With all those repair receipts those could have been tears of joy.

Yea yea, laugh it up, but I like my new 15 year old car. Those were all, from me research, standard things that seem to go wrong on the car or need replacing over time.

Here is a photo, it needs a wash and wax and its a cloudy day. But you get the idea.

180k miles is nothing for a well taken care of Mercedes. 300k miles is getting up their, but 180k is middle aged.

Keep the oil changed and the car will fall apart or you will get tired of it before the engine gives up. The M119 is just about impossible to wear out.

It's a beauty, all right Christopher. The fact that "the owner almost cried as you drove it away" should tell you he cared about it a lot, and it was more than some piece of machinery like a dishwasher, and took care of it, which you know already from your conversation with the mechanic.

They are quite elegant and low keyed, in that color. GOOD score!

Hey, I love my diswasher and take very good care of it. :D

and yes, that is a beautiful car. I love the color combination. With all of those repairs already taken care of, you will have many, many more miles of fun driving!

PS: As soon as you can, get Euro headlights. You will like the look and appreciate the enhanced lighting perforamnce.

thanks. I have heard about the euro lights. what is a dependable and good place to get them? And is the swap something one with mechanical inclination but not much experience in terms of cars can do?

Chris:

I bought mine from ImportVision. Others here have also bought from them.

I bought DEPO brand, $200.00 (not including shipping). I live close enough to their warehouse that I was able to pick them up directly from them.

Others here have bought from them and have had good results with their experience.

I bought OEM Bosch for the 300TE. With the 300CE I went cheapo, and bought the DEPOS, saved about $300.00. Both the DEPO and the Bosch are functionally identical. Ask others here, they will tell you the same.

The swap is extremely easy. The only possibly tricky part is changing the wiring plug. The std. US-spec lights use a 4-hole plug. The Euros use a 6-hole plug.

If you decide to do it, I (or others here) can walk you right through it.

It is probably the most cost effective improvement that you could make to a W124 or W126 Benz.

BTW, my 300TE has 209k miles on the M103 engine. It runs strong and trouble free. I had a 1991 420SEL that I sold a few years ago with 250k miles. The new owner still drives it and she loves it.

With all the upgrades the PO of you rnew car has already made, you should look forward to many, many more miles of trouble-free driving!

With US-spec lights:

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k1...E/52f01443.jpg

With Euro lights:

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k1...E/61d68643.jpg

The 8 cyl E cars are great cars. I was lucky enough to just pick up a '97 E420 with 120K miles for only $6000 off Ebay. The dealer also gave me a 2 year unlimited mileage Penn Warranty for $800 with $100 deductible. The car is such a pleasure to drive with the fine Bose stereo.

Thanks benz-lgb.The new lights look great.

One thing I noticed is that the headlight wipers were gone. How does that work? Do you need to get new panels below the lights? And my PO just re-worked the wiper system, including the headlight ones, so I am loathe to take them off. Do you have to do this?

The headlight wipers won't work with the Euro lights. If you put the Euro lights in, you'll need the trim piece without the hole drilled in it to complete the installation.

As Matt mentioned, the headlight wipers in your car will not work with Euro headlights because of the way the motors are mounted in the headlight assembly itself. The headlight motors are mounted to the underneath of the headlight assemblies. With Euro lights the motor is located in a different position than in US-spec lights.

Here are a few points to consider:

1. Headlight wipers add a new level of complexity, you have an extra fluid pump, the two wiper motors, extra hoses, wiper blades, etc.;

2. The headlights look cleaner w/o the wipers (IMHO);

3. Unless you live in snow and/or heavy rain country you probably do not need the wipers;

4. If you wish to use wipers on Euro lamps, you probably could do it if:

a. you buy new trim panels (the horizontal, painted/removable panel under
the lights)

b. (the reason you need a new panel is because the motor shaft is located at a different location for Euro lights -- more towards the outside, as opposed to the U.S. lights where the shaft is closer to the center)

c. you get Euro wiper blade arms, they are longer than the shorter US-spec versions because they sweep a bigger area).

5. If you do the above, you could probably use the headlight wiper motors that you currently have.

Either way, whether you get rid of the headlight wiper system or if you try to put together a Euro headlight wiper system you would probably have to buy new trim panels.

Here is a pic of my car with the original trim panels. See the holes for the wiper motor shaft and the fluid hose?

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k1...E/d75ec05c.jpg

The panels are about $12.00 each and it cost me $25.00 to have them painted at a local body shop. I figured that getting new panels would be cheaper (and neater) than trying to fill out the holes in the old panels and then trying to paint them myself.

Anyhow, if you ask most people here who own pre-face lift W124, or any W126, they will all tell you that they prefer the Euro lights. The majority of them also would rather do w/o the headlight wiper system.

Good luck.

cool. thanks. I think what I am going to do is get used to the car first, get a new set of tires at least on the front (any recs on the tires?), wax it, enjoy it and then get into the light issue after the novelty of headlight wipers wears off! It can rain really heavily here, btw. But maybe I will get the bug sooner than I think!

You can drive it with the US-spec lights until winter, when it gets dark earlier. :D

Three of my cars have Contis (300CE, C320 and VW Rabbit). Two have Michelins (E320 and Volvo V70) and one has GoodYear Assurance TripleThred (300TE).

I like them all, for different reasons. Overall, however, I think that the best tires are the Michelins.

I'm joining the m119 124 club too!
 

I've regretted selling my 97 c230 for several months, and the wonderful 3.5 v6, Harmon Kardon sound and factory warranty just cannot make me love my c350. It has no soul, and it just feels cheap to me. I'm selling it for not much of a loss (!) and purchasing a 93 400e.

Car is silver on gray, 160k miles, 3 owners and serviced by the same indie shop since the 2nd owner bought it roughly 10 years ago. Wiring harness and throttle body just replaced, and euro 94/95 lights installed. The paint is faded and it could use a respray, but the interior is nearly flawless, and the leather is not only free of damage, but still soft! It appears the valve guides have been done, but the chain is original, and the trans is a tad bit lazy engaging reverse. Other than that, shifts very crisply at WOT. It has full records, but will need tires within 5k, at which time I will probably just find some 16 or 17 inch wheels. Price? $3500. Even if I need to do a tensioner and fluid/filter changes, I think it's a good deal considering. Well, unless the chain breaks or something.

Oh, no siginifcant leaks either. I verified the service history with the indie mechanic and he said it's about as good as you will find as far as these cars go. Not perfect, but a damn solid example.

What's the first thing I should do to the car? I'm thinking I will do a diff/trans/engine oil/coolant change, and have the plug wires/cap inspected. Anything else?