PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - To buy or not to buy? 1999 E300 turbodiesel edition

jay_bob · #25 07-10-2015, 12:18 PM

In the U.S. the 2006-2007 W211 transition is major even though the cars look the same from the outside.

2005, 2006 W211 is the E320 CDI, equipped with the inline 6 cylinder OM648. The downside of these models is they have the SBS electronic time bomb brakes.

2007 and later W211 are known as E320 Bluetec although I believe they did not start the (idiotic) urea injection until 2008. These have the V-6 OM642 that is not as near easy to work on (I have one in the ML). However they went back to traditional ABS brakes on these models.

Both engines have their issues - OM642 gets the infamous oil cooler leak (stupid $15 seal leaks that takes dozens of hours to change) and the OM648 gets the injector "Black Death" (injector seals leak, carbon blows out, covers the injector assembly in black tar).

The good side of the 211 vs the 210 is the fact that only the first gen 210 is available in the U.S. with a Diesel - the 1996 to 1999 models. There are no 2nd gen 210 U.S. models available with Diesel between 2000 and 2004.

The major first gen 210 issue has to do with the new water based paint process causing body rust. The spring perch issue is also major. By the time they got to the 2nd gen 210s (2000-2004) they had figured out the problems, but there are no Diesels available in the U.S. for these years.