response...
thanks for your detailed overview. my S600: a few days ago i purchased a beautiful '95 S600 ($7200, San Diego Lexus), 123K miles, 2 owners, calif reg'g/domiciled since new. got orig complete books, manuals and sticker/ invoice. moonstone gray paint, parchment interior. $134,170...out the door, incl $3,000 guzzler tax! LoL. when i get the car back i'll post some pics here.
i believe its the 4-speed tranny. i do my own maintenance. yes, i had previously read about the S600 engine wiring harness reliability problems, insulation breakdown. i have not inspected mine yet but already prepared to replace it if needed. who is your source for the $750 engine harness? is it a sub-section of the engine compartment wiring or the entire engine compartment, soup-to-nuts?
she test drove just fine prior to the purchase. while the salesman followed me home saturday in the S600 he noticed the trans intermittently down-shifting from 4th gear to 3rd gear while cruising on the HWY. anyway he was honest enough to point this out to me when we arrived at my home and immediately called their indy shop to pick up the car for repairs.
having done quite a bit of maintenance on my 280E, 300E and 300D, i figure the S600 trans problem couldn't be that serious. i'm thinking something to do with the shift linkage/bushings, trans vacuum modulator or throttle linkage/sensor to the transmission. whatdaya guys think? prior to sale the dealership replaced the engine oil pan and trans oil pan gaskets. perhaps they didn't properly reassemble the trans linkages. a member on another forum suggested looking for a faulty kick-down switch, solenoid or linkage to the trans.
apparently the rear suspension accumulators are shot as well. rear suspension very stiff, no floating for this teutonic yacht. too bad i just had surgery on my shoulder last week so mechanically i'm benched for a few more weeks.
good advice on the mobil-1 synthetic. i was not sure if it would be a good idea to run synthetic on one of these motors +100k miles.
i would really like to get the MB dealership VIN maintenance history dump, as i was told the previous owners had it serviced locally there. from my research it doesn't look like they will give it to me, although i have not asked yet, and i don't see any forum members doing favors in that regard.
cheers,
rick
'73 280E
'90 260E
'77 300D
'93 300E
'95 S600