1999 E300 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

#1 03-06-2003, 04:39 AM

I found a 1999 E300 Turbo at a local import dealership. It is Brilliant Silver with Grey leather interior, heated seats, 145k miles. Few scratches here and there but overall excellent. The interior is mint. They are asking $19000.. If everything checks out would $17000 be a good price for this car? This would really be stressing my finances but I always wanted one of these things and I would hopefully get another 150k miles out of it. One thing that does scare me is that sealed for life transmission this car has plus all of the electronics. If anyone else is interested I can pass the info to you, I'm not sure if I want to make the offer yet.

JimSmith · #2 03-06-2003, 07:41 AM

turbodiesel,

These cars are a pleasure to drive. Mine uses no oil in 6 kmile intervals with Delvac 1. I routinely run it to 4,000 rpm to blow something out the back, as it is a Diesel afterall, and that's about the only way to make it smoke at all.

You know the checks, compression, blow-by, and so forth, just add checks for fuel leaks and get used to taking the intake manifold off. Everything that breaks is under there it seems.

I am biting my nails hoping mine is not plagued with electronic gremlins and to date it has been ok. Had the MAF sensor changed, and recently had the ground for the antenna and the rear window defroster loose contact, making the radio go out if the defroster was on. Other than that the car is pretty solid and a great car to drive. Lots of torque where you want it, and smooth, quiet thrust to squirt from here to there. I put low profile tires on oversize rims on the car and it made the steering feel much better - much more direct and precise connection from the steering wheel to the front wheels.

I can actually drive about 150 miles after an oil change in this car, using Delvac 1, before the oil turns black. Great mileage, typically over 30 mpg. I hear others get better mileage, but I guess the penalty for seeing a little black stuff shoot out the back now and then is a few mpg. From DR DIESEL's response to the other thread, sounds like the mpg penalty is worthwhile.

As for the price I can offer little advice. I would start lower than $17,000, more like 14,000 or so and see what happens. Good luck, Jim

#3 03-06-2003, 07:44 AM

I think the concensus on the transmissions seems to be to service them and change the fluid every 30,000 miles as with the old ones. I just did mine and had an analysis done. It seemed to come back okay which was good news.

Len
'99 E300

#4 03-07-2003, 02:23 PM

Jim Smith mentions that he put some low profile tires and rims on his E300D. I'm imagining that the sport package for the E430 would look pretty good on the 300D. I think, cosmetically, it consists of wheels, tires, rocker panel skirts, and front and rear valances. Mechanically there are probably different suspension bits too. Am I on the right track here?

Matt

Gilly · #5 03-07-2003, 08:37 PM

We service a 97 E300D (non-turbo) with the 722.6 transmission, it is approaching 300,000 miles and the transmission pan has never been off. It runs good and shifts good. We sold the car and have maintained it since new, so we know the transmission has never been tampered with.
Given that, if I were looking at the car you are interested in, I would still do a trans fluid and filter change, just once though, then leave it. Make sure the shop doing the work is very familair with servicing this transmission though. No way I'd recommend doing 30K services on this transmission. Maybe 100K. If the transmission is going to fail, it's going to fail whether the fluid was replaced or not. The trans fluid in these transmissions can get very black and it scares everyone about the lifetime fill. It turns black due to the graphite used in the friction plates, it isn't harmful to the transmission, the fluid is still OK even though it looks black.

Gilly