I've decided to part company with the Benz. I have come to the conclusion that it's probably not the best car for me. I drive quite a bit and I'm also quite anal about cars and their functionality so I'm going to let someone else enjoy the ups and downs of 17 year-old Mercedes ownership. Maybe it's ok to plan on $100-$200 a month for minor maintenance but none of my other vehicles require that and I'm just not prepared to accept a car that does.

Purchased Oct 2005 with 123,781 miles. I have replaced engine mounts, rear brake pads, fan clutch, distributor cap, rotor; wires, belt tensioner, speedometer head, flushed brake system, flushed cooling system, front drag link then front end alignment....there's probably more but this is from memory. I'll update as necessary.
I have used Amsoil synthetic fluids in the whole car from the start. It has Yokohama tires with about 20K on them and they are in great shape. Everything works except the rear window defogger and the right rear window and I haven't attempted to fix either. It runs great and gets 23-25 mpg on the highway. I always used premium fuel unless the weather was cold then it got mid-grade.
The bad: Cracked windshield. Started as a rock chip and the first cold day it spread. The air pump bearings went bad so I took the dang thing off and put a shorter belt on. Much quieter. The air conditioner compressor developed a leak. Not sure exactly where but my indy sniffed the whole system and it is not leaking at the evaporator but it pegged the sniffer right at and above the compressor. Before the leakdown it performed reasonably well. I purchased a replacement compressor from a forum member but as yet have not installed it.
I have pictures and will be glad to e-mail them or if I can figure out how to post them I will. It's rainy today so I'm not sure how they turned out. I have the car consigned at a local lot but am under no contract so can pull it from the lot if I sell it elsewhere. I trust the car to drive it anywhere.
Current mileage is 168,231. I am asking $4000 and will include delivery to within a 500 mile radius of 73703; more for a small price.

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1983 M-B 240D-Gone too.
1976 M-B 300D-Departed.

"Good" is the worst enemy of "Great".