2007 C55 AMG estate - buying advice

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Looking in the boot on the left hand side there is a cubby hole that one opens by pressing a button with a medical sign on it, this reveals the jack, safety triangle etc.

Presumably a first aid kit is meant to go in here - but where? I can't see a logical place for it to go, is it just shoved in there?

[Dammit]

AC43 said:

They all do that, sir. No, really, they do.

Is there an known fix that doesn’t involve £3k to Mercedes?

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If I recall correctly the place the bodyshop I use recommend is DDR in Epsom, I've asked the bodyshop to take the car over to them in order to get a service done (just because, largely - it's got 4,500 miles showing on the dash before the car wants servicing), mainly to get them to give the car a very thorough going over to make sure it's in good shape.

I'll get them to fix the seat, provide a cover for the boot power socket, and any other little jobs.

[Dammit]

And to answer my earlier question, I just shoved the first aid kit into the recess underneath the warning triangle, where it fit reasonably well:

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Great, thanks for the info.

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Thanks!

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Ok, slippery slopes and all that, but - is there a valved exhaust available for these that would mean I could still leave for the airport at 5am without the neighbours wanting to kill me, but enables a bit more noise at other times?

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I've finally taken the car to a Merc specialist to get it serviced - I asked them to give the car a good looking over, and boy did they.

They've given me a long list of things that they recommend that i do, which comes to £3,600.

Before I get to that, the rocker covers and the RMS are weeping - I think that this is the breather issue pressurising the crankcase, can anyone give insight/guidance?

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I like the car, I'll keep it and fix it - might have to prioritise the list of stuff a little as I hadn't counted on that this month is all.

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Water pump has slight play, £534.96
Bleed nipples on front calipers - NSF snapped off, OSF heavily corroded, £291.54
NSR spring broken, req 2 new springs, £338.40
OSF ARB link gaitor split, req new link, £86.58
Both torque strut bushes torn, req 2 new bushes £263.28
O/S engine mount has leaked out oil, req 3 x mounts, £572.80
Rear discs corroded, req discs and pads £287.66
All clamps and connections on exhaust corroded, £103.26
NS rocker cover leaking, req new gasket £169.26
Rear main leaking, £666.66
Front door check straps req replacement £281.22

[Dammit]

And, as I said, I reckon a couple of those (rocker cover, RMS) are symptoms of excessive crankcase pressure, so that needs sorting out - I'd suspect crankcase breathers are blocked.

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Tyres and front discs are new.

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I quite enjoy the rarity of the C55 - only 50 or so UK cars were made. And by the time I've brought it up to the standard it deserves it will be uneconomic to sell it I suspect!

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Yes- it’s pleasantly subtle. Also only going to get rarer, and this one has yet to crack 80,000 miles which is low for its age. I’ll likely add <5k miles per year.

Would be nice if there was less to do now, of course- there’s also some surface rust in the wheel arches, but once everything is done at least I’ll know it’s 100% sorted and then just servicing neededd

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It's always possible, but I kept my last car for ten years.

I've got the C55 estate and a 996 cab, a fairly decent pairing in my view.

Right! Does anyone know about the breather system for these cars?

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The garage said that the reason to swap the discs and pads would be "to remove any vibration through the pedal", it's not a safety issue- at this point anyway.

To be clear, normally I'd just say "do the lot", and I shall do so - but time and cash is tight at this point, a friend is borrowing the car in five days, so there's a limit to what the garage can fix in that time.

I'm thinking of getting this subset of the total done:

NSR spring broken, req 2 new springs, £338.40
OSF ARB link gaitor split, req new link, £86.58
Both torque strut bushes torn, req 2 new bushes £263.28
O/S engine mount has leaked out oil, req 3 x mounts, £572.80
Total £1,261.06

Then when I get the car back, and I've been paid again, I'll tackle the rest.

I'm not going to change the gasket and RMS until we've got to the bottom of whether the breathers are blocked and over-pressurising the crankcase though, as we'd just blow them back out again I suspect.

On the C63 front - I didn't want to risk the headbolts on those engines, read too many "and then I hydro-locked the engine" stories on the owners forums!

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The rockers were re-sealed less than 12 months ago, is why I'm thinking there's something else wrong - that and the RMS.

Although the recent re-sealing job might just have been crap of course.

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400 bhp/400lbs has a nice ring to it- but I've got some maintenance to catch up on first!

My 911 looks to be 5 seconds faster round the Nurburgring than the C55, not a lot in it.

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11.3 seconds according to Fastestlaps

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It's a quick car, easy to like. Thirsty, mind you.