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A minor point, but I always take a look at the antenna grommet. The original one on a 20 year old car is guaranteed to be bad. If it has been replaced, the car must have been maintained, if not, the trunk has probably been wet for years.
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Rust never sleeps
While your looking underneath for rust, cracked boots, oil leaks ect., look at the condition of the exhaust. Not a cheap system on these cars.
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Comedian
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The dreaded part-- Engine Assessment
I'm still thinking about how to write this without making it overly expensive or time consuming. Also a lot of engine asessment has to do with Injection Pump assessment. Finally since the price of these cars is around the $1K mark, I doubt anyone wants to pay someone $100 to have it checked out and have a compression check done. Most buyers are probably shooting from the Hip and going by gut feelings.
Sadly a lot of these cars don't get well maintained towards the end of their use. If it has been, I am sure you will know that intuitively by the owner's presentation of the car. He will be usually knowledgable and probably have another Diesel. I would just hate to see a buyer burned by bad oil rings or serious engine damage. To that extent I would recommend driving it for at least 40 to 60 miles and checking the oil level before and after. Also though a diesel is noisy, a good diesel's noise is rythmic and periodic and doesn't have irregular sounds. I am going to give some thought to this this weekend. |
OK, I'll throw one in here by quoting myself from another thread:
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I have seen some turbo models w/ generic setups...or 'pipes' that didn't make more noise than stock. |
Purchasing A Diesel Benz
I posted a major check list a few months ago that centered around the engine only. If anyone desires this list, contact me at: alfredburn@hotmail.com
I would say that having mechanical ability is a great asset that will save owners a bundle. I believe that everyone desiring to work on their benz should go to a technical school and sign up for some courses (one or two at a time). Doing so will give you mechanical understanding and courage to tackle your repairs with confidence. I have an acronym that I wholeheartedly believe. It is called "TEKC". T - Training E - Experience K - Knowledge about the job you are getting ready to undertake C - Confidence that you can perform it These diesel benz are fun to work on and give you a satisfaction that will put a smile on your face and keep a bundle in your pocket. Peace. Alfredo |
The blowby test hasn't been mentioned yet. And check the front seat to see if anything has been stuffed in there. Broken/weak seat springs are very common.
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Vacuum system? Central door locks.... they're a pita to troubleshoot... definitely assign a negative value to this.
Since I'm in the rust belt - rust, rust, rust...look behind the bumper rubber trims especially the corner ones. They are held by a metal bracket that probably has disintegrated and affected the body. I took off the trims on mine and removed the brackets. Fortunately, the body was only slightly affected. |
Don't think that low mileage automatically means a good engine-be SURE to get maintenance records, and any rough running hot or cold means that a compression test is MANDATORY-the cost of rebuilding a motor can be twice what the car is worth!!!
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A lot of excellent things pointed out here, and I wish an exhaustive list like this list existed when I was shopping.
One thing I would add is this: pull up to the seller's place in a Mercedes. Even if you have to beg to borrow someone else's. It shows that you know these cars, and you won't fall for things like, "sure it smokes, it's a diesel." Or "sure it uses oil, all diesels use oil." One other small thing. If it's not raining, take it to car wash or just spray down with a hose to make sure all the sunroof and other drains are working properly. |
Rust.
The odometers just about always break on these cars. So unless the condition or records indicate otherwise, figure at least 10k miles a year. |
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