W221 S-Class/Faults

[C43AMG]

Bought the car new January 2008. Picked it up in Germany.

Just clocked 96,000 miles. Nothing had gone wrong until the last couple of weeks.

Blower Motor was stopping intermittently.

£25.00 Labour by a very competent Indie who had changed many motors, hence the £ 25.00 labour charge. Had the Pollen filters changed as well, they were as black as your hat. I must check with Brooklands to see if they have ever changed them ?

Motor £ 179.00
Resistor Pack £ 185.00
Pollen filters £ 56.83

Total £ 420.83 + VAT

After accessing the motor which is under the glove box a little water dripped out, he knew exactly what was causing that. Apparently it is a design fault, under the bonnet on the N/S there is a rubber mesh to stop rubbish getting into the well, he removed the rubber mesh and took out this rubber grommet. Then a rush of water just spilled out under the car, he promptly through the grommet into the dustbin. This badly designed grommet is in the 220 the 140 and other models. When I got home I went straight to the CL and fortunately someone had already removed the offending piece of rubber. I am really surprised that Brooklands would have been aware of this problem. If the water is allowed to continue to rise it ends up in the front footwell and can blow all the relays for the seats and goodness knows what else.

I'm sure lots of people are aware of this problem. Just in case like me there are a few who don't.

Last Friday in town not working fortunately. Got into car after getting a coffee, turned the key click, click, click, nothing sounded like started motor.

RAC man checked batteries all okay, Starter Motor. Low loaded to Brooklands

Definitely Starter Motor

Starter Motor £ 267.75 + Labour

Total £ 481.95 + VAT

I must admit I was expecting the Starter Motor to be at least £500.00. So a pleasant surprise.

So five and half years and over 96,000 miles later I'm very happy with the S-Class and it drives like a dream, it seems the more mileage the better it runs, as if it is just run in.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Nice write up, however I wouldnt expect the starter motor to fail on a 5 year old Fiesta, let alone the flagship of MB! - these things happen as we all know

 

[HumberMart]

Yes, just what I needed to read, a good report on an S Class having just bought an S350CDI which is having engine problems, but then I realised yours in a petrol V8, not the V6 diesel!

I had the same blower issue for the same reason on a 2004 Crossfire (same as SLK). Chrysler wanted £200 for the resistor, but I got an SLK copy of eBay for £35 and that worked fine.

Allowing dead leaves to build up under the bonnet around the wiper area may have been a contributing factor in the Crossfire. Interestingly, we then had a bigger problem during the very cold winter 20 months ago, when the water trapped by the blocked drain holes must have frozen, but the water higher up (in the roof) melted in the sunshine, and water was dripping from the courtesy light fitting and the roof lining became soaking.