2008 e550 I am looking at purchasing
 

OK I’ve had a bunch of old Mercedes over the years . They were mostly W123’s in W124s. I drive a 1995 E300 diesel that I have for sale now. I’m pretty sure I have a buyer coming this afternoon but that’s another story

My situation right now is my boss Picked up a 2008 e550 one owner from his next-door neighbor for $1500.. The next-door neighbor explain to him that it needed new air shocks in the front. He had replaced the rear ones about six months ago. The car is in unbelievable condition physically cosmetically ETC. It is triple black and has what looks to be most options. Panorama sunroof heated and cooled seats rear sunshades Nav So on and so forth. My boss is
asking me to help him with this car on fixing it up or sell like it is.

I jumped in the car today and got to drive it for an hour........Holy **** where have I been!?:p This car is phenomenal! The front shocks air up within a couple of minutes of starting the car. The key does not lock the car I forgot to check the switch. You can’t get in the trunk. And the panorama roof does not work nor do the power shades so they are open and it has a triple black car in Georgia. The threshold of hell is not hot enough.

My question is should I buy this car for myself? I know it needs a motor mount I can feel That and I can probably address the front shocks myself. I’m wanting to take a wild guess and just say the battery is probably dead in the key fob. I want to offer my boss $2500. I think he will take it. Do y’all think that sounds like a fair deal?

Thx joe

I forgot to mention the car has 180 K miles and it has brand new tires all the way around did I say it was spotless and mint.

is that the 5.5 forced induction motor? If so woo,alot of upgrades to get over 900 horsepower
However get a star tool,as they need a reset from time to time

Do some research Joe. I seem to remember something about balance shaft issues in them somewhere along those years - the 6 cyl and 8. It may have been resolved by 08.

Well I bough it..Just got home with it. I gave him 2500 for it. It runs and drives really well the aromatic works really nice as well all the functions work. The front just sinks overnight Panorama sunroof is jacked up and the shades won’t close. Just found a little mold in the back floorboard so I guess it’s leaking as well. Car was recently serviced at a very good euro shop here in town. Power door locks are finicky. Can’t get in the trunk. I’ve got a change the fob battery. The car absolutely halls ass and has cold AC but I was still about to melt here in Georgia because it’s 94Degrees the car is triple black and the shades won’t close on the roof I literally could not touch the wood stairwell or the shifter. I had to get a towel from the shop to drive it home. We will see what happens in the coming days I will try and attach a photo but I always have crappy luck at that!

Hit the JY and find a set of coilovers from an E320 or E350. It's bolt on for the airmatic car and you'll never have to worry about it again. Swapping to coil overs on he 211 is dead easy.

Joe, a PPI (pre-purchase inspection) at a local MB dealer would have shown you exactly what repairs this E550 needs to make it right. From what I know the airmatic repairs are $1,200 - $1,500 per corner. The coil-over approach is worth considering, but the car will not perform the same … and it may take some computer re-programming for the car to assimilate the suspension modification.

Arnott sells a kit to convert these cars to springs which, last time I looked, have worked successfully on cars for quite a few decades. Anyway in their kit they provide a plug in electronic device that prevents the airmatic fault code from coming on. I installed their springs on an 05 E class wagon (that I should have kept) and the only negative was the fact it was a little lower in the rear with the springs.

hard to go wrong at the price. even if you drive it for a while and something goes really wrong you can get most of the money back parting it out or find a better one and use this one for parts. a guy on marketplace has a set of new front air shocks for $450 and the coil over option is also a possibility.
Good score!

Thanks guys ! the car is still aired up from driving it home yesterday so it’s holding air longer than 24 hours. I have a new problem though if somebody could please help

I put new batteries in the key Fob And the doors locked and unlocked perfectly. But when you press the trunk button nothing would happen. So I took the emergency key out and open the truck with the emergency key. The hazard started flashing for about five or 10 minutes and now I’m locked out of the car. The car will not respond to the key Fob. Luckily the batteries in the trunk so I have unhooked it let it sit and hooked it back up again ...same problem I now have an open trunk but a locked car I can’t get into. I would much rather not be able to get in the trunk of course but be able to get in the damn car. Should I close the trunk and try to unlock The car again? Thanks

I don't think you have much to lose. That 95 E300 looks better already don't it;)?

Lol. Hell yes. What a pain in the ass car. I could see where someone’s been in the fuse box in the trunk the door was missing. Should I close the trunk and then maybe try to unlock it? I don’t understand why the hard key will not unlock the drivers door. Damn this is infuriating

Did you try locking then unlocking the car? The alarm module tends to fail on these cars. The easy solution is to simply remove it from the car .

On US cars it's on the driver's side so mirror image everything you see here.
https://www.ljcaesar.com/2017/05/mercedes-w211-e-class-w219-cls-alarm-siren-replacement/

Should fix the lock problem.

Joe, try disconnecting the battery for at least 12 hours. We have had 2 incidents with our 1998 E320 where after unlocking the car with the key fob the alarm activates … horn sounds and headlights flash. We're able to drive the car with the alarm activated, and after a few minutes the alarm will shutoff; however, once you hit the brakes the cycle restarts. The 2nd time this happened I drove 5 miles home, pulled into our garage and disconnected the battery overnight. Reconnected the battery the next morning, and everything was OK and nothing has happened again for the past year … knock on wood. I have no idea what triggered these 2 incidents, but it is very disconcerting to have this happen. I feel your pain.

Thank u. I will try anything at this point The car completely ignores the remote. I put new batteries in it yesterday. I was elated when it started locking and unlocking. But when I started fooling with that trunk. It all went south

Feldman thanks for the suggestion. I will try anything at this point. I bought the car with leaky front air matic so I need to get it on Jack stands this morning. I just wanna drink coffee. Lol.

So as I am Cracking lug nuts this morning..I noticed the fender liner is loose. I’ll go ahead and pull it back and look in there and someone has already pulled the alarm box. I double checked on the passenger side as well in case it was still located over there for US spec cars. No box.

I got back in the trunk.Noticed that someone had already been into the wiring harness that runs up the trunk hinge and down into the fuse box all the trim panels were loose even the fuse box is loose I found one white wire that has been disconnected from somewhere just laying loose. And I see where someone has used electrical tape to tape up a brown wire. So this looks like this has been an ongoing issue.

Can I call Mercedes-Benz service and them come out and unlock my car ha ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

Well I ended up resorting to the crowbar and the coat hanger method. Now the Trunk mysteriously opens and closes on its own But the key fob doesn’t work anymore so I guess I’m just gonna have to leave it unlocked. As of this day July 12 at 9:40 AM Mercedes Benz E550 with the last three digits of the Vin being 342......Has been locked for the last damn time

Nice car.

On w211 the wiring along the left side of the trunk lid tends to break from repeated opening and closing. You have to dive into the wiring harness and patch up any broken wires. This is frequently why the trunk won’t remote open. I think you’ve got more going on than that, but it’s a place to start.

You might try looking for information in the w211 forum over at mbworld. There’s a lot more action on the newer models than here at PP.

Yes I just joined thank you! Yes I have discovered where the previous owner has already dove into the harness. And I found the broken brown wire that had already been taped up. I see a broken or come loose white wire but I do not know where its home is. The truck will now open using the handle on the exterior. Not sure how I really was of that? But the key Bob with brand new batteries is absolutely useless. It will not lock unlock open the truck or anything

Have you seen any evidence that it spent time in the water?

i did find a spot that appeared to be sunroof leaking in rear floorboards...i having one of my jobsite guys caulk it all up monday they do a hell of a job

You have a $2600.00 08 E550 w180k that the trunk is giving you trouble. Run the shyt out of it with no valuables in the trunk.

Obviously u can’t read. If I had a F$&! in each hand I would give neither to have a working trunk. My problem is being locked out of a GD car Because I chose to open the trunk....any thing else to add.

Sorry, I could have suggested you hand a signed blank check to an MB dealership.

I have a 2008 e350 4matic sport edition, which is identical to your car except for the engine and your air suspension (I have springs).

When you try to open or close the shade do you hear a faint tapping or clicking sound in the back? Sometimes they can stick but they always move after a second or two (or three....or ten). If you don't hear that tapping noise then you probably just blew a fuse. Same for the sunroof.

Indeed, since you say someone has accessed the fuse box, don't assume they did something correctly. Get the fuse diagram and replace every single fuse per the diagram, and you might notice some good results.

It is possible the door/trunk opening and closing issues could be a faulty key fob and have nothing to do with the car. You might try getting a replacement for that.

Engine mounts on my car are in plain view, easily accessible through the wheel well with the wheels off. I'm doing mine this coming week but I can't speak for the e550, with its larger engine and probably different mount configuration.

Swapping out struts/springs appears to be a 5 bolt operation with the entire unit coming out in one piece. It could be an easy and inexpensive option but since the rear airmatics were renently replaced, might make sense to just keep them and replace the ones up front.

Joe, recommend using an insulated butt connector for the broken brown wire. If a connector will not repair the broken wire, use a short piece of the same gauge wire and 2 butt connectors to repair the break. Be sure to crimp the connector(s) properly.

Never sold a car so fast! It never even made it to my signature. Gone $4000. Whew. Now take me back to 1995 again.