Stop the insanity!! Someone please talk me out of buying this car! (long) - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

RunningTooHot · #1 09-20-2003, 09:41 PM

Saw the car today. 1995 E300D. 606 normally aspirated engine. 324,000 miles. Beautiful. One owner car. Supposedly, the guy drove 200+ miles per day on the freeway four days per week. (How’s that for a long commute?) Original paint in very good condition other than the usual small chips at the front, interior looks like nobody was ever in the passenger seats. An unscrupulous dealer could have rolled the odometer back to 40,000 miles, and nobody would suspect a thing as far as cosmetics are concerned.

Steering is tight; practically no free play on-center at all. All accessories work. Trans seems to shift nicely, who knows – could it be original with this much mileage & all freeway driving?? No major engine oil leaks, but there was quite a bit of diesel fuel on the injection pump side of the engine & on the bellypan. I could see that there was air being pulled into the fuel lines, so there is some sort of leak in the supply lines. Drives beautifully, except it needs an alignment. I couldn’t get the car in the air to look at the suspension closely. The shocks seem a bit soft, but no big deal…

One problem, and it could be a big one. The car ran hot – at a range of 95-103 (peak). This is with the air conditioning on & at speeds ranging from about 50-70 mph on an 80 degree day. I pulled over to check the auxiliary fans, and they were not on. It has a new (very recent) radiator. This leads me to suspect that perhaps the old radiator failed catastrophically when the fans didn’t kick in & the pressure built up (broken radiator neck?) and it is very likely that the engine overheated when that happened. So now my concern is if the head gasket is bad. I checked the upper radiator hose before I started the car, and there was no residual pressure, but the car hadn’t been driven for several days either. I checked again about 45 seconds after the engine was started, and there was still no pressure build up I the hose. But the car runs hot.

I don’t mind the idea of taking a chance on having to change the head gasket, but I don’t know if the 606 engines have a tendency to crack their heads like the earlier 603’s.

Some people bring orphan animals home, I seem to bring home orphan cars. Any opinions are sincerely appreciated!

Glenn

#2 09-20-2003, 10:05 PM

The miles alone, even if they were highway miles, would be enough for me to not want that car. Just think, that is 8 yeas old, alot of the w123's that are reaching 300k are 18-23 years old. That's a lot of life taken from the car, even if it has a 500k+ life engine.

Fixing the over heating problem might be as simple as a bad thermostat, a cut wire, bad relay, or needing an entire engine rebuild to find out the problem.

I'd pass. There are many more out there to choose from.
But if you like it, what's keeping you from getting it?

RunningTooHot · #3 09-20-2003, 10:26 PM

I forgot to mention that the price is right. Or at least it seems right in my twisted view of the world.

I would say that the problem with the fans could be as simple as the fuse, which I didn’t check. But the engine shouldn’t run that hot at moderate speeds in mild temperatures; the fans shouldn’t be on under those circumstances.

On a side note, I still won’t be selling my 84 300D. It’s just too good of a car to let go…

Thanks again!

Glenn

#4 09-20-2003, 11:41 PM

I bought the 95 Owner's Bible prior to finding my E300. The information made me feel that this particular year and the 606 engine were good choices - affordable and long-life. However, after finding that the 95 MB E300 is the ONLY MB to be rated as a "Consumers Guide Best Buy" of ALL MBs rated (don't know exactly how far back they went) I could think of no better reason to buy the one I found and liked - long and careful search though.

I like to drive my cars a while - currently at 175K with a gas 4.0L Jeep Cherokee 1991 model. So my decision to by the E300 was made with this goal in mind. There have been expenses though - not a lot but just the 'regular' MB issues. I feel the engine will still be running (at 7,5K mile oil intervals) long after the rest of the car is gone.

My car runs just above the 80 mark unless it is a 105+ Texas day. I don't think the 606 is prone to any problem except the timing chain stretch issue (see the archives) and again that is rare - and you do have a double row chain. It was only a small number of chains that stretched as I have heard. You will hear a lot of noise before the chain goes completely and you will have a pretty rough run.

I say - if it runs good - and is cheap enough - buy it. But understand 300K is a lot of miles so repair bills will be in your future.
Mike

unkl300d · #5 09-21-2003, 12:44 AM

why DO YOU ALWAYS GET CARS THAT RUN TOO HOT????????

Doh...

RunningTooHot · #6 09-21-2003, 03:22 AM

Quote:

why DO YOU ALWAYS GET CARS THAT RUN TOO HOT????????

Hot things… a recurring theme in my life. However, I gave up on hot women (too much maintenance

)

rdanz · #7 09-21-2003, 11:30 AM

A car with 324000 miles can only have problems in its future why would you want to buy something like that? Forgetting the engine running hot what about the transmission,rear end, air conditioning, and all the other items that wear out or have problems. Does the car come with a lifetime supply of asprin?
It is what it is

shoe · #8 09-21-2003, 11:54 AM

You failed to mention what kind of maitenance and repair records the owner has for the car (or I missed that in your post

). If it has really great records I would not wait. I boght a 96 E300D w/273K and have not regretted it (yet) had it less than a year. But it has great records so I know what has and has not been doen to the car. I too got a great price so if you can live with some normal high milage repairs, alt., belts, etc. the by all means go for it. Just my .02 worth

Mark Herzig · #9 09-21-2003, 12:00 PM

btw, I understand that the fuses for these cars is behind the main fuse box..

RunningTooHot · #10 09-21-2003, 12:49 PM

Well, the car was serviced by the MBZ dealer for it’s entire life. All I have seen is the stamped service book where they ran out of pages due to the mileage. My experience has been that the dealers tend to examine the cars during routine servicing & recommend repairing anything that’s amiss… This car certainly shows evidence of that type of treatment. Unfortunately, I can’t get the service records from the dealer until Monday, and by then I will own the car anyways. But I do want to see what has been done so that I can take preventive measures if anything has been overlooked, i.e., the timing chain etc..

Rdanz: My experience with every Mercedes that I’ve owned is that they are just like light aircraft: as long as the airframe is good (chassis) you replace wear items, and the damn thing lasts forever. It’s not the aspirin that I’m concerned about, it the Neosporin.

Shoe: My thinking exactly. I can deal with some high mileage repairs, in fact I tend to replace things like water pumps, belts & hoses, tensioners, and other wear items just as a matter of course when I first purchase a high mileage car.

Mark, Thanks for the heads up. Looks like my car could serve as a guinea pig for your experiences if you keep your car for a lonnng time.

Thanks Again Everyone!

Glenn

unkl300d · #11 09-23-2003, 12:57 AM

Mission accomplished RTH !

post pics!!!

RunningTooHot · #12 09-23-2003, 01:23 AM

Some people bring home orphan dogs, I bring home orphan cars. But let me tell you, this is one *sweet* orphan! (and hopefully, it doesn’t turn out to be a dog after all is said & done.

)

Only a two things to straighten out: the hot running condition & right rear window regulator. Everything else is damn near perfect as far as I can tell (at least so far). The 15 amp fuse on top of one of the relays (for the auxiliary fans, I assume) was blown. But I suspect that the visco fan clutch may be the culprit in the hot-running issue. I’m not sure just how “tight” the viscous clutch should actually be when it is hot – this one doesn’t freewheel, but it’s pretty easy to move.

Thanks again for the help everyone!

Glenn

P.S. I won’t be able to post pics for about a week, as a friend borrowed my digital camera.

diesel don · #13 09-24-2003, 09:41 AM

Running Too Hot:

I have a different opinion about the miles. I figure that of all the cars I've ever owned, those that had alot of miles (highway) were the best. They seemed to be broken in the right way as opposed to 95K of short, going to the store miles. One of my 84's belonged to a pilot who never drove the thing unless it was 100 miles one way. That car has cost me $35 (other than oil, etc) in repairs for two years and 30k miles. Unbelievable.

I wouldn't care if it had 500k on it, if they were the right type of miles.

Don

RunningTooHot · #14 09-24-2003, 10:51 AM

Diesel Don:

Yep, I agree wholeheartedly. This car does have the “right” type of miles on it. The owner used it as a “transportation module” for a round-trip commute to work of 200+ miles, four days per week. ALL freeway miles. You can tell by looking at the seat that the guy literally got in the car twice per day & drove, otherwise there would be significantly more wear & tear from entering and exiting the car.

Even though the oil was changed only every 7,500 miles, per MBZ recommendations, it is showing about 1.8-1.9 bars of oil pressure at hot idle with fresh 15-40 oil. Looks like the bearings are good

. I would consider that length of oil change interval to be way too much if the car was driven ‘normally’, but with all the highway mileage, its seems to be fine.

Glenn