[abhijeetveer]

got a chance to meet speedy along with his beast a couple of days back. and im out of words
gem of a person, jewel of a car.
Amazed...

[speedy]

Originally Posted by VLOCT

I love that color. I'm sure that once that car is restored by someone knowledgeable, it'll last a lifetime. You just have to drive it. I drove my 740iL for 11 years and put 143000 miles before I sold it. Heck, my mustang, my commuter, has 171000 miles on it and is 13 years old. Not a thing wrong with it. The maintenance costs of mercs are overly blown. From what I hear, merc dealers in India seem to rip people off. If you do the regular recommended maintenance probably every 15000 miles (may be less in India) these cars will last several lifetimes.

Patience is the key. The reward is great. Cheers.

So do i. The car is being done by someone knowledgeable as i tried the So called "experts"of the field. A friend abroad has his w140 that has been with him from new and it has clocked in around 1 lakh plus kms.
It is not only maintainance costs but also the purchase costs where people get ripped off. The margins are way to high. Only a small example the fuel filter cost Rs 850 in the open market, from the official dealer it costs you Rs 1500. The air filter is Rs 1000 outside, official is TRs 2000. Tyres Michilin outside Rs 19,700 each officially from the dealership is Rs 37,700 each. These are just small things i noticed when my car was with the official dealership for 5.5 months. What i have been recomended by owners of similar cars is to have the normal service patern for the mercedes which is 10,000Kms to change/clean filters and oil. As for the transmission filter it can be changed/ cleaned every 5,000 kms.

It has been 7 to 8 months now and i am in no hurry. I rather take it slow and do a good joob then hurry and make it shabby. Cheers.

Originally Posted by abhijeetveer

got a chance to meet speedy along with his beast a couple of days back. and im out of words
gem of a person, jewel of a car.
Amazed...

Your too kind Abhijeet.

[VLOCT]

Originally Posted by speedy

10,000Kms to change/clean filters and oil. As for the transmission filter it can be changed/ cleaned every 5,000 kms.

I hope you're talking change and not 'clean' when it comes to oil filter. Why should the transmission filter be cleaned every 5000 kms? Is that what MB recommends for the Indian conditions? Looks like it should be more like 50,000 kms.

[e92335]

Originally Posted by speedy

As for the transmission filter it can be changed/ cleaned every 5,000 kms.

You mean the transmission fluid right? I think it should be every 30 - 35K miles.

[speedy]

Originally Posted by VLOCT

I hope you're talking change and not 'clean' when it comes to oil filter. Why should the transmission filter be cleaned every 5000 kms? Is that what MB recommends for the Indian conditions? Looks like it should be more like 50,000 kms.

Yes oil filters changed every 10,000 KMS. Transmission oil changed every 5,000Kms. MB does it every 10,000kms when the cars go for service. Speaking to W140 S600 owners worldwide and they recomend the transmission oil change at 5,000kms and also to check the filters then for my car. The indian conditions are not the best for a car which has not run in a few years. The filters are not expensive and till the car has clocked in a few thousand kms i would like to follow this and later i can bring it to every 10,000 kms for oil and filter changes.

Originally Posted by e92335

You mean the transmission fluid right? I think it should be every 30 - 35K miles.

Transmission fluid exactly. The issue is the fluid in the car was real bad when we changed it and since i am not opening it up we will do low milage fluid changes so every 5000kms for a few thousand Kms and then bring her to standard 10,000kms change.

[VLOCT]

What's the update on the car? Hopefully, it's coming along nicely.

[speedy]

Originally Posted by VLOCT

What's the update on the car? Hopefully, it's coming along nicely.

The LLR unit on the car is being set. The star is still not catching so, we are getting the sensors rechecked. The car is idling and driving smothly but there is a lack of power. This could be due to one of the two sensors mounted on the air intake pipe. They would be checked and the faulty one replaced.

[yogisays0909]

Hey Speedy, i am located in Saudi Arabia, one thing i have noticed here is that people in the middle east hate the V12 S600, they say its got the most complicated and worst engine ever made by MB, dont know how far its true, havent driven or owned a V12 MB.
Here they prefer the V8 over the V12, may be lack of Skilled labor at the workshop!

[speedy]

Originally Posted by yogisays0909

Hey Speedy, i am located in Saudi Arabia, one thing i have noticed here is that people in the middle east hate the V12 S600, they say its got the most complicated and worst engine ever made by MB, dont know how far its true, havent driven or owned a V12 MB.
Here they prefer the V8 over the V12, may be lack of Skilled labor at the workshop!

Yes in Saudi Arabia they do not like the W140 V12 as it is more but by no means less complicated than the V8. The only difference is that the V12 has two of everything. All the W140's were enginered the same so, if you do not use the car all of them will trouble you. Its a myth that people have of the 6 cyl or the 8 cyl being trouble free than the V12. i know of S280 owners finding their cars a nightmare. You have to take into account that these were Mercedes first electronic cars of their and there are bound to be niggles in them but as the years progresses the electronics got simpler.
As far as it being Mercedes worst engines i do not agree, take a ride in one and they are the smothest and the simlest cars to drive. Even though my car was not in the best of health she was hard to figure if she was on and i have the fiat club guys who took a drive in her to vouch for it.

A v12 will be bought by an enthusiast but the v8 by anyone. So reapeting myself i would say it is not the skilled labour at the workshop, but the fuel comsumption and the expensive parts (since you have to buy two of most), if you buy it from an official place the cost of labour which would not be cheap in Saudi would be key to the less prefered V12. If it was not for the bond i have with my car i would have given up long back.

[yogisays0909]

I have no doubts on MB's performance, i have moved around in many MB's , the faster you go, the more it gets planted on the road, below pic was clikced in S500

[Ravindra M]

@Speedy : Long time no update. Hope all is well with your majestic W140. We beg to see the latest snaps.

[samarth.bhatia]

Speedy,
I don't know if this thread is still active or not. Would love to hear what happened to the beauty.
I must congratulate you on your purchase, even though I am about a year late in doing so .
I should also tell you that I started reading this thread about 5 hours ago, formt he very beginning. It has pretty much kept me stuck to it.
Do update on the current situation.
Also, the quantum of patience required for this work is a new concept to me. But your experience and actions taken are a big learning for me.
Hats off to that.

I hope you have a blast in your baby!
Cheers.

[speedy]

Since the work is not an overnight job and also the condition is really not that changed, i decided it was best to let the thread be. I mean you could flip through the previous pages and the car would look the same to you.

We did have a whole lot of repeated bad luck with some mechanical parts, which had to be redone numerous times to get the right power out put. The car yet refuses to run like she is meant to do. I do have her taken out for a 10km walk everyday in the hope that with regular usage the LLR and ECU recognise her as ALIVE. A slow process but hopefully it shall pay off.
The other bad luck was when she was sent for electricals that was left and the person left the windows down during the rain and water drenched the carpets. The electricals that were done earlier refuse to work now. I sometimes get the feeling that the Big Daddy does not want the pampering to stop.
I have now called in a mech from Dubai to get things sorted in the best manner as some parts even after being replaced are of no help. I have a feeling either some components that we have overlooked or thought unimportant are playing mischief. An expert would be likely to sort these out.

Some recent pictures that i took.

[dipen]

@speedy

If it does not sound offensive (I understand that this very car holds a sentimental value to you), did you consider anything with respect to the black W140 S600 that was put on on the classifieds a few months back. The same ad which had about 3 S classes for sale.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by dipen

@speedy

If it does not sound offensive (I understand that this very car holds a sentimental value to you), did you consider anything with respect to the black W140 S600 that was put on on the classifieds a few months back. The same ad which had about 3 S classes for sale.

Speedy bought this sometime back