Help! should I buy?

[Doclyle]

I have always wanted A mercedes. 300ce or a 300 diesel. but have always been occupied by older cars. Now I am busier and have been looking for a nice car while lerking on this forum. I finally ran across a nice red 1991 300ce. it is clean with everything working well and 133000 on the OD. The buyers inspection notes the following.

Front and rear drive line gibo's cracked
rear Diff seals leaking
oil leak from front of motor (minor)
slight oil burning noted on takeoff (light blue smoke)
diff mount bushing (play & oil soaked)
front wheel bearings have a little play
comp test 170-175 psi all cyl
Not sure 120k major service was done

all of the sudden I feel niave about cars because the mechanic says I need to take care of these things right away but none seem to be that pressing to me except the diff seals. I trust the mechanic as he keeps our rover disco on the road but service is not cheap and this list will hit $1500 easy.

I need advice. The car is clean in every cosmetic way and will cost me $6000 which seems reasonable but i'm uncomfortable with the blue smoke and the pressure to fix everything right away by the mechanic. How bad are these troubles? This is a car that I would drive daily in seattle and hopefully keep for years of enjoyable MB Service.


Thanks for the help.

[tvpierce]

Here's a theory on the oil consumption:

The compression is excellent, and consistently so. That virtually eliminates blow by. A likely culprit would be valve stem seals. Whether you or your tech does it, it's not a very complex procedure... in fact, there's a DIY article on this very site. (click the DIY Article tab at the top of the page, then click on "103 Valve Stem Seal Replacement" to view the article.)

Look at it this way: If everything on the car was up to date, and the price was $7500, would you be interested? That's the figure we're talking about here, right?

IMHO, MB cars can get a little expensive unless you do at least some of your own wrenching. The beauty of them is that they are relatively easy to work on, and personally, I find them a pleasure to work on. I've worked on crappy cars before -- some I've owned, some belonged to friends/family. Working on a Ford Taurus for example, is very unsatisfying: you are fighting the sub-standard design and engineering at every step -- it is laborious. But with the Benz, everything is so marvelously engineered an built, that it's just a rewarding experience to know you’re work is going toward something that is going to last.

Just my 2 cents… arguably worth that.

jp