In my quest for a "younger" version of my car, I looked at a 1988 300E 5-speed this morning with 65K miles. It drove as a new car.

It lived most of its life in upstate New York and its major problem is rust around both front jack ports.

Has anyone had experience with this? Expected repair costs? Or is this one to walk away from?

Many TIA.

__________________
Chuck Taylor
Falls Church VA
'66 200, '66 230SL, '96 SL500. Sold: '81 380SL, '86 300E, '72 250C, '95 C220, 3 '84 280SL's '90 420SEL, '72 280SE, '73 280C, '78 280SE, '70 280SL, '77 450SL, '85 380SL, '87 560SL, '85 380SL, '72 350SL, '96 S500 Coupe

The problem with rust repair is that if you don't cut all of it out sooner or later it will be back. Your first step is to see if the metal is available from MB. If the rusted out part is available as a stamping it is fairly "simple" to cut/grind out the rusted part and weld in the new section. Another approach is to have a welding shop just make what you need from sheetmetal. If you don't care for the jack port they can simply cut out the bad metal and weld in new. Be very careful that this is the only rust on the car. I doubt it will be. Tough to say how much $$ but I would guess about $1000 at the high end. Try to find a shop that specializes in this type of work. RT

__________________
When all else fails, vote from the rooftops!
84' Mercedes Benz 300D Anthracite/black, 171K
03' Volkswagen Jetta TDI blue/black, 93K
93' Chevrolet C2500HD ExCab 6.5TD, Two-tone blue, 252K

Thanks for the response. Mercedes does sell the part, according to the parts book, but I share your opinion on "getting it all."

I am also concerned the implications of replacing visible structural members like this.

__________________
Chuck Taylor
Falls Church VA
'66 200, '66 230SL, '96 SL500. Sold: '81 380SL, '86 300E, '72 250C, '95 C220, 3 '84 280SL's '90 420SEL, '72 280SE, '73 280C, '78 280SE, '70 280SL, '77 450SL, '85 380SL, '87 560SL, '85 380SL, '72 350SL, '96 S500 Coupe