Hello there. I just bought a '93 400E on Sunday. It has approx. 160k miles on it. I'm very happy with it, as it is in great condition. There are a few problems with it though.

1. Suspension:
A)There's a loud rubbing noise when I turn the steering wheel. It is more prominent when I turn the wheel to the right and the car is sitting. (You can actually feel it). The man that I bought it from was very into cars himself and told me that he believes it's the bushings on the top of the struts/shocks. Does this sound like it may be true? It could also be bushings or something on the lower parts of the suspension/steering system.
B) There is a horrible popping noise and shake at 65+ mph. I know I need an alignment and my tires balanced/rotated, but this is a bit much. I'm thinking that my shock/strut is so bad on the front left that my wheel is bouncing up and down (I've seen this on other vehicles on the freeway). Also, my left front tire is wearing dramatically on the outside while all my other tires are wearing evenly. You think it's just the shock/strut that needs replacing?

2. The check engine light is on. I spent a few hours searching this site for instructions on how to retrieve and clear the codes and found one set of instructions that involved the "button and flashing light" module under the hood, near the firewall on the passenger side. I tried to do it today, but it did not work. I held the button down, with the key in the "on" position, but the light just stays on and doesn't blink at all. I'm not too worried about it, but I need to clear it and have the check engine light off so I can smog the car (California), as tags are due next month. I found those instructions in the archives. Could someone PLEASE link me to the best set of instructions for this? I would truly appreciate it so much.

3. My "brake pads worn" light is on, even though the brakes are pretty new. I will inspect this at school tomorrow. I figure that the sensor needs to be replaced, or it was disconnected? No big deal.

4. Sometimes there's a strange whining noise coming from the direction of the transmission or driveshaft that I can hear in the cabin. The noise gets faster as I'm moving, which would normally make me think of a wheel bearing, but because of the location of the noise, I don't think that's what it is. Kinda weirds me out. Dunno if others may have had this intermittent issue as well.

5. The odometer stopped working at 135k. What's the best way to go about changing this out? Is it just simply the part in the gauges? Should I get a used one? Would I be able to adjust the mileage to make it more accurate?

Thank you all for your help. I know that there are a lot of questions in my post and it's fairly lengthy. This is my first Mercedes. I'm used to working on my previous Nissans and Infiniti (huge Nissan/Infiniti enthusiast here). :p It also helps that I'm in school to be an automotive tech so I'll be able to do most things myself, which is a huge plus. Thank you all again and I look forward to learning from and contributing to this site as much as possible.

-BJ