. The mechanic I am referencing, he knows what he is doing. Did it for a living at a dealership. Going into a complex merc without that expertise can lead to more issues. That is all I am saying.
Personally I went fir a Lexus, with ordinary suspension. Even then it's a gamble.....ageing cars with expensive parts. Reel you in and then present with a fault?
It is a lot of car for the money, but I think Reggie was a much better, & safer, long term proposal. I`m fully expecting you to get repeatedly kicked in the nuts with this thing, financially, if you choose to keep it after the pumps done.. We`ll see!
As far as I know ABC pumps are not available from Mercedes any longer. I hope there is a guy in a shed who reconditions them as I like my CLK 500 but I yearn for a CLK or an SL 55 AMG I wimped out because of that and bought a CLK 500 2003 without ABC.
£1500… that’s nothing. Just had our 2016 discovery 4 inlet manifold done for that. My X5 had a transmission rebuild- £2100. If you buy an old 80k car you still pay 80k car repair bills..
Jack, you may or may not remember me but I’m the guy that offered you to review my CL55 These are amazing cars, as you say. I’ve had 3 CL500’s, and my CL55 Kompressor, and I’m keen to see the outcome of this Once done, you will fall in love with it I’m actively looking for a C216 model CL600 as I’ve never owned a V12 Mercedes, so need to tick that off my list Good on you for buying such a rare and special car
An old customer of mine had a CL500, he bought it brand new he was a boss at the Pyrex factory in Sunderland anyway i think if i remember rightly he had paid like £70-80 k for the car a few years later he took the car to Mercedes benz to trade in against a new merc, he was offered something like £9k trade in for his car! He was absolutely furious at how the car had depreciated. He kept the CL until he retired i believe, i always thought it was an awesome car especially for £9k 😂
ABC fixes are so numerous, problematic and expensive, it isn't worth the hassle IMO. The system will leak and each damper will fail eventually costing at least a grand per corner. There are reasons MB itself chose to discontinue this system. Save the money on the rebuilt pump and spend it on a kit to disable the ABC system entirely and go with four new adjustable coil overs to give it the type of ride you want. Its better to ditch this system now before it bites you really hard. Plus, you will be able to sell the (now) working dampers and any other usable parts from that system to recover the cost of the coil over kit. Even the non working pump can be sold as a core.
it's a facelift and looks in decent shape, you could sell the headlights alone for £500 and make your money back. If the rest of the ABC system is OK, £500 for a recon pump (with a warranty) + £200 for new fluid, ABC filter and a day of your time fitting and flushing the system and it's back on the road. Lots of people who aren't mechanically minded buy lemons and have bad experiences and big bills then come into the YT comments sections spouting rubbish about ABC systems etc. I've had 12 years of trouble free ownership with regular fluid and filter changes over 50k miles on a facelift model.
You cannot believe how many people told me to stay away from this coupe. My mechanic was the worst! I went ahead and bought a 2003 CL600 !! The worst of the worst apparently. Twelve-cylinder, twin-turbo financial disaster, WITH ABC. EIGHT years later, I still love the car. ABC has NEVER had an issue. I did have to replace a radiator years ago, but truly the best car I have ever owned. And it will run like a house on fire! Tesla-like torque. It will throw your toupee into the back seat while launching. Enjoy one of the best cars ever made!
There are decided advantages to buying a car and getting it sorted out, the biggest one being that you know the exact condition of the most important system. If you paid more assuming the car was correct, only to have something expensive fail within a day or a week or a month, you end up in the car upside down money-wise. I buy a lot of watches and I’d rather buy a Rolex for less knowing that it needed an immediate service than to buy one that’s been tarted up, only to find it’ll need an expensive service to keep time.
I bought a 2000 W plate one of these from a man whom bought it new, he picked it up from the mercedes factory and drove it back to London, the car itself was awesome but the suspension pump was noisy and the suspension legs were worn, took a hit on it and sold it at a loss... typical manufacturer maintenance schedule ruined the longevity of the suspension system, the fluid needs replacing every 3 years not lifetime like it states
I will be watching how’s this plays out over the coming episodes as I have agreed to buy the same car (and year) from an old friend who has kept it immaculate and dry stored albeit less than half the mileage of yours. I have driven it and a lovely place to be. I am very handy with the spanner’s and already planning for ‘when’ not ‘if’ the ABC fails🤪. The cost of ownership is down to your perspective - paying peanuts for them and factoring in repairs v paying a lot and haemorrhaging on depreciation and still having to pay for repair. Plus like you Jack I love the challenge. (Already own 2 Alfa’s). Keep up the good work.
I've experience with these. Please double check none of the struts are leaking. They're getting harder to find and repair. There's a guy in germany (I believe) who restores and also updates the struts with a lube point for the balljoint which is normally non maintenance. You'd be able to replace the pump yourself being handy with the tools :)
Welcome to my world! I had a 2002 S-600 (yes a V-12 with 30 k miles, and it developed the same fault with the air suspension.. It cost me 5000 dollars in 2013 to fix the damn thing!
Galvanic reaction is occurs when two dissimilar metals are immersed in a conductive solution and are electrically connected - and not the case with the said car. The paint blemishes described by Jack are caused by poor preparation before applying the top coat - a time when Mercedes quality was sadly on a steady downward slope.
I've had a few of these barges and electrical/suspension and gearbox issues aside. they're actually not bad value. Oh and I've never paid over a grand for one....
If the pump breaks down, there is a significant risk that metal shavings will come loose inside and spread throughout the entire system. If you want to repair it, you might as well take out a mortgage on your house. Therefore, it's better not to start the engine at all and definitely check the fluid for metal shavings.
Bismark was an absolutely *brilliant* name for your project Benz. I feel that _Graf Spee_ would be equally fitting for the CL500. Or Panzerschiff, and see how quickly it sinks!
1500 pounds on ABC repair, thats cheap, I was expecting 15k originally. But when you fix the pump for 1500, something down the line will break very soon. So it maybe end up closer to 15k, might as well just do ABC delete.
Sorry dude that's the most expensive 500 quid you've ever spent. I had a cl500 Brabus and it was a damn money pit. They never did fix the suspension properly despite numerous, expensive visits to the garage. Those late 90s early 2000s Mercs where when the bean counters got hold of production and quality nose dived.
That generation of CL is just beautiful, I just love big coupes. I have tough about getting one of these for a long time but the air suspension is time bomb and they also have the SBC braking system that is expensive if it goes, the 500 V8 is durable and also the 5speed transmission is one of the best Mercedes has ever made.
There are much cheaper soultions for that now. I think they just reset some module for the SBC. Its just a counter. The regular air suspension is not really a big problem. They cost some. But so does the whole suspension on any car today. The air suspension is easy to replace though so not much labour cost on the other hand.
My neighbour had one of the 600 models. It was ruinous. He owned it for about 8 years, for the first 3/4 he tried to run it and it was maybe on the road for 18 months at best. It had issues with radiator, engine and ECU but it was the suspension was the final coffin nail. When I moved after he'd owned it for about 4 years it was parked and had been for a year or more I asked what it had cost him. it cost just under 40k in repairs in the time he tried to run it. It was very clean and well maintained when he purchased having had a celeb owner with deep pockets but it just ruined him. I don't think the V8 will be as bad as the V12 as the V12 had lots of bespoke parts to the model but I can't imagine it being much better.
@@Haffschlappe They are really good. You just have to know that they are not built with cheap parts :) And they dont get cheaper just because they are old.
Best of luck with your new purchase! I can’t wait for the review. Usually hydraulic pumps can be fixed with a new set of gaskets. So don’t overpay. Look for someone who can CNC copper and there’s your gaskets.
Jack, I love these cars and have had two now, but if you want a money pit you have found a doozie. Electrical issues will definitely abound, warning lights and limp mode will become the norm for you. Notwithstanding this, you will never want a different car! Smiles galore, comfort and endless grunt. Enjoy!!!
I was thinking if this was a Lexus LS430, you wouldn't have needed to spend over 46K Pounds on servicing over its current life span. German reliability? Pah! They wouldn't know the meaning of the word. Looking down the list of parts that were replaced so far during its life is laughable. Oh well ... keeps service mechanics in a job I suppose.
I simply cannot understand why on earth so many people are drawn to wanting a bloody automatics gear box on luxury cars. Fuck those blood auto gear boxes! Manual transmission all the way!!!!!! The first thing I would invest money into: getting the car transfigured into a manual transmission!
Cool project! Will follow this one. Great, you're featuring the C215 as there isn't that much recent content on these models any more. A couple of comments: - This is not the least diserable CL. The C140 is too bulky and will not attain any collector's value (apart from some rare Designo or 72, 73 versions). The next model, C216 looks too aggressive with the big wheel arches. No surprise, MB dropped this design feature for the C217. For me, the C215 is one of the most beautiful coupés ever designed. It's harmonious, sleek and when kept original just emanates class. Well-kept examples will go up in value. - You can't compare your S-class to this CL. Your S-class was a pre-facelift model which had many issues that were later resolved for the face-lift model. Apart from that, the CLs were better build than the limousines. - Fingers crossed for you with the replacement ABC pump. What you could do to check the health of the ABC system is to check the fluid colour and odour. It should be green and have neutral smell, not brown and burned. With the replacement or new pump coming in, your system will be flushed anyway which will be beneficial for its lifespan. - The paint looks in amazing condition. Don't worry about the aluminium corrosion bubbles. There are way more important items to look after on this car than these bubbles. - I have looked for my CL for over a year to find the right model and colour combination. It's a 2004 CL600 in tanzanite blue and java interior. There is a video about it on my channel and some history about the C215 which this year marks 25 years since it was launched at the Geneva Motor Show in 1999.
As others say...its a facelift model...which already means much better options for plumbing firestick into entertainment system. Also has later lights. I replaced ABC pump on mine...make sure you flush ststem twice in quick succession...lasted two years no problem. Fantastic buy at 500 quid!.
