OK, I think it might be a big project, but there is this 600Hl that isnt selling, now its down at 5k USD (7k CAD)

It has approx. 200k miles, needs air suspensions, has exhaust leak (I hope its minor !) , and needs control arms. comes with strut conversion kit ( I might sell it to buy real air)

Do you guys think changing the air suspension and control arms could be a DIY project? Paying a mech, Im guessing those two jobs could cost be about the same price as the used car... but then the car might be nice for a couple of years... and still under 10K us

The car is so cheap now, Im pretty sure dozens of buyers have looked at it and turned it down... Or maybe no one really cares for a nice luxury hybrid when Im at ! I still have the option to wait for a problem free car at about 10k, but it might take a year or two and the problem free car would sure end needing control arms and suspension anyway if its lower mileage than this one...

 

I saw the car you are talking about, if you plan on paying a mech and not doing it yourself even if the car was given to you for free you'd be still ending having to pay about the price of another ls just to get it running. The control arm job is manageable if you live in a salt free region but keep in mind those are all gonna be seized with rust and are gonna be an absolute nightmare to get off and is gonna require blowtorch and angle grinder you are not going to remove those the usual way. And after you finish all those your mechanic might not be able to align it properly as he'll probably skip calibrating the suspension after changing the air shocks because even the dealer barely know how to to it (I suspect the nuts on the sensor are gonna be seized so you may have to buy new sensor to calibrate the air suspension), and the nuts on the tie rod are gonna basically be soldered on the rod with rust. If you plan on diy you'll need to invest in additional tools most definitely. I suspect the car have been sitting for a long time which is not good for the HV battery, at 200k miles if it was never changed your looking at a minimum 10k CAD repair bill if it fail. I suggest watching this guy ownership experience with an ls600hl half that mileage, it's basically the most expensive car to maintain he ever owned (after owning a v12 phaeton, porshe 911 and an sl55 amg):
Good luck

 

There are many cars worth buying to fix up. The subject LS 600h L is not among them.

 

Thanks Vansibel, Its interesting that you went to see the car, part why I ended asking here

I was also worried about the battery pack too. I know of a DIY here a guy took a prius pack and adapted it, but he looked like he was an electrical engineer or something.

I might go the easy way and get cheap non-hybrid or even a 430UL... theres one cheap 430UL I have my eyes on, just over the price of the 600hl

 

I saw the listing but I actually didn't go see the car but I'm on my second ls600hl so I know the story. I actually considered buying it for spare parts if the price would go low enough but at this mileage beside the car electronics everything is pretty used up already so I wouldn't have used any suspension or battery component, plus the interior color was different. Edit: But overall it was suspicious because if you google the seller place of business you can see his garage door open with a 2 post lift, so obviously he know how to work on car and he have the equipment so he could have fixed the suspension issue before selling the car for peanuts. I'd say there a chance that he left the car sit for too long while ordering the conversion kit and try to figure things out and when he started it again he got the dreaded check hybrid system lights. Guy might have cleared DTC and try to dump the car as he realized he bit more that he could chew. He might also have destroyed the underbelly just trying to move the car on his 2 post lift as a collapsed suspension on all corner make those car basically unmovable without causing significant damage under the car.

 

Go 430 and don't look back!

 

Unrelated but just came to say I hate the video that was posted. I appreciate that his break down, but he buys the vehicle sight unseen , admittedly over pays for the vehicle and the labor then does his analysis after barely driving the car.

 

Swiss car guy does that with all his cars because that is the basis of his channel.... to show how expensive the upkeep of these cars are. I am yet to find a vehicle that he has 'analyzed' correctly. As you pointed out, the prices are unrealistic also.
Although... people are watching his channel and he is making money from it, so he must be doing something right :P

 

Buying this car sight unseen don't change anything as anyone knowledgeable about this car would have assumed the control arms would need to be change on a car with that mileage if they were never changed before. And if they were changed before the price of the car would be higher. Peoples owning a car so long usually don't sell it if it run perfectly good. The only problem the car had is actually a common issue on those cars so the car itself was in pretty good conditions considering the year and mileage. He did drove the car for a few months before making the videos but keep in mind that even if he replaced the suspension after a year the cost would still be very high. I personally only buy oem parts although I am able most of the time to do the job myself. I've seen peoples trying to cheap out on aftermarket bushing that end up lasting 6 months, then redo the job and dump the car so it's someone else problem. If you never owned a car in a rust prone environment then you have to understand that a 15 minutes job can quickly change into 3 hours. I've been to Florida lately and I was amazed how clean the cars were, you guys over there have it extremely easy as far as wrenching goes. Sometime a bolt just won't come off so you need to change the parts it's bolted on as well. It's a nightmare and stuff rarely go as planned in the Rustbelt. Go watch a few of this guy videos who work on those type of car to see it for yourself: Most the DIY guys don't have half the tools and experience this guy have so it can be very time consuming. The guy also stated that mechanics are pretty expensive in Switzerland, and if you don't do the job yourself you'll also end up having to foot the bill. Take the upper control arm, they can be changed pretty quickly as long as the bolt is not seized into the bushing but most shop will still charge you the book which is 4.2 hours per side. Took me 15 minutes to reach the last bolt of the passenger side upper control arms but it was seized and would not come off. You can remove the bracket and have a better angle to work on but first you need to remove the air shock. Guess what, the shock lower bolt was completely seized into the lower control arm bushing so that's a no go unless you want to destroy the bushing. Tried to remove the bolt that connect the bracket to the shocks, also completely seized and stripped the head of the bolt. Cutting the upper control arm bolt would be the way to go but my angle grinder was too big and would require investing in additional tools. So ended up at the Toyota dealer asking them to order the bolt (which was a shared parts with some Toyota models) and just cut them to save time, they ended up still charging me 6 hours so in the end it would have been cheaper to just buy the tools. I do admit that even with rusty bolts 25 hours seems pretty high (although this was probably lower and they added an helper) but they probably wanted to save the quite expensive front shocks and try to remove the lower bolt which have a tendency to completely seize in the lower control arm bushing on rust prone region. Twist it too much and you'll destroy the rubber bushing, pull it too much and you'll end up actually pressing out the whole bushing (actually happened to someone on this very forum). Maybe another shop would have worked faster, but you never know when you don't do the job yourself. I think it would have been cheaper to sacrifice both shocks to save 12 hours of labor and buy oem shocks from UAE for half the price, but then the car would need to sit in the shop for a months for the parts to arrive. The shop probably skipped it but after that job they are supposed to calibrate the height sensor, adjust the object recognition camera for APCS equipped car (like his car) and adjust the headlight. As the guy stated himself the cost will come down as the car age assuming nothing else major break as this was a pretty big repair pretty soon into his ownership. If the traction battery have to be replaced in the coming years then his cost certainly won't come down, and if you live in the Canada or US you also have to consider the 15k hydrocarbon switch installed on SULEV II spec car. The guy explain all of this and back it up with data, then you are free to make your own conclusion. In the end of the day a brand new S-Class air shock at the dealer for the same year is cheaper than an LS air shock so parts are expensive unless you want to gamble on the aftermarket (and only few parts are even available aftermarket). Perceived reliability often goes in hand with the cost of ownership (minus depreciation), a car that break once every 5 years but require 10k worth of repair would be considered less reliable than another car that break once a year but require each time 500$ repair. This is a good car, but if you want to save money buy an ES or put the radio volume higher so you make clunking noises disappear.

 

haha... just removing my wheels took me 30 minutes a piece last time because of rust :P

I think that car is sold now. Parked on grass too (in the pics), not best for rust XD.