Sensible 5 seater required - hello ML 55 AMG
Discussion
C70R said:
Erm... I'd do a quick Google for "W163 rust".
The bodywork is highly prone to tin-worm (as with most Mercedes of this age), and areas of the chassis (including the rear subframe) are not uncommon to rot either.
mwstewart was making the point that rust isn't a common issue in the climate in which that car has been kept, not that Mercedes cars of that generation do not develop rust.The bodywork is highly prone to tin-worm (as with most Mercedes of this age), and areas of the chassis (including the rear subframe) are not uncommon to rot either.
Some minor maintenance etc of late. Spent a few hours under the ML the last 2 days changing the transmission oil (well the 4 litres I could get out anyway) filter and gasket. I measured, more or less, what came out and put back in the same amount. Have ordered a dipstick so I can check more accurately. Guess I should really have had this prior to starting the job? Also re bled the brakes again as I think something went wrong last time I did it when the reservoir bottle tipped over. Pretty sure the transmission oil had never been done before. Not too bad a job until removal of the filter caused an unexpected wave of oil, some of which went in my eyes! Not very pleasent! I could not find any way to access the torque convertor to release the other 3 liters of oil. Doing what I did has definitely made selecting gears much smoother, as it used to kind of "clonk" slightly when selecting D or R. I think the brakes are better too, at least I know they were done correctly this time. Added bonus was I managed the bleeding with all 4 wheels on the car,. The last time most of the effort was in jacking up and removing the wheels. Space was tight and I had to use bolt cutters on a spanner to shorten it in order to get the 8mm bleed nipples at the back. For some strange reason they are 9mm on the front, but luckily a normal spanner fitted here.
Debris after transmission oil change.
Got 4 litres of oil, filter and gasket from Mercedes for €82, so not too bad.
Brake bleeding.
With short 8mm spanner.
I used the Ezybleed kit with 20psi pressure from a spare tyre. Great to use.
Whilst at a scrapyard getting 2 wheels to replace the 2 destroyed by my daughter during an argument with a lagre kerb, I happened upon an ML (strangely it was UK reg) right beside the donor Kalos. It had the small piece of missing plastic trim I needed to cover the rear wiper motor on the tailgate. Was chuffed with my find and said trim was absorbed amongst the wheels etc. It was beige, so I sprayed it black. On fitting it to my car, I realised my interior is in fact grey, so the black stands out a bit. Can live with it for now and is better than beige, or nothing. Will see of I can find some grey paint.
Kalos & ML side by side at scrapyard.
Trim painted.
Oops, it is a bit black. Actually it does not look nearly as bad in real life, honest.
Couple of interior LED pics after changing all bulbs. Nice white light now.
Debris after transmission oil change.
Got 4 litres of oil, filter and gasket from Mercedes for €82, so not too bad.
Brake bleeding.
With short 8mm spanner.
I used the Ezybleed kit with 20psi pressure from a spare tyre. Great to use.
Whilst at a scrapyard getting 2 wheels to replace the 2 destroyed by my daughter during an argument with a lagre kerb, I happened upon an ML (strangely it was UK reg) right beside the donor Kalos. It had the small piece of missing plastic trim I needed to cover the rear wiper motor on the tailgate. Was chuffed with my find and said trim was absorbed amongst the wheels etc. It was beige, so I sprayed it black. On fitting it to my car, I realised my interior is in fact grey, so the black stands out a bit. Can live with it for now and is better than beige, or nothing. Will see of I can find some grey paint.
Kalos & ML side by side at scrapyard.
Trim painted.
Oops, it is a bit black. Actually it does not look nearly as bad in real life, honest.
Couple of interior LED pics after changing all bulbs. Nice white light now.
Edited by el romeral on Sunday 31st December 22:42
Small update on the ML55. I have owned it now for about 11 months and covered around 4500 miles - mostly very short trips. It has just sailed through (barge style) the "MOT" test here.
Fuel consumption seems to average between 17 & 18 litres per 100km (16mpg gulp). A recent slightly longer trip Malaga-Coin-Ojen-Marbella-Puerto Banus and back to Malaga on the motorway gave a more respectable (and current best figure) of 20,2mpg.
Nothing has failed so far, touch wood, and running costs have been pretty much limited to petrol, petrol and more petrol. Have had a few run ins with the alarm going off randomly, including whilst driving it. This can be avoided by locking it with the key rather than the remote. I rarely leave it parked up anywhere, so not a problem. May get round to looking at it and have heard it can be caused by the alarm battery?
I plan to change oil and filter next week and have just bought Mercedes oil and a Mann filter.
I have upgraded a few minor things. May not be to all tastes - bit bling perhaps:
Aluminium pedals:
5,5 side badges:
Took the angle grinder to the standard oval tail pipes (always thought they looked a bit lost) and fitted quad outlets. My rough measuring and calculations paid off, as I did not have to modify the bumper but it was close:
Am thinking the AMG tailpipes could look quite ok on the Boxster as they are quite a bit chunkier than what is there?
Fuel consumption seems to average between 17 & 18 litres per 100km (16mpg gulp). A recent slightly longer trip Malaga-Coin-Ojen-Marbella-Puerto Banus and back to Malaga on the motorway gave a more respectable (and current best figure) of 20,2mpg.
Nothing has failed so far, touch wood, and running costs have been pretty much limited to petrol, petrol and more petrol. Have had a few run ins with the alarm going off randomly, including whilst driving it. This can be avoided by locking it with the key rather than the remote. I rarely leave it parked up anywhere, so not a problem. May get round to looking at it and have heard it can be caused by the alarm battery?
I plan to change oil and filter next week and have just bought Mercedes oil and a Mann filter.
I have upgraded a few minor things. May not be to all tastes - bit bling perhaps:
Aluminium pedals:
5,5 side badges:
Took the angle grinder to the standard oval tail pipes (always thought they looked a bit lost) and fitted quad outlets. My rough measuring and calculations paid off, as I did not have to modify the bumper but it was close:
Am thinking the AMG tailpipes could look quite ok on the Boxster as they are quite a bit chunkier than what is there?
Edited by el romeral on Tuesday 28th August 15:25
A minor update.
I have changed the oil, oil filter and air filter using items bought from the dealer. The previously fitter air filter did not look too bad but it was of an unknown make. The chap I bought the car from said oil and filters had just been changed just prior to me purchasing the car a year ago. Wishing now I had not taken him at his word as the oil was so old and black looking, it appeared to have been in use during the Industrial Revolution. The oil filter too was in a shocking state. Since purchase, I have had trouble getting accurate oil level readings on the dipstick and I suspected that it may have been overfilled but I soldiered on as it was. My suspicions on overfilling were confirmed, as I put in about a litre less that what was removed. The new oil seems to show up better on the dipstick and I have a nice reading just below full. I used 8 litres exactly to fill it. It would not surprise me if the previously fitted oil type was completely wrong for the car too.
Early days, but I have observed that the very occasional drip of engine oil, which I had been observing, seems to have stopped. Have placed some white paper under it for further monitoring. I wonder if the dripping can be a function of overfilling?
When driving it now, my car definitely runs much smoother and quieter. In addition the fuel consumption has improved a lot from an average of 16 to 19 mpg. I think the engine is much happier now and next time I purchase a car I will change the oil as a matter of course, unless there is full documented evidence of a recent change.
Pics of removed items:
After reading about it on the other recent AMG 55 thread, I also performed the pedal reset, as per link below. Just been out for a drive now and am most impressed with the change in shifing and smoothness. Has a much sportier feel to it too.
http://www.mercedesmedic.com/reset-mercedes-benz-t...
Edit: duffed up the mpg figures.
I have changed the oil, oil filter and air filter using items bought from the dealer. The previously fitter air filter did not look too bad but it was of an unknown make. The chap I bought the car from said oil and filters had just been changed just prior to me purchasing the car a year ago. Wishing now I had not taken him at his word as the oil was so old and black looking, it appeared to have been in use during the Industrial Revolution. The oil filter too was in a shocking state. Since purchase, I have had trouble getting accurate oil level readings on the dipstick and I suspected that it may have been overfilled but I soldiered on as it was. My suspicions on overfilling were confirmed, as I put in about a litre less that what was removed. The new oil seems to show up better on the dipstick and I have a nice reading just below full. I used 8 litres exactly to fill it. It would not surprise me if the previously fitted oil type was completely wrong for the car too.
Early days, but I have observed that the very occasional drip of engine oil, which I had been observing, seems to have stopped. Have placed some white paper under it for further monitoring. I wonder if the dripping can be a function of overfilling?
When driving it now, my car definitely runs much smoother and quieter. In addition the fuel consumption has improved a lot from an average of 16 to 19 mpg. I think the engine is much happier now and next time I purchase a car I will change the oil as a matter of course, unless there is full documented evidence of a recent change.
Pics of removed items:
After reading about it on the other recent AMG 55 thread, I also performed the pedal reset, as per link below. Just been out for a drive now and am most impressed with the change in shifing and smoothness. Has a much sportier feel to it too.
http://www.mercedesmedic.com/reset-mercedes-benz-t...
Edited by el romeral on Tuesday 11th September 11:06
Edit: duffed up the mpg figures.
Edited by el romeral on Thursday 13th September 21:46
Nunga said:
A simple Google search suggests that 5.5L badging is the norm from factory.
Nice car! I think. Kinda wanna say I like it, kinda wanna say I don’t... still not sure yet. Must be ideal for use in Spain though, aside from inner city parking.
That is alright, it won't be everyone's bag. It is a lovely smooth and powerful cruiser, in a land full of rough sounding smokey diesels. Never taken it into Malaga city but Parktronic and a big fNice car! I think. Kinda wanna say I like it, kinda wanna say I don’t... still not sure yet. Must be ideal for use in Spain though, aside from inner city parking.
k off defensive towbar (to help protect against actions of others) would definitely help.Nunga said:
A simple Google search suggests that 5.5L badging is the norm from factory.
Are you sure?Not trying to be funny, just genuinely curious on this one. I think that the Google images of 5.5 badges on ‘55 motors are all from eBay!
I do think that Mercedes has made 5.5 V8s, but this one is a 5.4.
Nunga said:
Yes it is a 5.4 but it was always marketed as a 5.5L, in the exact same way the M156 V8 is a 6208cc motor and badged as a 6.3L, and every car is branded as a 63.
I think you are misunderstanding me. My point is that these cars did not come from the factory with ‘5.5’ badging. That is all. On that point, your Google research is wrong.The 63 may have come with 6.3 badging from the factory but that is different, because it is a historic reference to another car. It is also different because... they came with the badges from the factory!
Six months from my last update and the big ML55 has not really missed a beat. One small thing though, more or less since purchase, I have been aware of what seemed like a fairly slow engine oil leak. I never did anything about it as it was tricky to see where it came from and did not appear to be much. Fast forward to last week and the power steering started making a terrible noises on start up. This prompted me to check the fluid for the first time since purchase. I was shocked to see the level was not even on the dipstick. Further investigation revealed a leak from the reservoir area. Some googling revealed this to be quite a common problem.
I decided to purchase a new reservoir, o ring and 1 litre of fluid from the dealer for a very reasonable €58. Fitting was very straight forward too and I completed it in about an hour. No more "oil" leaks now and smooth quiet steering again. I used 0.5 litres to refill. I will run the car some months and then drain again and fill up with remaining 0.5 litres.
New reservoir fitted:
I decided to purchase a new reservoir, o ring and 1 litre of fluid from the dealer for a very reasonable €58. Fitting was very straight forward too and I completed it in about an hour. No more "oil" leaks now and smooth quiet steering again. I used 0.5 litres to refill. I will run the car some months and then drain again and fill up with remaining 0.5 litres.
New reservoir fitted:
Edited by el romeral on Tuesday 5th March 23:25
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