What to look for on a W116?
 

I have found a W116 350SEL and I am mot really familiar with these cars, what should I look out for as far as Mechanial and Body Issues?

RUST is the biggest enemy of these cars. Look carefully for it. The 3.5 motor was thought to be one of the very best for these cars.

Have it looked over for mechanical, electrical, HVAC and body integrity issues.
Make sure it runs and tracks down the road well. They are large, comfortable and safe cars, and when they first came out in 1973 they were far, far ahead of the rest of the pack in safety innovations, having been modeled on the ESV (experimental safety vehicle).

A polished one in good condition still looks imposing today. Gas economy is not a strong point, but longevity, durability, comfort, prestige, build quality, availability of spare parts, and ease of repair are all strong points with them.

They excel at long distance highway cruising, at high speed, but are not a good choice for big city runabout use.

Other than the rust issue, the 3.5 might have a timing chain issue as well I think. But beyond that I really can't think of any reason not to buy one.

- Peter.

Thanks for the input so far, what areas should I look for rust, living in Toronto rust most likely will be an issue!

Interior floors, under the wheel arch chrome, jacking points, rocker panels, around the windshield and rear window, bottom of fenders, in wheel wells, trunk floor, around the rear license plate area, the entire undercarriage, bumper surface and mounting points to the body, the tinworm is merciless against these cars, the best ones are from dry climates like Southern California, Texas, and Arizona where there is no snow

Does the gasser have the same climate control servo as the diesel? If so, look closely at it. Replacements are about $900. They fail frequently but there is a replacment computerized upgrade available for around $600.

That would be the 3.8 with the chain issue. The 3.5 is an iron block like the 4.5.
Extremely reliable, and long lived like the diesels. I believe a 350 is euro spec and would have manual cliamate controls. If not too rusty, I would rate it a buy.

Thats what I was thinking and since hes only asking $1000 CDN that seems like a bargain, but I wont know till I see the car!

Do be carefull though, if you test drive it you WILL want to buy it. Until you test drive a 116, you would not believe a big tank of a car can handle and corner like a sports car, rust be dammed!

A 2 ton sports car. :D

Oh don't get me wrong here my dad had a 79 300SD and that was an amazing car, but I was young and didn't really pay to much attention to problems such as rust. I can only imagine what a difference it would be to drive a non diesel W116.

On the w116, I think that there is an area at the bottom of the cowl that functions as some type of mounting point for a front suspension component. Supposedly if this area is corroded the car is dangerous. I'm relying on a really fuzzy memory on this, but I would stroll over to the Vintage section of this site and repeat the topic question.You might find a more precise response.

If the rust is confined to the rockers and drivers side floor boards (both very common), you can get aftermarket rockers for $75 a side. The floors aren't too terribly complicated to rebuild. For some reason though the drivers side floor loves to rust, while the passenger side can be solid.

I always figured that was because the car leans to the left over its lifetime because of the shocks and subsequent spring wear causing the water to gravitate in that direction. I wonder if it holds true inversely for RHD cars?