Experience w/300E Sought
 

All, After many years, I just rejoined this site, having returned to the wonderful world of Benz, it must have been some kind of mental sanity lapse. Anyway, I just bought a pretty nice '89 300E, 205k miles, which I took to a trusted benz specialist for a serpentine belt tensioner replacement and A/C conversion. The guy tells me these cars are very problematic with expensive parts and to run as fast as I can. This guy definately knows his stuff, but he's a bit direct, which I like, until he tells me what I don't want to hear.

I'd like second opinions from guys (gals?) with real time experience. I do a bit of wrenching, but mostly basic stuff. The car looks good, nice interior and runs well enough, still needs front end alignment, tires and windshield. After that it will be close to cherry for an '89.

What say you?
Thanks!

Personally, I think he is wrong.

I don't find the parts to be expensive. Just be sure to buy GOOD brand parts. No trash.

I also don't find them to be overly problematic.

Sure they have their issues but I would not label them as problematic in the least.

The M103 is considered to be a good, reliable engine. IMO.

One way to know that you've "made it" in life is if you can afford to drive an old Mercedes. I agree with the mechanic. These old cars are problematic and expensive to maintain. At that mileage and age there will always be something that needs attention. Parts that are simple, reasonably priced, and easy to change on "ordinary cars" are expensive, complex and difficult to change on a Mercedes. Sometimes I think my car was built on another planet. But they are fantastic cars when everything is working right.

I had an '87 300E. Put over 100K on it before I sold it to my mechanic. He still has it with 250K and it runs like a dream with the original transmission. The car has had normal maintenance things replaced with the valve seals done once. The transmission had to be resealed but other than that nothing unusual. Normal parts are no more expensive than Toyota or some other ricer.
Anziani
'97 CL500 150K

300E
 

Yeah, I know he's talking sense, his recommendation is to go to the '93 - 95 model year, he's big on those being superior. One thing he scared me with was saying the BOSCH idle sensor used to be $26, now it's $900. I checked, and found he must have been refering to the MAF, that shows price at high $800 something. Thing is with the tensioner and A/c conversion, plus purchase I'm in close to 3k already.

It sure is shiny, you pretty pretty thing.

93-95 model years were also problematic in the sense that the engine wiring harness insulation degrades. I had to replace the one on my friend's 93 300E. Easy job, just $800 for the harness.

It's not the MAF that goes bad. It's the potentiometer on the side of the MAF. Bosch no longer sells it separately. $35 - 50 for a refurb on fleabay. But, probably would have to DIY a lot of those types of repairs.

300E
 

That's good to know about the potentiometer there Ldog. I saw your earlier threads about all of the parts you had replaced, which scares hell out of me. Did you ever tally up all the $$ you spent? Must have been enough to match the GDP of half of the smaller countries + France.

I'm about $6500 into the car which includes purchase price. $10k is a reasonable total estimate for completion. Keep in mind I like my cars to feel "new" so I have also replaced things some would consider optional. I also have done 100% of the work myself. If I was taking it to a shop then yes, it would have been the GDP of France.

300E
 

Well, I'd have to say that if you end up with what effectively is a new older MB, you're probably money ahead, esp. when compared to cost of a new one. Plus, it keeps you off the street and out of bars.

The wife keeps me off the street. The two year keeps me out of the bars. The pair of them keep me neatly hidden in the garage. :)

I am about $12K into the 190E. That's over 7 years now and includes a transmission reseal, engine swap, new gearbox, front and rear suspension rebuilds and the original purchase price.

I am about $8K into the 300D. That's over 2 years. It includes rear suspension rebuild, partial front suspension rebuild, steering rebuild (less box),etc.

I've got spreadsheets on all of my cars if you wanted to see anything. Some jobs I farm out to my one shop when I am too busy or too lazy. :D

It is a 25 year old car with 200,000 miles, do you honestly expect it to be perfect?

If you cannot do most/all repairs yourself, you need to be in a different vehicle. Lastly, any mechanic that cannot explain why the vehicle is 'problematic' is nothing more to me than a glorified shadetree.

My 300SEL is 850 miles shy of 300,000. I guess it is problematic and I should sell it too.

@JamesDean: so $20k. Not too far off the interest alone for a loan on a new car.

http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/auto/loan-interest-calculator.aspx

Although, bank interest is cheaper than a repair shop, which is why most of our countrymen keep rolling over negative equity into new car loans.

300E
 

Hitman, no unrealistic expectations here, and like I said on my lead in, this ain't exactly my 1st trip around the block in old MB's, having restored a 300TD and D, and yes I do most everything myself, including welding/basic metal fab.

In fact over the last 40 some years, I've had at least 60 - 70 some cars of almost every make. Heck, I drove old Fiats for years, the MB has the reliability of a Datsun compared to those.

What I don't know is the gas powered Benz, that why I seek out those who do. The mechanic is an old E. European who only works on these cars, he def. knows more about the Benz than probably most here. I figure all he see's is broken cars, so that's all he knows, not exactly a controlled sample size.

I have owned my 89 300e for almost 7 years now. I have at one point or another rebuilt every system on that car. It's very likely I'm in to it $15k or more.

Parts are somewhat reasonable as long as you shop around. When I say reasonable, I mean that it's cheaper than a bmw, by a little, and 20x more expensive than a similar vintage ford.

If you plan on having the car repaired by your mechanic (or any mechanic) you should sell it as the repair bills will bury you. 300e's are only worth at most 3k so you are at the point of no return now.

Looking back on my years of ownership I can tell you this.

1. Make sure you bought a good one. No rust, low miles, or well maintained by an enthusiast.
2. Your car will always need something. It will never truly be 100%. You have to be ok with owning a car that is in constant disrepair.
3. You bought a 25 year old car that is going to have 25 year old problems. Rubber is dry, seals are shot, water will infiltrate, you get the picture.
4. And finally, my 300e has been problem free for about 8 months out of the 7 years of ownership. It is difficult and expensive to get the m103 to run PERFECT. If you think you can get your car perfect, get rid of it ASAP.

When my car was running well it was an absolute joy to drive. You have to really commit to these cars. If you like fixing cars, and like to learn about cis-e, bust your knuckles, burn yourself, and permanently have dirty fingernails, then go for it.

Otherwise, dump the car and buy something newer.

I can say that the only problem I've had with the M103 (in 7 years of ownership) was:

1) lifter noise in my 190E's 2.6 at 195K
2) head gasket failure in the 2.6 at 208K

I swapped in a M103 3.0L from a 300SEL that had 86K. So far I've added 30K to it and no problems

Good points all. Like I said earlier, I've driven and worked on just about everything, and yes I could just buy a Toyota like my wife drives and never have to work on it, but then it would still be a Toyota, wouldn't it?

Like someone earlier pointed out, there is nothing else like a Benz, and I noticed this thing is a highway car, once it's rolling it seems to have a lot more power than it's rating, it does tach out high at speed though, I think I was running 3500 rpm at 75, it is def. hitting high gear though.

If I keep this beast, it's a toy, I have other stuff to drive when I need to get somewhere. See, I'm talking myself into it already.

Okay, understand now we are on the same page.

Good man, I need to post some pic's of this thing, you'll get an idea of why I'm going nuts over this thing. As I remember, it's a kind of difficult process, I'll do a search to try and figure it out.

One thing I have learned about having a 25+ year old Mercedes as a daily driver is that one car leads to three :D

Having two W124's is the way to go so that if one is down for repair then you have a second ready to get you to work the next morning. I have had my 300E for six months and the 300TE for three and on just the purchase price I'm ahead of having a car payment.

Ha Ha.
One thing I have learned about having a 25+ year old Mercedes (300CE) as a daily driver is that one car leads to two. The Red Baron in the garage and the daily driver late model leased car living out in the elements.
Don't think the Benz left the garage more than 4 times from Jan to April. What a lousy winter!:rolleyes: Making up for it now tho...;)

Knowing what know now, I sure wouldn't buy a 25 yr old W124 with the mileage mine has (137,500), if it didn't have service records.

To the OP: One thing that might come out of left field is ignition failure. As in the key won't turn the ignition.If you ever start having trouble with the key turning in the ignition, ignore it at your peril and expense. Cost me 900.00 at the dealer. 5+ hour job. The service mgr. told me that it's not that uncommon on early 124s.

Oh yeah, I did the ignition tumbler on both diesles. The 1st one after it locked down on me, luckly at home, and the second after it tried to lock up. Learned the procedure here, wasn't fun but not too bad.

Talk about one car leading to another, I once stopped at a house when I saw an old TD that obviously wasn't being driven to ask if they'd sell a part off of it. Ended up with the whole car for $100. Turned out it was the hand primer leaking. Fixed that, got a bunch of parts, then sold it for $800 to a guy on this site. He was actually the second buyer, I sold it to another guy 1st, and he paid in cash, then never came back to get the car, said he had to go into the hospital, and would come get it after that. When he never came back, I figured he died. I kind of hated that, but I had no idea who to return the money to.

With these cars, there is a story behind every one, that's for sure.

Yup, or pay almost nothing for it, which is why blue book is so low. So I found out...

"Having two W124's is the way to go so that if one is down for repair then you have a second ready to get you to work the next morning. I have had my 300E for six months and the 300TE for three and on just the purchase price I'm ahead of having a car payment."


Hey Gatorblue92...quit telling everybody the best car secret there is...pretty soon the supply of cars will dry up!

I think you should have three, in case 2 are down for repairs. My 2 (87 300D - engine out/ disassembled due to blown head gasket/cracked head, 92 500E- misterious CAN/computer issue that seems to have recently healed itself) are down and I am considering a third W124 as a short term acquisition until I can get the 300D back together for my soon to be licensed daughter. I really like the W124s. My DD since everything is down is a 86 porsche 944 turbo that has about 200k.

I know. I bought my '83 in October of '05. About six months later a '77 240D followed me home. A couple years after that, I bought a '71 250 (big mistake), and probably would have had a '70 280SE if I hadn't lost the job I had at the time. Now I'm down to one old car and one newer vehicle. I only turn wrenches when I want to. Still, I get tempted from time to time. There was a '69 220D for sale not that long ago, and there is a reasonably priced old 911 that keeps showing up in the classifieds.

+1 for all of these points - particularly the one about trying to get your M103 running perfectly.