The S Class - Dad Tank II

[zipdip]

I should also add that try to never use the parking button on the end of the gearstick,always put on the electric parking brake,if you do not use this for a period of time it will seize up and that is expensive to put right.

 

[Alex225]

You got a great car,the memory seat package,many do not have it,now some will say well I am the only person who drives the car so why have say two different seat settings so at a push of a button the seat is set for you,but there is a another very cool thing that happens if you have memory when you are parking the car select reverse and the nearside door mirror will tilt down so you can see the rear nearside wheel very handy given the size of the car and the cost of refurbing wheels.as I said great cars very cheap they have to be the bargain in the mercedes range and they do not rot,if you put that car in sport and give it some right foot the car will eat the road up.

The memory seats was one of the options I really wanted in the car. Not so much for different drivers but I usually have two settings. I'll have setting 1 set with the seat a bit more upright with the steering wheel higher and further forward. Setting 2 I use for long motorway drives so once I'm settled into a long run, I'll have the seat slightly further back, wheel a bit closer and the seat leaning back a little.

I should also add that try to never use the parking button on the end of the gearstick,always put on the electric parking brake,if you do not use this for a period of time it will seize up and that is expensive to put right.

Out of habit I always pop the car into neutral when parked, handbrake on and then P. I assume it rests on the handbrake rather than the parking pawl. Same as my old E Class. Definitely use the handbrake since it's there.

 

[Alex225]

Car looks immaculate! Hard to believe it’s over a decade old

To be fair the car was in really good condition when I got it, part the reason I went for it. Only took a handful of things to get it looking newer. The wheels and the seats have lifted the car right up. The styling of these I think has aged really well, I don't consider it looking dated despite being 12 years old.

 

[Alex225]

My S Class had a visitor from another car I own. Couldn't be more of an opposite really, small, nippy and French! Had this since new and putting it in storage alongside my CLS. Thought it looks cool alongside the S.

Not really very Mercedes related but some may find it a bit interesting.

And yes I need to do some weeding! haha

 

[MrGreedy]

The styling of these I think has aged really well, I don't consider it looking dated despite being 12 years old.

Amazing job on this car!
I think these look better today than when new, as the straighter lines back then were a relatively new departure.
I'm happy with my recent E350 CDI acquisition, but this thread is making me wish I'd gone for one of these or an S500. There's an S350 ex-embassy car for sale currently on the trader. One owner and 60k, 2006, £7495. I would hope that the car would often have been in secure locations, and therefore fewer body work issues, but who knows.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202006230438101

 

[Alex225]

Amazing job on this car!
I think these look better today than when new, as the straighter lines back then were a relatively new departure.
I'm happy with my recent E350 CDI acquisition, but this thread is making me wish I'd gone for one of these or an S500. There's an S350 ex-embassy car for sale currently on the trader. One owner and 60k, 2006, £7495. I would hope that the car would often have been in secure locations, and therefore fewer body work issues, but who knows.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202006230438101

It's likely the E will probably give you less bills although the S models really do present a lot of value from that era. I bought mine based on the condition but still spent a few quid getting it as close to new as possible, £700 on the leather, £400 odd on the wheels etc. But it's an awful lot of car for what I paid for it and to have it really tidy, it's somewhat comparable to it's new price.

I'm just hoping the niggles are ironed out I got sorted under warranty are it for a while!

That link isn't working now I'm afraid mate but you would definitely expect it to have been in some secure places haha.

I made a little purchase to go in the S the other week, arrived more quickly than expected. It's a PCMCIA adapter of the stereo, will allow me to use an SD card for music as up until now it's been MP3 DVD which work ok but it seems to lose it's place now and then.

For what it cost me, I'm not convinced it's a genuine Merc part but it came in a nice tin! haha

I've not tested it yet but I've loaded up to 32gb cards. Fingers crossed.

i'm not too fussed about streaming from my phone as I'm old school and buy CDs which I rip to MP3 anyway.

 

[MrGreedy]

Yeah, I think the ex-Embassy S-class has been snapped up. It looked in amazing condition, with what looked like a darker tan/brown leather. Not really seen that before.

I'm sorting the niggles on my E as well. New washer hose and all the scuttle panel and drain system cleaned up whilst off. Wheels refurbed (although damaged during tyre refit, so I'm trying to get that resolved which is a pain). Removed, clean and rejuvenated all the boot seals to hopefully stop leaks. New wheel arch liner. New front badges.
The most annoying bit is the aluminium 'non-removable' heat shield/Mercedes Benz logo plate has fallen off one of the front calipers. They push into the visible face of the caliper seen through the wheel; it's not the bigger shield behind the brake disc. These are made by TRW (brakes), but they won't sell one and customer service deny it exists (it's stamped up with their part number and logo), neither will Merc, so it's £280 for a new caliper (plus the hassle of fitting) to get the new plate. I've tried pointing out this is not very environmentally friendly and seems to run totally contrary to Mercedes and Daimler's published environmental policy, having to replace the whole caliper for such a little part. I don't think anyone I've spoken to cares. In fact, I get the impression they think I'm off my head and have just landed from Mars. A quick trawl of the forums reveals this is a really common problem.

 

[MrGreedy]

Also picked up a foot rest, same as I had in my E-Class.

Hi Alex,

How did you fit the foot rest? It doesn't sit well with my that in my E, I'm just resting shoes directly on the carpet; not even on the floor mat!

Thank you!

 

[Alex225]

Hi Alex,

How did you fit the foot rest? It doesn't sit well with my that in my E, I'm just resting shoes directly on the carpet; not even on the floor mat!

Thank you!

It's basically got sticky backed plastic on the underside. I used the same type of thing for my E Class and it stayed put. Seems to be fine in the S too.

Like you putting my feet on that bare bit of carpet just didn't seem right! haha

 

[Alex225]

Not much of an update on the S although one small victory, I finally managed to get the clock right! I kept reading things online about how if you get in and set the clock after the car has sat overnight, it changes it before the GPS picks it up. I'd tried and failed but this time managed to nail it, so the nice rather old school clock is right!

Had to replace the left brake bulb which of course was an LED strip not a simple bulb. Thankfully only £40 compared to the £140 DDR initially thought the part might be (part of the whole cluster).

The car is cleaner than that now thankfully haha

Next on the agenda is the glow plugs. The coil seems to be staying on longer than it has done and on a couple of ocassions has come on despite the car having been running 30-65 minutes. If it is the glow plugs then they appear to have lasted almost exactly the same mileage as the ones in my partners CLS350cdi.

 

[TomF]

Not much of an update on the S although one small victory, I finally managed to get the clock right! I kept reading things online about how if you get in and set the clock after the car has sat overnight, it changes it before the GPS picks it up. I'd tried and failed but this time managed to nail it, so the nice rather old school clock is right!

Had to replace the left brake bulb which of course was an LED strip not a simple bulb. Thankfully only £40 compared to the £140 DDR initially thought the part might be (part of the whole cluster).

The car is cleaner than that now thankfully haha

Next on the agenda is the glow plugs. The coil seems to be staying on longer than it has done and on a couple of ocassions has come on despite the car having been running 30-65 minutes. If it is the glow plugs then they appear to have lasted almost exactly the same mileage as the ones in my partners CLS350cdi.

Is there a light on the dash for glow plugs? Is it an easy fix?

 

[Alex225]

Is there a light on the dash for glow plugs? Is it an easy fix?

Yeah the little coil light has been coming on intermittently. No issues with it starting currently. I'm hoping it's not the relay to the glow plugs as I know that can be an issue.

 

[TomF]

Oh! Hope mine won't be an issue, at least I'm forewarned.
Are the plugs and relay easy to change?
Must say though, I thought the electrics would be a nightmare after the experience with a 2000 CLK320 I had.
It's bang on though despite Daimler electrics..

 

[Pauls500]

Lovely car ! I’ve heard the Megs hybrid ceramic is good stuff.

 

[Alex225]

Oh! Hope mine won't be an issue, at least I'm forewarned.
Are the plugs and relay easy to change?
Must say though, I thought the electrics would be a nightmare after the experience with a 2000 CLK320 I had.
It's bang on though despite Daimler electrics..

Electrics wise, I really can't complain, all the little features work which was something I was very thorough on when I bought the car.

The things I've had to get done on the car all seem to be pretty common be it wear and tear or common failures. Ironic thing is by the time I sell in say 4-5 years time and it's got 110k or so on it, everything will have been done and it'll sail on for another 100k! haha

As for the plugs, I think they're easy enough if they don't break that is. Relay, I'm not sure but I won't think about that until a week's time when I drop it in to DDR haha

Lovely car ! I’ve heard the Megs hybrid ceramic is good stuff.

I'm very much sold on it. I tried Gyeon Wetcoat and Bead Juice which are both products you spray on when the car is wet and rinse. Wetcoat certainly works well even on a car with no protection, you'll get beading for 4-5 weeks.

The Meguiars product is much more like a crossover of a wax with the same kind of properties as Wetcoat. I used it on my mums car as a standalone product, it was beading after 9 weeks or so which I think is pretty impressive for it's ease of use. May have lasted longer but I washed and applied it again.

 

[Alex225]

So the S received it's last clean of 2020. Such a weird year for most of us and in turn I only did around 5-6k in the car where I'd normally do nearer 11k by now. That said despite the niggles, which I kind of expected going by the notoriety of these cars, I'm loving owning the W221.

Funny thing was that the old glow plug I had replaced a few months back, was put down on the metal plate in the top left of the engine. Completely camouflaged I hadn't noticed it and it hadn't moved.

Roll on 2021!

 

[Lenny63]

She is a purdy big Wagon mate

 

[Alex225]

Thanks Lenny!

Quick clean up today, nothing too fancy.

Also fitted a new dashcam the other afternoon. I had a dashcam in my old E Class which was ok but about 4-5 years old. They've certainly come on a long way since then. Can feel the build quality is better, few neat little extras included and it has a touch screen and bluetooth.

I bought an additional kit to hard wire it, piggy backs off a fuse which I accessed next to the steering column. Nice and easy, as neat as possible. and less than an hour to get it all in place.

It has a 128gb memory card so can record up to 16 hours which I suspect is more than enough! haha

 

[Alex225]

Well, the S went in for it's first MOT under my care and, well it turned out to be a little pricey!

I used DDR as I trust they know what they're doing with these cars, plus if any work was needed I knew they'd just get it sorted. Perhaps more pricey than a local independent but genuine parts and knowledge counts for something.

£250 for the service and MOT, which is pretty standard.

I knew tyres were on my radar for this year but they came up as an advisory so opted for two new fronts. Also needed a front suspension ball joint, plus one of the bushes on the other side was worn and needs replacing as a pair.

Grand total of £1,200. Lucky I like this bloody car and who said S Class ownership was going to be cheap! haha

 

[W1ghty]

Well, the S went in for it's first MOT under my care and, well it turned out to be a little pricey!

I used DDR as I trust they know what they're doing with these cars, plus if any work was needed I knew they'd just get it sorted. Perhaps more pricey than a local independent but genuine parts and knowledge counts for something.

£250 for the service and MOT, which is pretty standard.

I knew tyres were on my radar for this year but they came up as an advisory so opted for two new fronts. Also needed a front suspension ball joint, plus one of the bushes on the other side was worn and needs replacing as a pair.

Grand total of £1,200. Lucky I like this bloody car and who said S Class ownership was going to be cheap! haha

When you do MOT history checking on cars on AutoT , the S class and CL have always got suspension ball joint as a failure, must be a model thing .
Maybe next year will be a cheap one !