Oh it has found a perfect new owner! After dozen of so resellers lowballing me, we found a Dutch girl who just moved to Germany.

Thats good to know .... 

Oh it has found a perfect new owner! After dozen of so resellers lowballing me, we found a Dutch girl who just moved to Germany.

She adores it; she bought a house recently renovating it after ending a long term relationship, she's alone with her dog. I couldn't think of better new owner tbh.

Strange how you get tied to "an object" but it really makes us happy knowing she will love it like we did. 

Here's hoping the for four finds itself in the ownership of  someone who will cherish it the way you have , maybe you'll get another one sooner rather than later .

And unfortunately we had to say goodbye to our little 44.



Had it since 2016 and bought with 120.000 km, sold last week with 287.000.


We drove to from the North sea coast down to the Adriatic coast, never left us stranded. It droge 190 on the Autobahn even without wind in it's back (with 6th gear it could reach 210 for sure!)

 I know this car to its core, to its soul. The only other car I knew that much was 1995 YJ Wrangler 4.0 which was daily driven by me over the course of 13 years.

Many tears have shed between my wife and I because of it but with 2 kids, we needed a bigger second car. It just couldn't fit us all properly and using it just as a grocery getter in the city (CDI), was just too much. I just hate how we got attached to the little bastard. So many furniture was moved like this, every single Ikea closet was transported by the 44.



44 passed the MOT without a single fault in January, it's when we got our second child as well,  in March we opted to buy something bigger but wanted to keep the 44 as well. It was crazy bit we did so for the next 8 months, albeit we made only 1000km in that time. It hurt my heart seeing it standing there all dusty, I would take it out every 2 or 3 weeks, wash it and just drove. It always brought smile on my face.

We started hating the yeti now to be honest. It's like you brought a new pet and kicked out the old one. Feels the same. Yeti is fine , definite lighting improvement over the candlelight power of the mighty 44 headlights..but we ... Just blame it for selling the 44. You can feel the missing part somehow. Strange but honestly so.



I think we will get another one / petrol probably for our summer car on the coast.

So this is not a definite goodbye, probably just "until we meet again". I will still be lurking probably and giving advices where I can.


Thank you for the years of advices and good time gents.

J

The fuel pickup on the petrol engine'd 454's does not rest on the bottom
of the fuel tank, with the filter itself being even higher up in the tank,
so 'by rights' it should not pick any crud or get clogged as others do.

From the handful of 454 petrol fuel filters that I've seen over the years,
none have shown any signs of debris, clogging or blockage, just stains
on the fabric/mesh of the filter.

(The 454 diesel fuel filter of the CDI differs in that it is located at the rear
  of the engine bay, which makes it 'fairly easy' to replace, if/when necessary)

I've been looking at this one too but sadly, funds are not-a-coming.

Anyway, fuel guage and possibly fuel filter if it is blocked by pulling up crud from the bottom of the tank (from memory, the tank is plastic but that doesn't mean stuf couldn't have found its way in) definitely. The soldering job itself on the cluster is easy enough but getting to the PCB I found to be a fight. YMMV.

> Rust is not usually considered a weak point

Eeeehhh, when I had to take the front off my car to sort the horn out, the sills on both sides of my 2004 1.3 S-A were packed full of soil and here had started to be rust forming around the jack point. Fortunately, it seemed relatively surface level so some Aquasteel and some primer sorted that out but we are talking 20 years old now. The spare wheel well also seems a bit suspect but that is for another day.

I agree with Cecil...

Personally I would suspect the fuel gauge in the instrument cluster
is THE culprit, which is known to misread at some point in its life.
If the fuel gauge currently shows there is fuel, jack up the car...
and reach underneath and give the fuel tank a 'rap'/bang and
hear what sound it makes. If its empty, you'll know it by the hollow
sound..but if it has fuel it should not sound hollow....or better still,
for a couple of quid/pounds, fill a plastic fuel 'can' with E5...
(never E10 for a Brabus), and pour it into the tank, then crank
it over and see if it starts eventually.   

If it is the fuel gauge at fault, See/read the Technical Guide for this :-
https://www.forfour.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=4481.0
but if you do have to repair it, the first thing to do is disconnect
the battery earth strap.....or you will end up with an even bigger
problem that is nigh on impossible to fix !
 

Rust is not usually considered a weak point  look at wheels- the ones fitted are well known for being easily misshaped. Look at the rubbers that hold the rear subframe onto the body. Look also at fuel gauge to check if it works. They are quite sensitive to battery issues
look in this forum (childboards) for how to fix faults. there are remarkably few. You have found a great site for tips and help on these cars.

https://www.gumtree.com/p/smart/smart-for-four-brabus-/1483785084

Saw this listing the other day, only a 30 min drive from me. It had it's MOT done in May but apparently in July it began refusing to start. Looks well kept and the price is very attractive.

Wondering if any of you think it's worth bothering to look at & consider taking the plunge to fix it? Anything I should keep a look out for when visiting it & questions to ask? I have a friend who works at a Merc dealership who can take a look with me.

Part of me is hoping it's simply a dead/dying battery or a problem with the ignition fuse, but I feel like most would pay the ~£100 odd to fix it and sell it for a much higher price no? I'm not a mechanic so I may be thinking overly wishful here 

Last note is while it's MOT history has been pretty good throughout it's life on its most recent it's picked up an advisory for corrosion, unsure if rust is a big issue on these cars so let me know.


Appreciate any help

I agree with that.....