Grandparents always had Mercedes [280se, 300sel 6.3, 300sd]
Parents have always had Mercedes [240d, 300sd, and then a 300sdl]

Now I've got a 400E.. [Since sunday]

Picked it up for $5200.

140,000 freeway miles on it.
Clean body.
Clean interior.
No ASR.

Had the check engine light on... Had mechanic check it out, it was an upshift error of some kind. It's been off since he cleared it.

The Air Pump took a crap on me.. [Totally siezed] So I'm going to throw a new one in there tomorrow night.

Other than that... LOVE the car. Been driving VW's [(2) 91 Jetta GLi's and an 87 Golf GT] since I was 16... This is so much more of a car... I love the wolf in a sheeps clothing it has going for it too. [Obviously it's more apparent with a 500E]

My mechanic seemed surprised by the price- was it that good?

Congrats.

I've had 3 mercedes at this point a 69 250 a about 10 years ago. Currently driving a 84 300SD and picked up a 92 400E a couple months ago.

I believe you got a good deal. Mine has about the same milage (133K) but a couple of dents that need fixing and I paid $4800. The place the pervious owner had it serviced at was willing to buy it at the asking price.

Around here similar age 300E's have asking prices around 6-8K and I know someone who paid about 7.5K for a similar 400E.

Good luck with the car. This forum has tons of useful info. I also bought the CD manuals (from Mercedes directly).

Paul

I think you got a great deal.

In Southern California a clean 400E with that many miles would sell for about $7,000, IMHO.

Did you fix your upshift delay valve problem?

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

That is certainly a good deal! I don't see many of our cars around No CA, but when I do see one for sale, they seem to be asking closer to $8000. You got a smokin deal!

Mine is lowered a bit and I just installed euro lamps...be carefull or you will get bit by the modification bug too.

John

Glad to hear that I got a good deal!

I've already put 2500 miles on it since I bought it, so it's getting ready for an oil change @ 143k.

Haven't had the upshift problem checked out again [CE light did come back on though]... Any ill effects on the tranny itself by not having the upshift delay functioning properly for awhile?

The steering wheel kind've shudders upwards of 65mph. Probably a bad tire, from looking at them- there does seem to be some slop in the front end that amplifies this though. Any ideas there?

Getting new tires soon... Any ideas on what's a good [[ultra] high performance summer tire]? It's got the 500E rims, so I think the tires are 225/55/16's.

A non-functioning upshift delay valve will have no effect on your transmission, as far as I know.

Your steering wheel shimmy is surely caused by a tire out of balance.

Are you sure you have the 500E 8 hole wheels? The offset is wrong, and they shouldn't fit, unless you have seriously rolled the lip of your fenders....

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

Went outside and it turns out I don't have the 8 hole wheels. [For some reason I thought that those style wheels only came in 8 for the 500E's and 10 or something for all the other cars...] So it has 8 hole wheels, but not the 500E 8 holes.. I think they've got 205/55/16's on them.

Got the tranny problems all worked out.. Still getting CE light occasionally though, need to take it back in.

Switched to Mobil 1 on the last oil change, seems to like that better.

mine has 208,000 miles on it, hasnt had any major problems, put 207 down to the rear wheels, 240 ib/ft tq, and ran a 14.8 in the 1/4. That was my first time on street tires, stock diff, Y-pipe, muffler, and my custom intake. Should get down to 14.5 with seats out and what not. Good luck with it

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1993 400e
Charlotte

$5200 is a screaming deal! I paid almost $15K for a perfect black on gray '93 with only 69K miles that had been completely gone through. I also got a decent deal on my trade in, so it was worth it to me. But obviously you can fix a lot of stuff for 10 grand!

And here are some things you should spend your money on:

1) New rear differential. Upgrade to the 2.82 and transform your car into a hot rod! You won't believe the difference!
2) Remove the resonator. This is a cheap and relatively simple fix for an exhaust shop. Adds a little edge to the exhaust note.
3) Get lowering springs. I used H&R's and they work very well.
4) Add some bass to the stock stereo.

All these items are covered by posts on this Forum, including several I have posted. If you'd like more detail and some pics, let me know! Congrats - you have a great car!

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Mike in Denver
'93 400E Now DEAD - Rear ended and totalled.
Replaced by '02 C32 AMG - FAST!

Thanks!

Been reading about the Y-pipe / resonater upgrade a lot.. So it really is worth it on the 400? A lot of people seemed to think that only the 5.0 would benefit... I think I'll go ahead and see what my exhaust shop wants to charge...

It's actually already got the H&R springs on it! I like the slightly lower than stock look that it has now... It's desperately begging for some AMG wheels though- I kind've like the "stock" evo wheels that I've seen on here as well though. Does anyone have a picture of them on a 124?

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1992 400E w/o ASR - 157k

My shop did the fix for about $200 including making the "Y" pipe. It definitely sounds better at higher RPM, so it is a nice complement to the rear dif change. (Which makes the motor turn faster.) With the windows up, you can hardly hear the difference, and I don't think you can FEEL a difference. For me it was kind of the first thing to do before going to a better muffler. I want a louder exhaust note that sounds like a V8, rather than a quiet luxury car. Removing the resonator won't get you there, but it's a start.

If you have the bucks, you should have the shop quote you a new muffler as well - might save some labor and really get what you want.

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Mike in Denver
'93 400E Now DEAD - Rear ended and totalled.
Replaced by '02 C32 AMG - FAST!

I've been thinking about doing a muffler [in addition to the Y-pipe]- but I'm a little wary of choosing the wrong one and ending up with a sound that doesn't fit the car. Someone on here put a Magnaflow on his 400/420 and loved the sound, but I'm wary to just go for it until I've heard a sound clip. Any more reccomendations as far as mufflers go?

Thanks!

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1992 400E w/o ASR - 157k

heres a sound clip of my setup

http://500ecstasy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=317&highlight=sound+clip

r-1 racing muffler, y-pipe, intake. tell me what you think. total cost is maybe 210 dollars including labor and parts

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1993 400e
Charlotte