I bought a Mercedes S600 with a twin-turbo V12 and I discovered that the auction ran it without oil. Did they destroy the engine?
I Bought a Mercedes S600. Did the Auction Destroy the Engine??
A car rebuild expert bought a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, powered by a V12 engine. He knew right from the start that the auction company might have killed the almighty 5.5-liter power plant. A message written on a piece of paper by a mechanic might have saved it, but the auction house totally ignored it.
The Mercedes-Benz S-Class W221 arrived in 2006 with its elegant and completely restyled silhouette and tech that was way ahead of its time. It had the Airmatic air suspension, the Active Body Control suspension, and the TeleAid GPS tracking.
Furthermore, Mercedes had come up with the Brake Assist Plus (emergency braking), and Night View Assist, which was based on two near-infrared illuminators installed in the headlamps and a camera mounted in the windshield.
The sedan was a breakthrough in terms of comfort as well, as the S-Class has always been, generation after generation. The Multi-contour seats, the self-closing doors, and fully automatic climate control were on the menu, while a new hard-disk-based COMAND system came standard.
Customers could also check the rear entertainment box, which brought into the cabin two screens for the rear passenger, two sets of headphones, and a DVD drive in the rear. And no, we are not talking about the Maybach version. It was a time when the Maybach 57 and 62 were really struggling to survive, long before Mybach became a subbrand of Mercedes-Benz.
This car right here is an S 600 W 221, powered by the 337.3-cubic-inch (5.5-liter) twin-turbocharged V12 engine. A five-speed automatic transmission puts 510 horsepower (517 metric horsepower) to the ground through the rear wheels for a run from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 97 kph) in 4.4 seconds. The sedan ran the quarter mile in 12.7 seconds, while the needle of the speedometer could go all the way to 155 mph (250 kph).
The message that could have made the difference
This guy, going by the name of Waldo online, bought a W221 with a V12 at the salvage auction, where it was listed as “runs and drives.” The photos in the listing showed the engine running, but that was something that they shouldn’t have done.
The ad failed to provide one important detail: it might not run and drive anymore and they might be the ones to blame. There is a piece of paper in the trunk that could have spared them the trouble and probably saved the V12. It reads “Do not start. No oil.”
The auction company started it anyway. The new owner of the Benz assumes that the message was put in there by the mechanic who worked with the insurance company to diagnose the mechanical failure this car sustained. There is a hole in the oil tank pan. But that is as far as the puncture goes, so that does not explain the absence of oil.
The mechanic would have put it in one of the front seats, where it was visible, but the auction firm ignored it and risked destroying the V12. The engine has covered 95,623 miles, which is definitely not too much by the Mercedes standards.
He pushed the car into the shop to work on it. Once it is on the lift, he sees the damage that must have been caused by driving the sedan over something that caused that hole, as well as another one, into the catalytic converter. The transmission pan and exhaust also had to suffer. Luckily, the rear differential still has its usual shape.
A new catalytic convertor would be a $2,000 expense. So, he is working to repair it. Repair means unfolding it back into its original shape and patching it up. At the end of the day, the shift won’t win a beauty pageant, but it will do.
Nine liters of oil later, the car should be good to go. He tries to fire it up, and it works. “It sounds decent,” he concludes. But now, he has to deal with a fuel leak. Once fixed, he takes the Benz out of the garage. The transmission does shift, so he is content. He is going to change every fluid and filter in the car and get it in running condition.
Starting the engine with no oil usually spells disaster. Luckily, it didn’t this time, but it was a very close call.
We have recently reported on another Mercedes-Benz powered by a V12 engine at an online auction. The new owner, Sam, went to pick it up. Ten miles later, the car broke down on him. It was the hydraulic suspension of the SL 600.
Sam had paid $4,100 to take the Mercedes home. He had had such V12-powered SLs before, so he knew his way around them. He was hoping to doctor it up and sell it. Now, with the faulty suspension, he has yet to decide the future of the vehicle. One thing is for sure. Such a malfunction can easily turn into a financial disaster. But he has an idea that might work.
