Giving my 300SEL to my mom... need some things tended to...

[86560SEL]

Here is the deal. I am giving my mother my beloved 1988 300SEL, as I have purchased a 1991 Caprice Classic as my days off car.

The Mercedes has around 160K miles. Runs very good, no rust, nice paint, nice interior, etc. To my amazement, it still does not leak or burn any oil, but I think the front cover is leaking a little. No biggie - I dont have to add between changes. It runs fine and has never let me down, but I want it in tip-top order for her. She would not even put 4000-5000 miles per year on it if that. I am not much of a DIY'er either. We have a couple of good MB shops here... maybe they should see to some of this or would a good independent mechanic be OK?

There are some minor nagging things that I want info on to be the best way to handle.

1- fuel gauge - its jumpy and inaccurate. I was told removing the seat and then the sending unit and clean it would help... is this the only way? Is there some additive you can put in the tank to clean it? Myself, I would refill it every so often.

2- headlights get brighter occasionally... they fluctuate in intensity - sometimes its a constant and less noticeable flicker, but sometimes its an occasional much brighter intensity. I am thinking this is the voltage regulator needing replaced? Battery is good and never goes dead, even if I let it set for two weeks at a time, so I know its charging and there are no shorts.

3- coolant - need to get the green coolant out... new stuff in... I will do this myself.

4- odometer... stopped working 4000 miles ago in the summer when I reset the trip odometer which I was using to track my mileage because of the fuel gauge.. is this costly to replace?

5- transmission.... sometimes when shifting OUT of reverse it will clunk a bit... does this car have u-joints? Could that be the cause? What does the flex discs do?

6- tranny fluid... I have to add some about every 10 months (1/2 quart)... never see any drips under it though. Where is it going?

7- tires/alignment. It has some slack in the steering. Would an alignment take care of this? I want to replace the tires and get it aligned.

8- sometimes I get a fluctuation on acceleration and the idle is sometimes erratic. It will go up and down.... hmmm. ???

Thanks in advance for any additional information.

Here is a pic before the washing/waxing that I took on Sunday afternoon...


took this two weeks ago... DIRTY!