I have yet to find out the mileage and price. I don't know if the evaporator has already been replaced, or what the deal is with the squatting of the rear suspension. It may be just that broken bolt which didn't look like a big deal to extract and replace.

From the interior it looks like it has around 120k miles.

I'm going to talk to my mechanic about any service that he's done to it.

The 320 engine doesn't worry me. Our M104 C280 isn't a speed demon, but it is fine. We'd just like something a bit larger.

The way I see it, $2k seems like the max. Given the issues that are apparent during the visual inspection and the known transmission problem, that puts the max value (for me) in that range.

So, how much of a world of suck would I be in if a year from now the evaporator started leaking? I saw the Mercedes labor estimate of 21 hours. I've removed dash boards from a number of vehicles and while tedious there wasn't anything that was really hard. Just a bunch of clips, screws and wires to label. What makes that job a 21-hour job instead of a 5 hour job?

Thanks for the input, I'll keep you posted.
-Tad

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1995 G320
2003 C230 Kompressor Coupe
2005 ML500
2007 ML350