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[STEMO]

2. Reversing Camera. Mounts to the boot lid above the rear number plate.

Took an easy day to fit. Passenger seat, rear seat base, rear seat side trim and centre console out. Passenger side and rear carpet out. Boot floor, side and rear panel out along with boot lid interior trim. Bracket simply bolts/nuts to the inner rear quarter and the wiring simply clips into place with all the clips assembled into the loom from the factory, remembering to align the coloured bands. Retrofit guide and wiring diagrams confirmed the correct pin spaces in the head unit.

Items required:
Loom from head unit to the camera ECU via the Body Canbus hub. This also takes its power from the rear SAM. New £89.
Loom from ECU to camera. New £40.
Camera with part loom. Used £131.
Boot lid trim. Used £27.
Camera ECU. Used £38.
ECU bracket. Used £36.
Mounting hardware £3.

Factory option cost: £660.

Total cost: £364.

Saving: £296.

Easy day.....yeah 
If I did that, I wouldn't be able to move for a week.

[Doctor Gollum]

3. Night View Assist. Infrared camera next to the interior mirror.

The ECU mounts on the right A pillar, and power runs from the front  SAM with the Canbus connection under the driver's seat and a cable upto the instrument cluster.Also required are a new light switch, different headlights, different windscreen and trim to cover the camera.

Installation, not including the screen, requires removal of the kick panel, A pillar trim, sun visor, instrument cluster trim and cluster. Again, not including the screen, it's an easy days work. Also, as much of the work is the same, I fitted the Distronic harness at the same time.

Items required:
Pair of Night Vision Headlights with Bixenon, active cornering. Used £450. Originals exchanged as part of a bundle. Net cost £150.
Night Vision camera with ECU and video harness to camera/cluster. Used £109.
Power harness. New £28.
Light switch. Used £39.
Camera cover. Used £30.
ECU mounting hardware. New £3.
Windscreen. New Genuine MB £870.

Factory option cost: £1,200.

Total cost £1,229 including windscreen, £359 without the windscreen cost. Car will need a new screen at some point so worst case is that it will cost me £870 for the screen, best case £175 windscreen excess. So £534...

Saving: Worst case -£29. Best case £666 .

[Doctor Gollum]

4. Distronic. Radar cruise control.

Unit bolts to the radiator support panel. The grill needs to be changed to allow the signal to pass through it. Steering column module has to be replaced, so steering wheel needs to come off.

Wiring harness runs from the unit, via the front SAM to the Canbus hub under the driver's seat. This was installed at the same time as the Night Vision harness so no additional work required there. The new SCM was installed afterwards along with the next item...

Items required:
Distronic unit. Used £254.
Harness. New £40.
Hardware. New £18.
Switch/SCM. Used £60.
Grill. New £280.

Factory option cost: £1,200 (from W211 pricelist for option code 219). UK cars had Distronic Plus (233) as an £1,840 option. Distronic was a W221 option elsewhere.

Total cost: £652.

Total savings: £548.

[Doctor Gollum]

5. Heated leather and walnut steering wheel.

Remove the wheel, replace the SCM with the heated wheel switch and the clock spring for the correct one with the heater contacts, refit wheel, and replace the front SAM with one coded for the heated wheel. Added about an hour onto the previous two items.

Items required:
Switch. Used FOC (part of the Distronic SCM).
Front SAM. Used £210.
Wheel. Used £350.
Leather airbag. Used £90.
Clock spring. Used £80.

Factory option cost: Heated wheel £205, wood and leather steering wheel £710. Total £915.

Total cost: £710.

Saving: £205.

[Doctor Gollum]

6. Glovebox aux input.

Remove and replace glovebox with one with 3 RCA inputs. Run harness to appropriate empty pins on head unit as per retrofit guide. Took about an hour including swapping the wrong colour glovebox door with my original one.

Items required:
Glovebox. Used £35.
Harness. New £25.

Factory option cost: Not listed for this MY.

Total cost: £60.

Saving: -£60.

[Doctor Gollum]

7. Remote boot closing.

Hydraulic pump and ECU go under the right boot trim. Remove boot lining, boot lid lining and boot rear panel. Run wiring from boot lid switch to rear SAM and forward to the Canbus hub under the driver's seat and refit panels. Hydraulic arm connects to pivot balls on inner quarter and hinge. Clip ECU into bracket in boot. Replace switch in driver's door for correct one.

Three hours all told.

Items required:
Switch. Used £115.
ECU. Used £45.
Bootlid trim and switch. Used £40.
Hydraulic unit. Used £76.
Harness. New £70.

Factory option cost: £410.

Total cost: £346.

Saving: £64.

[Doctor Gollum]

8. Towbar, manual folding.

Strip boot trim and remove rear bumper and crash bar. Bolt in towbar assembly and support beams. Run wiring from ECU to rear SAM and Canbus hub under the driver's seat. Connect wiring from release handle and tow ball to ECU and fit release handle and bracket. Refit trim and rear bumper. Took an easy day to do.

Items required:
ECU. Used £25.
Harness. New £130.
Release lever and mounting bracket. Unobtainium, came attached to tow ball pivot. Used £190.
Hardware. New £60.
Complete tow bar assembly without release handle or hardware. From Mercedes official second hand parts store. Used £670.

Factory option cost: £910.

Total cost: £1,075.

Saving: -£165.

[Doctor Gollum]

Quick running totals for items 1-8.

Total factory option cost: £5,535.

Total cost: £3,629.

Total savings: £1,906.

So to Johnnydogs question... Could I find a similarly equipped/age/mileage SWB S500 for less than £9,629? No is the simple answer.

And even if you include the windscreen, and I haven't included it as I haven't replaced it yet, I am still over £1,000 ahead of the factory options. Not that that's really relevant.

The next phase that I am gathering bits for is another £4,600 or so in factory options. The hardware and trims alone are about left to purchase from MB are about £1,000, unless I track down any of the troms used and in the correct colours...

I might have about £800 into the used parts so far, with another £800 ish to track down. So the next phase should be well ahead too. The last piece of the puzzle will be the wheels, and I have my eye on a set I like the look of... But that's a later job.

I will probably split the next phase into two parts. One I have two harnesses and some hardware to acquire, about £400 worth. The rest is for the second part.

[omega2018]

I have the coupe version of this car, a 2009 CL500.  Mercedes's flagship model at the time. Same engine.  Cost me £6k 2 years back.  From the Mercedes price list I totted up the few extras mine has, added that to the list price, adjusted for inflation, comes to £153K in today's money

I'm a bit confused, is this a list of things to do or of things already done?  Amazing if you have done them already . 

I had read in various places that Distronic Plus cannot be retro fitted which is a shame for you as it is the best optional extra to have - I use it mostly in traffic jams where the traffic is crawling - take your foot off and relax it just keeps the car in the queue.  Even if you can fit it you get an ugly clear plastic rain shield on the S Class grill (on the CL it's just a nice domed merc star).

Night vision -  quite a few people say it a gimmick, I don't know as I don't have it.

Noticed any oil seeping very slightly from the o/s rear top of the engine?  An easy fix with a cheap Chinese copy oil centrifuge seal. Easier to fix in fact than clearing up the sludge caused.

Reversing camera is quite nice but I could live without it. 

On the CL the rear fridge takes out a lot of boot space, might be better just to buy a 12V coolbox. Anyway the front armrest storage is air conditioned.

Many M273 engines pre 2009 were fitted with chocolate sprokets on the balance shaft.  Resulted in a class action against Mercedes in the US.  Cheap to buy a hardened steel one but major job to fit. You can look up whether an engine is affected using the engine number.   

You need as a minimum a Foxwell NT510 elite code reader, set to Mercedes.   Also the mercedes WIS manual on a dedicated laptop.

Bluetooth unit is useful.

Wish mine had the TV tuner. 

Have you got a PCMCIA card socket for the Harmon Kardon?  If so, get a cheap SD card to PCMCIA adapter, then you can play SD cards.

Does the clock keep the right timezone?  if not you need the satellite rollover release 423.  You can update the maps to the last 2019 edition at the same time.

ABC suspension is fantastic.  Mine on second pump and replacement accumulators (3 of them) and working well touch wood.

7g-tronic gearbox?  Worth upgrading the filter but quite a chore to level the car without a lift.

Alternator a pain to replace.  Starter motor easy.  If it has a sunroof, check the drains. Replace the middle and top pulley idlers along with aux belt.

[Doctor Gollum]

I have the coupe version of this car, a 2009 CL500.  Mercedes's flagship model at the time. Same engine.  Cost me £6k 2 years back.  From the Mercedes price list I totted up the few extras mine has, added that to the list price, adjusted for inflation, comes to £153K in today's money

I'm a bit confused, is this a list of things to do or of things already done?  Amazing if you have done them already . 

I had read in various places that Distronic...  ...aux belt.

List is what's done so far.

Engine is bone dry and it won't be getting Chinesium aftermarket parts as long as I am alive.

The V8 doesn't have a balance shaft. But it does have the chocolate crank sprocket. Parts to fix are about £400 last time I looked. It's basically a timing chain replacement.

Distronic Plus CAN be retrofitted... I chose not to, opting instead for basic Distronic. Anyone who tells you different doesn't understand the system and how it functions.

Basically you have to replace the bumpers if it has PDC (218) along with adding the ECU, 8 sensors (4 each end) and associated bracketry and the harness. Also the Distronic gubbins as above if it doesn't have 219 from the factory. Distronic plus is essentially advanced PDC with Distronic. 218+219 and a second ECU = 233. Plus does the slow speed proximity/blind spot stuff, Distronic does the distance work. There's a bit more to it than that but that's the nuts and bolts.

I only went with basic Distronic because my car already has PDC, so to fit Plus would have been stupidly expensive for minimal extra functionality. Distronic slows the car to 20mph but has distance alert all the way down to the PDC distance. Had it been a facelift car then there's a whole load of extra assistance features such as steering assist, speed limit assist and together with Distronic Plus the car will basically drive itself. Retrofitting that lot into an earlier car is asking for trouble.

I have WIS and EPC on my desktop along with STAR/DAS/XENTRY on a Toughpad, albeit with a clone interface. It's been adequate for my programming requirements.

Apart from having to replace the gearbox, mine has been pretty dependable although it's going to need a radiator hose or two at some point along with a full engine service.

[STEMO]

Why the need for a towbar, Al? Don't think I'd be wanting to stress my car after all that time, effort and money.
What a fantastic thread, glad I asked now. Are you posting this on the MB forums, bet there'd be a few on there would love this.

[Doctor Gollum]

Towbar is more of a handy to have, especially as it is a saloon. And is unlikely to be used for anything more than the occasional tip run/camping trailer or towing a small rib.

As to the Merc forums, yes, but not in the same detail... Alot of you can't do that/why bother or xyz is rubbish anyways types. There are a few who are a bit more involved than just servicing. I heard a few heads explode when I pointed out that programming options was little more than box ticking Much of the criticism stemmed from not wanting to sign up to a subscription service so some unknown entity could remotely programme the car, so sticking two fingers up at that mindset was quite satisfying. Although it's good to encourage those that want to do similar things but don't quite have the confidence to try, even if it's silly things like the aux in or changing the trims for the AMG ones.

I suspect that S Class owners fall into the same camps as Jag XJ owners...

There are a couple of other options which could be fitted such as keyless go, but I am quite happy with the concept of pressing a button to open the car and putting the key in and turning it if it makes the car more secure

[omega2018]

Chocolate sprocket issue on the M273 is up to engine serial number 2739 ..30088611

[Doctor Gollum]

Chocolate sprocket issue on the M273 is up to engine serial number 2739 ..30088611

Ta. It's on my radar, but no sign of it yet 👍

[Viral_Jim]

Really interesting thread, thank you 

On a more mundane note,.what do you get fuel economy wise from the old girl?