Earlier this week I test drove a 1991 560SEL. It has 75,000 miles, everything works, no rust, drove great, rides great, i LOVE it. However, the guy tells me that the local Bezn shop checked it out and found a very slight leak from the driver side head gasket. The Benz store said probably does not need to be fixed for 12 - 24 monts, but when it does, it will be $2,000+ (US). I am not a mechanic and don't know what a head gasket is. He is willing to sell it for $10,500 (US). Should I be concerned about the leak? can it kill the motor? Is this a symptom of something even more serious? Anything else I should be worried about?
Thanks!!

Hi

I own a 1986 560 SEL with just under 90K miles. They are beautiful cars, no doubt at all. However, despite my car's very pristine appearance, the low miles raises other concerns, as I have been discovering. It is definitely a trade-off between the visual appearance and the mechanical integrity - a car with 250,000 carefully maintained miles, but visual wear and tear, is much less troublesome than a <100K miles car that has sat around, or had short 2 mile trips over and over. My car needs lots of little things (and one big thing) that a pre-purchase inspection missed.

You will see on eBay, and autotrader.com, that a price of $10,000 is quite high. People can ask whatever they wish, but realistically the car is probably worth $10K only if it is absolutely pristine, inside and out. And I REALLY emphasize PRISTINE. A head gasket is serious, serious stuff.

For reference, I just paid $3,500 CDN (which is just undet $3,000 US), for my low mileage 560 SEL. It was a good deal, agreed, but there are lots of little things that need attention - I expect to sink another few thousand into it. At the end of the day, I will have a nice ride that even if it depreciates 50%, I have only lost a few thousand (about what I lost in the first month of a recent Lincoln I owned).

Anyway, you will probably enjoy a 560 SEL - I sure am.

Regards
Richard

The professor is 100% right. These are old cars and the appearance/mileage is less important than how well the PO took care of the car. They are good cars when everything is right and they are a money pit when small things go wrong.

I purchased a 1991 560 SEL with 102000 miles this May w/o any PPI for $5000. Am I in over my head now!!! I have since put in another $1600 for things like wax to A/C repair. For 7 monthes, I have driven it for about 3000 miles.

$10K is a lot of money and you will need about $1000 no matter how good the condition of the car is in. All the fluid and filter change alone is about $500 if you do it yourself.

At the end of the day, these are 15 year sold cars and they will have problems.

These are old cars they will have problems and issues that need to be resolved. If you buy it expecting to have problems and spend a few grand here and their you will enjoy it. W126's are great cars, so is the M117 V8. However like said above their old and will need some work. $10k isn't out of line but I am cheap I would try to get it under $10k.

A head gasket isn't a big deal.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

i also have a 91 560sel and with some seepage at the hedgasket driver's side at the back corner of the head. I have had it for about 2 years and it does not seem to be getting worse. I do not see any drips on the floor but that corner is wet from the head gasket going down. My oil consumpton is about a quart per 1000 miles. I will be replacing my valve stem seals in a few days, hoping the oil consumption will improve somehow. I continously watching my oil due to the leak. If it gets worse then i will replace the head gasket and send out the heads for rebuild.

emmy

I would pay no more than US$5,000 for that car. As many have said before me, you'll need to drop another $1000 or $2000 just for fluids, and other things that will break on a 15 year old car.

I estimate a head gasket job will cost you $3,000.

Can you do some of the work yourself? If you can, then get him down on the price. If you are not a DIY, it will be an expensive ride.

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1989 420 SEL