I'm enjoying your post. Initially I was going to suggest perhaps he has teenage drivers, in which case I can see skipping the cosmetic items. But... The brakes look down right sketchy. Too bad the oil leaking from the valve covers wasn't enough to stop the rust on the rotors

I see it has air suspension. The one red shock strut looks to be a coil over type. Are the rest of the shocks still air?

Thanks for posting this!

 

That's an exaggeration. The YTber wanted to make a sensationalist video (and several that followed). The small oil seepage from that o-ring is inconsequential. I would worry more about his head job. Those are very long heads with 25? head bolts. Also porting the head is to me unnecessary: the car already had difficulty putting down 1000Nm.

I hope to get my hands on one and probably convert to coilover when the ABC inevitably fails.

 

Look at it this way, it’s a flagship sedan with over 200,000 miles on it, for all intense purposes it’s served its life and it’s done. No need to drop 10 grand into it, it’s done it’s job, should be placed on Facebook market place for $2,000 grand as a parts car, BUT that’s the rub with $90,000 dollar flagship sedans...they just don’t know how to die.

If it were me - and let’s say I could buy it for $2,000 - I’d do the pads and rotors all around, have the brake booster rebuilt (pray that works, I think it’s a $500 rebuild). And be into it for maybe $1,000 my cost, and do the brakes myself. Now you’re into it for $3,000 grand. But I’d only look at this car as a winter beater or first car for someone for around town driving. And only if you could bet it safe.

Headlights would be a problem, if I’m reading it right, they work but don’t point in the correct direction? Now, do they point straight? At night is it that bad/a safety hazard? If not, I’d replace the bulbs and not care about the lights being able to move side to side.

Forget putting air suspension back into this thing at this point. Keep the replacement after market coil struts. The car has over 200,000 on it, we haven’t even started thinking about internal engine problems yet: this thing could have bad tensioners, rings, heads, cam phasers/actuators. Get the thing so it can pass an inspection and drive it for a while, THEN decide what to do (if anything). Point is, it’s a 200,000 mile car, if you can get it to stop correctly/safely, and have your headlights working properly? Ok, otherwise forget bringing this thing back to life because it’s a former $90,000 dollar car, that still thinks it’s a $90,000 dollar car!! Forget putting 15,000-25,000 miles a year on this thing. Forget dumping $10,000 into a car with over 200,000 miles on it. You might be able to drive this thing safely with a couple thousand in repairs, be in it for $4,000, and have to add coolant and oil every few weeks (because I’m not replacing that valley leak or valve cover gaskets, NOT unless I’m able to see for a few months if this thing is worth it. And I’m not fixing that door either. This is only a first car for someone or a winter beater. And honestly it could be a really nice first car or beater for someone. A lot better than some of the first cars I see kids driving around in, with wheels falling off and exhausts leaking.

And I know it needs contrail arms, but they all do. And honestly, it’ll probably pass inspection with worn control arms. The ball joints will pass with flying colors, so will the tie rods. These cars almost never need ball joints or tie rods because the control arms take all the abuse. And for all the abuse they take, I’ve driven on arms completely wiped out, and they still will feel tighter/safer and more stable than a car with shot ball joints or tie rods. And if you want, you can change those upper control arms in a half hour with low cost aftermarket uppers. It’s honestly the easiest job you’ll ever do on car suspension. Now the lowers? Ok, a little more work, but the control arm issues on these cars is the most overblown thing on the entire internet.

Be fun to see what happens with this car though! I love restoration projects...I just don’t think I’d do it on this one.

 

I don't know about that one. If you were not someone who tried to do a DYI. You took your Benz to the dealer and it cost more to fix the leak ($1.19 washer) than the car's value. In a lot of cases it totals out the car. This YouTuber is not the first one I have heard about this from. It's big job to replace this washer and they fail ever few years.

There are a lot of cars like that, repairs are fair more than the value of the car.

 

Yikes, lit up like a christmas tree. lolol
The "Check VGRS System" looks scary expensive from info posted above and ABS doesn't look cheap either.

PS- wasn't expecting OP to put up repair estimate but in my opinion prices seem on the low side compared to what a dealer or indy would charge looking at other posts I seen.

OP's pic.

 

The same is true with all Lexus models.

I repeat, that part does not need to be "fixed". I worry more about his "fix" than the small oil leak.

It is however true that Mercedes used a lot of this type of o-rings that inevitably leak. A much more critical one is the oil pickup o-ring in the M113 engines (500, 55 V8).

Most W220 and W215 500 and even 55 and 600 models will have frequent repair bills that at dealer quote exceed the market value of the car, but the drive train is solid and the car beautiful. If it weren't for these bills, however, these cars would still be worth 2 ~ 3x. Repairs are just part of the "ownership experience". CL600 under 10k? For someone with some spare cash and time, it can be very interesting. But, it is not a car that's worth bringing to show car conditions (as with the specific o-ring repair).

 

I would guess the ABS light is because of the VGRS system. Both can be caused by the brake problem.

I don't see if lit-up like a "tree". The only light I see is ABS + TC + brake, which is probably the same thing.

 

I don't disagree with let it die or use it as a beater......I only said it would need what I listed to be "right" again.

The engine is actually just fine, no tensioner issues or running issues or even oil use issues. It's not even being run on synthetic oil lol! The valley plate and valve covers are both leaking slowly enough they can be ignored indefinitely. No exhaust leaks.

Headlights are not aimed correctly at all, drivers side is pointing into the sky and pass about 12 ft in front of the car. You could always just force them level relative to the housings and then glue them.

Control arms could be ignored and you could just run used tires every 10k miles as they die rapidly and never drive it hard so that a suspension shift doesn't kill you at 100+

Brake actuator rebuild is the plan, I hope it works for him.

Bumper can be put back with screws.

VGRS can be ignored as it locks solid as a fail safe.

The coil spring conversion is fine, I personally prefer it over air anyway.

There is no inspection of any kind here, it already is fine to drive as is and was being driving with practically no brakes for a while.

So sure, you can always go maximum cheap and it will "work", I just dislike seeing the lack of care for cars of this tier. If it was a car I owned it would not be that costly to fix but still I wouldn't bother since I would only make $1-2k profit reselling it and I can easily make that with cheaper/simpler/more common cars that parts are far easier to source. Plus it's way easier to find a buyer if a Ford Fusion vs Lexus of any type.

Prices I listed are on the max side for me, I try to give fair prices that make it worth my time but don't charge for the sake of charging. This is not my full time gig, merely a hobby that has gone way out of control. I really enjoy fixing stuff and this just so happens to make good money

 

Brake pump, accumulator, and parking brake motor are all dead. The actuator assembly is on the bench for a reason lol!

 

To ruff for my blood, I'd pass on that thing in a heart beat.