Dropped her off at a top Independent MBZ specialist in the area for a tip-to-tail inspection of EVERY system in the car.
Vacum, mechanical, suspension, bushings, mounts, brakes, climate, seats, air bladders, trunk release, headrests, etc.
3 days / $350 and i'll have a comprehensive list of what it needs in the short, medium and long term.
It'll nice to have as an addendum to the service records I have going back to the original purchase in 1998.
What's impressive is that I gave them the 3 inch thick stack of records and service history and they combed through it before even touching or looking at the car. I love that kind of attention to detail.
Here's what I got back....
Hi Rob,
Thanks for allowing us the time to thoroughly examine your V12. We have the following information that we would like to pass on to you.....
1. We recommend replacing both the front seat belts. The internal spring tensioners are worn out & can not be adjusted (we tried). You are better off replacing them. They are currently on back-order through Mercedes-Benz & their response is to place the order & wait to see if their vendors can fill the order. No estimated time is given.
2. Water entering the trunk - What we did was clean out the drain passageways in the trunk & also take your car next door to the body shop to have them align the rear trunk lid for us. That way we were able to continue testing to see if any water was still entering the trunk area. So far, after performing this adjustment, no water was entering the trunk.
3. Trunk release on remote & on remote key fob working intermittently - after the trunk adjustment, it works every time. We did, however, while we were troubleshooting the front seat bladders, notice that there is a fault code for the PSE pump turning off because it continuously operates. Your PSE pump (the pump that operates the door locks & trunk opening) are showing signs of wear and may need to be replaced in the future. So far, though, so good.
4. Front seat bladders do not inflate & when working, do not stay inflated - The bladders have leaks in them which is why they work that way. Unfortunately they are no longer available & we recommend looking for new seats if you really want them fixed.
5. Fuel gauge does not always work - We were able to verify your complaint & have traced the problem down to an intermittently faulty fuel level sensor (the one that is in the fuel tank). The good news is that part is still available. The cost of replacement is $ 540 (parts & labor). This is the first step as we need to eliminate the possibility that it is an instrument cluster issue. So far it does not appear as the instrument cluster is faulty but we must start replacing parts and this one is the most inexpensive to replace.
6. In-car heater & air conditioner are always hot or always cold, but nothing in-between. We verified this complaint, and during this process found the climate control blower would randomly stop working. We installed a known good quality blower regulator & continued testing. After further testing, we found that the old blower regulator would cause the climate control module to short out causing only all-heat or all-cold air to come out of the air vents. We recommend replacing just the blower regulator. The one that is in your car (Behr brand) has given us problems in the past & we recommend replacing it with the Kaehler brand (which is the Original Equipment Manufacturer). The cost of this is $ 590 (parts & labor)
7. The driver seat clicks when moving forward-backward. We greased the seat tracks & the noise got quieter. However, to fix it you will need a new seat track assembly. No longer available, but we would need to source one used.
8. Rear head rests do not release & go down. There is an internal issue as we checked the switch operation & the head rest functionality. Unfortunately in order to continue we will need to remove the rear seat & rear hat tray / rear dashboard to take the system apart & see what is wrong. We recommend leaving it alone unless you really want it fixed.
9. Squeaking sound heard from the right-rear area outside the car. This is due to the lower control arm knuckle bushings wearing out causing metal-to-metal contact. We recommend replacing both sides as it is less expensive (overlapping work) & they both have a tendency to wear out at the same rate. The cost of this is $ 895 (parts & labor), and we are able to get it done in 1 day.
10. On the subject of suspension, we also noted that both front lower control arm bushings are cracked causing the front wheels of the vehicle to move forward-and-backward slightly when applying the brakes. We recommend replacing both front control arm bushings and having us perform a vehicle alignment after doing so. The cost of this is $ 1695, and takes about 2 days to perform. We send the alignment out to a different shop that has an alignment rack. We can get our work done pretty quickly, however, we can not control their work flow which is why we ask if we may hang on to your car for 2 days.
11. During the vehicle inspection, we noted the front motor mounts are worn causing the car to vibrate/shake at a stop. We recommend replacing both of them as well as the transmission mount at the same time. The aftermarket world has stopped making motor mounts for this car, so we would need to go with Genuine Mercedes-Benz parts to do the work. The cost of this is $1350 (parts & labor).
12. Large oil leak coming from both engine valve cover gaskets & the oil cooler seals located under the intake manifold. The oil is dripping onto the gravel shield under the car which is why you may not see it on the ground. Note - your cylinder head gasket is starting to seep coolant (it is not a drip yet, but so far looks okay). To repair the oil leaks, we ask that you allow us to hold on to the car for about 2-3 weeks. We will pull the engine and reseal the entire engine as well as change the PCV piping that comes out of the heat exchanger under the intake manifold. As far as price, we would like to give you a range as some of the parts that we would need require us to search really well. The cost of this repair is between $ 6500 to $ 9500, parts & labor. If there are any savings (or we get the car completed earlier), we will definitely let you know.
