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Mercedes 500SEC.comThe Mercedes-Benz page
  • Models
    • Mercedes C190 AMG GT (C120 AMG GT S) 2015-
    • Mercedes W222 S63 and S65AMG
    • Mercedes X222 Maybach 2014-
    • Mercedes 107 SLC coupé 1971 – 1981
    • Mercedes A222 S-Class Convertible
    • Mercedes C117 CLA-class 2013-
    • Mercedes C197 SLS AMG 2009-
    • Mercedes C203 and CL203 C-Class coupé 2001-2007
    • Mercedes C204 C-Class coupe 2011 –
    • Mercedes C205 C-Class coupé 2015-
    • Mercedes C207 E-Class coupe 2010-
    • Mercedes C208 CLK-Class 1998 – 2002
    • Mercedes C209 CLK-class 2003-2009
    • Mercedes C215 CL-Class 2000 – 2006
    • Mercedes C216 CL-Class S-Class coupe 2007 – 2014
    • Mercedes C217 S-Class coupe 2015-
    • Mercedes C292 GLE-Class 2015-
    • Mercedes Engines
    • Mercedes First model series, 1900/1901
    • Mercedes Hacks
    • Mercedes Model K 1924 – 1930
    • Mercedes R107 SL-Class 1972-1989
    • Mercedes R129 SL-Class 1990 – 2001
    • Mercedes R170 SLK-Class 1995-2004
    • Mercedes R171 SLK-Class 2004 – 2010
    • Mercedes R172 SLK-Class 2011 –
    • Mercedes R230 SL-Class 2001 – 2010
    • Mercedes R231 SL-Class 2011 –
    • Mercedes S, SS, SSK, SSKL, 1926 – 1933
    • Mercedes W100 600 1963 – 1981
    • Mercedes W108 S-Class 1965 – 1972
    • Mercedes W111, W112 Fintail 1959 – 1968
    • Mercedes W113 Pagoda SL 1963 – 1971
    • Mercedes W114 1973 – 1976
    • Mercedes W116 S-Class 1972 – 1980
    • Mercedes W121 190SL 1955 – 1963
    • Mercedes W123 E-Class 1975 – 1985
    • Mercedes W124 E-Class 1984 – 1994
    • Mercedes W126 S-Class 1980 – 1991
    • Mercedes W126C SEC-Class 1981 – 1991
    • Mercedes W136 170V 1936 – 1942
    • Mercedes W138 260D 1936 – 1940
    • Mercedes W140 S-Class 1992 – 1998
    • Mercedes W140C S-Class coupe 1992 – 1998
    • Mercedes W142 300 1937 – 1942
    • Mercedes W143 230 1936 – 1941
    • Mercedes W150 770 “Grand Mercedes” 1938 – 1943
    • Mercedes W153 230 1938 – 1943
    • Mercedes W163 M-Class 1997 – 2001
    • Mercedes W164 ML-Class 2006 – 2010
    • Mercedes W166 ML-Class 2011 –
    • Mercedes W168 A-Class 1997 – 2001
    • Mercedes W169 A-Class 2005 – 2011
    • Mercedes W176 A-Class 2012 –
    • Mercedes W180, W105, W128 Ponton 1954 – 1959
    • Mercedes W198 300 SL Coupé and 300 SL Roadster 1954 – 1963
    • Mercedes W199 SLR 2004 – 2009
    • Mercedes W201 190 1982 – 1992
    • Mercedes W202 C-Class 1993 – 2000
    • Mercedes W203 C-Class 2000 – 2006
    • Mercedes W204 C-Class 2007 –
    • Mercedes W205 C-Class 2014 –
    • Mercedes W210 E-Class 1995-2002
    • Mercedes W211 E-Class 1999-2005
    • Mercedes W211 E55AMG The most powerful E-Class yet
    • Mercedes W212 E-Class 2009-
    • Mercedes W213 E-Class 2017-
    • Mercedes W218 CLS-Class 2010 –
    • Mercedes W219 CLS-Class 2005 – 2010
    • Mercedes W220 S-Class 1999 – 2005
    • Mercedes W221 2010 Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG and S65 AMG
    • Mercedes W221 S-Class 2006 – 2013
    • Mercedes W222 S-Class 2014 –
    • Mercedes W23 W28 W30 W130 130 150 150V 170H 1934 – 1939
    • Mercedes W240 Maybach 2002 – 2012
    • Mercedes W245 B-Class 2005 – 2010
    • Mercedes W246 B-Class 2011 –
    • Mercedes W251 R-Class 2005 –
    • Mercedes W29 500K / 540K 1934 – 1939
    • Mercedes W460, 461, 462, 463 G-Class Geländewagen 1979 –
    • Mercedes X156 GLA-class 2014-
    • Mercedes X164 GL-Class 2006 – 2011
    • Mercedes X166 GL-Class 2012 –
    • Mercedes X204 GLK-Class 2007
    • Mercedes X205 GLC-Class 2015-
    • Mercedes-Maybach S-Class
  • Buyers Guide
    • Buyers guide to the W126C SEC 1981-1991
    • Buyers guide to the W220 and C215 CL S-Class Sedan and Coupé
  • Technology
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  • Gallery
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    • About ME
    • Technology Milestones: From ABC to ZAS
  • Contact Us

Buyers guide to the W220 and C215 CL S-Class Sedan and Coupé

The general opinion i have reached, this via thoroughly researching through Mercedes-Benz dealers and garages as well as owners and through the Internet is that the model w220 and 215 are solid Mercedes cars with very few specific trouble areas.

Bear in mind that they are very well built using some rather expensive technique and parts will therefore be expensive.

Remember this was a Top of the line model from Mercedes-Benz.
 
There are some problems that pops up other than regular usagewear on the car and i will try to bring them to light for you, the prospective buyer.

Electronics

Windows that usually don´t move the way they are intended to do can be credited mostly due to cable breakage.
 
The trunk for between the door and the chassi is a bad construction in where they did not use any contact as in most modern autos today but the wiring is led thru the chassis straight out to the different modules in the door.
 
Ususally there is one of the larger cables that breaks.

For the ones heavy in cash there is complete original cables as spares but the handy (wo)man fix this with loose cables in the correct dimension.
 
Take notice there is an AIRBAG in the door so it is highly recommended that you make sure that the battery has been disconnected and for at least 30 min.
 
If you happen to disconnect anything in the SRS-chain with the ignition in position 2 you will immediately get a error message in the instrumentcluster, this has to be erased with Star Diagnose at the Mercedes-Benz dealer.

ABC

No major problems reported, here but there are some owners that has had problems with the pump and had it changed under warranty.
This seem to be a more frequent problem with early model years 99 -02.
 
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The ABC pump itself costs around and it is very bad located so it is a job for the garage unless you are a very skilled mechanic and want a challenge.  There are some pipes that has caused trouble and there has been replacements on goodwill but these are not that common.
A car with ABC might sink when standing parked (in a week or so, it shouldnt do so if all is ok but is allowed) but if it sinks too low it might not be able to get up to correct driving stance again and will then have to be transported to a garage for repairs.
 
The system has a pressure equalizer that might quit on you in time and this makes the car sink and go very low, before or when this happens it should be possible to hear a “growling” sound between 1200-1800 RPM.
 
It is relatively cheap to replace it, -400 for the part and to change it you have to go from under the car, so a lift is required.
 
Valves on the sometimes gets stuck i have heard of people that has ran the ABC and they have unstuck and never ever caused problems again but it could happen so that a valve has to be replaced.
 
Oilchange in the ABC system is highly recommended somewhat regularly, once every two years sounds good to me, i will do it that often on my car with ABC but there don´t seem to be any recommended interval for this maintenance, some mechanics even say that it should never have to be replaced.
 

Rust

The undercarriage is partly protected with armed plastic parts except for around the “jack” points. If there are signs of rust there a good thing to do then is to remove the side skirts and take care of it as soon as possible.
 
There Is a “pocket” behind the bottom section where the plastic goes over to the back carriage where turbulent winds have easily access so don’t forget to inspect this area from time to time both fuel lines and pipes for the ABC are partly exposed there.
 
Take a look on the bottom of the doors it could be ugly due to that the inside is made of magnesium and the outside of aluminium it will never rust but it could get ugly.
Instrument cluster
The light derives from a LED tube fed through a switch converter. It has happened that they break and some has gotten it replaced from Mercedes-Benz goodwill. No one so far that I have heard of has been able to repair it but the whole cluster has to be replaced.

Comand

Is NOT standard there are some cars with a standard car stereo. I would recommend against buying this due to the second hand value, not many persons that I know would buy a car this luxurious without COMAND.
 
Earlier cars 1999-2002 has the model 2.5 based on CD. This was upgraded to the DX version still with CD but a bit better and faster. 2003 and on has got the DVD based system that also has got a bigger screen.

Soft Close – and Seats lumbar support/Massage

The pump that manages this is located in the trunk on the opposite side of the fuel lid, you will have to remove the interior polster to be able to access it.
If the lumbar pumps up and then empties there will be a sound from the pump a faint “pfdunk-pfdunk-pfdunk” from when the compressor working to try to get the pressure up again.
 
One possible fault could be a broken vacuum hose under the seat that has broken from the seat moving. There’s only one vacuum hose running from the pump to the seat.

ZAS

ZAS -“Zylinder AbSchaltung” was standard on the 600 and possible to get as an option on the 500. This is a system that shuts down one row of cylinders when running at a steady pace. Seems like Mercedes-Benz stopped using this system after 2006- not sure why the decided to do so..
 
I myself have owned a S500 2000 (for a year and 50.000km) with ZAS and I could notice the economy from this system. Some people say to avoid this but I believe that it is a safe system.
 
Now, spring 2017 I am yet again the owner of a W220 S500L 2003 190.000 km.

Gearboxes

The automatic gearbox has self-adjusting mechanisms that are supposed to make shifts soft even when the gearbox is cold so make sure to test drive the car when cold so these contraptions work as supposed to. Gearboxes are 5-speed and later replaced by the 7G-tronic 7-speed from model year 2006-



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