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Keep W221 beyond 10 yrs


mike9956

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Thanks guys for some sound advise. My millage quite high unfortunately. I'm at about 180k right now. So considering if renew another 10yrs the car should survive till about 400k mileage I guess. 

This car is an awesome car to drive. Only it there is less nagging issues; that will be awesome. 

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47 minutes ago, mike9956 said:

I  tend to agree. 

By the way, Know of any paint shop that can do a merc-grade coat of paint at competitve price.  Did you re-coat after 10 yrs ?

Cheers

Initially I was thinking of doing that too. But then end up with paint correction and paint protection ceramic coat instead. Much cheaper and my logic is that a new coat of paint is hit and miss quality. Some paint from some shops wear out really fast. 2yrs down the road and it looks worse than what it was before respray. 

I always thought the original paint is more Hardy. 

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On ‎10‎/‎14‎/‎2017 at 2:53 AM, Wings17 said:

I'm also interested to know how feasible is it to keep the W221 beyond 10yrs. Mine now and then will here spoil there spoil. Not as robust as an e-class, but after spending so much on repairs....i'm torn if i should keep it or not as there might be many more components to spoil.

So far replaced this year, SAM unit, Suspension Control Unit, Airmatic pump, airmatic valve block, Front Shocks, Front Lower Arm, Brakes, Radiator, Vaccum Pump, Oil Cooler, Rear Oil Seal.

Things which might spoil soon : Transmission Control Unit or/and valve body

was wondering, did you replace all those parts in one servicing or they failed staggered?

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3 hours ago, Wings17 said:

About 50% of them in one major servicing.  The rest are staggered. 

Thanks for sharing, yeah I would renew if I were you. I am also worried about unending issues once I renew. By then too late to look back as PARF is down the toilet

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Wow! S class forums are usually quiet until recently! Thanks all for the comments and contribution and sharing of experience and knowledge. 

I renewed COE in Mar this year for my W221 which clocked 24k till date. 

What drives me crazy was the squeaky front passenger headrest which no one has solution for including CNC. The center console lock also gave way. Otherwise, All parts are working well for such a "young" car so far, have replaced both front struts and batteries though. 

Btw, How long would the rear struts usually last? The rubber covers on rear struts broke, wonder how much longer can they last? 

 

Thanks all. 

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I had the same problem as you.

Tortured by passenger headrest for almost 3 years. Finally couldn't tolerate, i dismantled and took the headrest out, bend the rods and put it back. The rattling and squeak is gone forever. Should have done that 3 years ago.

And my rear seat centre console lock broke. I diy and replaced with magnet. It is even more convenient than the original mechanical lock now

Rear strut average 5 - 8 years, front, 3 - 5 years, depending on your driving style.

 

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39 minutes ago, j888 said:

I had the same problem as you.

Tortured by passenger headrest for almost 3 years. Finally couldn't tolerate, i dismantled and took the headrest out, bend the rods and put it back. The rattling and squeak is gone forever. Should have done that 3 years ago.

And my rear seat centre console lock broke. I diy and replaced with magnet. It is even more convenient than the original mechanical lock now

Rear strut average 5 - 8 years, front, 3 - 5 years, depending on your driving style.

 

Haha very similar problems. Passenger head rest noise seemed to disappear ever since I tightened the seat cover at the back and lowered the head rest to lowest position. The COMAND also have issues reading DVDs. One thing is the plastic vents on the bonnet near the wipers, the plastic is very brittle - suggest you don't touch them unless you want to replace.

Yeah so far only replaced front arms in the 1-2 years I have this car. Back ones will follow soon. One thing I am worried is that my A/C may fail....seem to be leaking refrigerant. Monitoring the temperature,  seem to need to topup refrigerant every 4-6 months last year, but no more issues this year (fingers crossed). One other thing is to potentially service the valve body since jerky on first gear.

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, MasterGMT said:

Wow! S class forums are usually quiet until recently! Thanks all for the comments and contribution and sharing of experience and knowledge. 

I renewed COE in Mar this year for my W221 which clocked 24k till date. 

What drives me crazy was the squeaky front passenger headrest which no one has solution for including CNC. The center console lock also gave way. Otherwise, All parts are working well for such a "young" car so far, have replaced both front struts and batteries though. 

Btw, How long would the rear struts usually last? The rubber covers on rear struts broke, wonder how much longer can they last? 

 

Thanks all. 

My driver seat headrest was squeaking until the plastic holders inside totally broke. It's like all the plastic holders become brittle and will break at another part when I glue one part. 

Gave up on it and let it hang. It's never hanging to one side. Still works, and doesn't squeak anymore. Just looks crooked. But don't care la. 

24k is very very low millage for a 10yr old car!  I can clock that millage in 4-5months. 

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2 hours ago, dchum said:

Haha very similar problems. Passenger head rest noise seemed to disappear ever since I tightened the seat cover at the back and lowered the head rest to lowest position. The COMAND also have issues reading DVDs. One thing is the plastic vents on the bonnet near the wipers, the plastic is very brittle - suggest you don't touch them unless you want to replace.

Yeah so far only replaced front arms in the 1-2 years I have this car. Back ones will follow soon. One thing I am worried is that my A/C may fail....seem to be leaking refrigerant. Monitoring the temperature,  seem to need to topup refrigerant every 4-6 months last year, but no more issues this year (fingers crossed). One other thing is to potentially service the valve body since jerky on first gear.

 

 

 

You manage to get a quote for your valve body yet? Mine will jerk slightly when going uphill at 2nd to 4th gear. 

If plug in obd scanner it's threw a code. Other than that it drives perfectly. Hoping I can drag this gear box thing for 2more years. If I fix it then I'm renewing. If not then maybe I will give up the car and take my parf

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On ‎10‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 5:55 PM, Wings17 said:

You manage to get a quote for your valve body yet? Mine will jerk slightly when going uphill at 2nd to 4th gear. 

If plug in obd scanner it's threw a code. Other than that it drives perfectly. Hoping I can drag this gear box thing for 2more years. If I fix it then I'm renewing. If not then maybe I will give up the car and take my parf

I haven't got a quote yet. but I assumed won't be more than 2.8K as the replacement of ECU + servicing of valve body is around that price. For your jerks, have you tried resetting the adaptive gear change (whatever it is called) - sometimes the gear changes jerk a little when I change driving styles :).  

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Jerking during cold start from 1st to 2nd gear is a common problem for W221. It's a 7G gear glitch.

I have lived with it for 4 years already

Unless you do a transmission overhaul, nothing else will remove this problem even after Transmission ECU and valve body replacement.

To overcome this jerk, I simply warm up my engine for 4 to 5 mins in the morning, drive slow on 1st gear for a couple of meters while manually shift up to 2nd gear, there won't be any jerk after that.

Don't straight away step on accelerator hard on 1st gear, you will still encounter a jerk.

 

 

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1 hour ago, j888 said:

Jerking during cold start from 1st to 2nd gear is a common problem for W221. It's a 7G gear glitch.

I have lived with it for 4 years already

Unless you do a transmission overhaul, nothing else will remove this problem even after Transmission ECU and valve body replacement.

To overcome this jerk, I simply warm up my engine for 4 to 5 mins in the morning, drive slow on 1st gear for a couple of meters while manually shift up to 2nd gear, there won't be any jerk after that.

Don't straight away step on accelerator hard on 1st gear, you will still encounter a jerk.

 

 

Thanks bro, really helpful info

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2 hours ago, j888 said:

Jerking during cold start from 1st to 2nd gear is a common problem for W221. It's a 7G gear glitch.

I have lived with it for 4 years already

Unless you do a transmission overhaul, nothing else will remove this problem even after Transmission ECU and valve body replacement.

To overcome this jerk, I simply warm up my engine for 4 to 5 mins in the morning, drive slow on 1st gear for a couple of meters while manually shift up to 2nd gear, there won't be any jerk after that.

Don't straight away step on accelerator hard on 1st gear, you will still encounter a jerk.

 

 

Fully agree - brand new too similar issue. In fact, can be any gear as long as its hard acceleration, whether warm up or not.

Wife too can detect this jerky transmission!.

 

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Bro, to reduce the jerking, this is what I did...after you had parked your car, move your gear into N, release the brake, after which press the gear knob and move the gear into P. 

At least it works for me...

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1 hour ago, dyeeng said:

Bro, to reduce the jerking, this is what I did...after you had parked your car, move your gear into N, release the brake, after which press the gear knob and move the gear into P. 

At least it works for me...

I think for this it should be the parking gear. I get that too when I park on a slope. Usually I engage the handbrake then no more jerk when I put into D

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8 hours ago, j888 said:

Jerking during cold start from 1st to 2nd gear is a common problem for W221. It's a 7G gear glitch.

I have lived with it for 4 years already

Unless you do a transmission overhaul, nothing else will remove this problem even after Transmission ECU and valve body replacement.

To overcome this jerk, I simply warm up my engine for 4 to 5 mins in the morning, drive slow on 1st gear for a couple of meters while manually shift up to 2nd gear, there won't be any jerk after that.

Don't straight away step on accelerator hard on 1st gear, you will still encounter a jerk.

 

 

Oh nice. Let me try this tomorrow. My setting is comfort so I think mine moves on in 2nd gear.

If I choose sport mode and move off in 1st gear. It's not exactly jerky but not as smooth and can hear the engine more. 

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9 hours ago, dchum said:

I haven't got a quote yet. but I assumed won't be more than 2.8K as the replacement of ECU + servicing of valve body is around that price. For your jerks, have you tried resetting the adaptive gear change (whatever it is called) - sometimes the gear changes jerk a little when I change driving styles :).  

I got a quote of about 3k+. Dunno if want to fix or just live with it and hope it doesn't break or become worse 

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29 minutes ago, dyeeng said:

Bro,

Any one encounter in-take manifold issue? Seems like it drives consumption up and rev over 2.5 before gear change.

:hot:

Ya my intake manifold is broken long time ago too. Mine is stuck in the open position. So I just take it as the special intake swirl flap tech is missing lor.

I still can change gear at 2k rpm though

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