recently acquired this car.. has 126k miles, all dealer maintenance records and is black on black.....can anyone comment on problems to expect with this car, and what to look out for?????? thanks

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1993 500SEL

Power Steering System and Evaporator for your A/C.

Other wise it is a great car. Out of all the models that that Benz produced I like that one (W140) the best. Mine is the bit lower end.

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1993 400SEL (W140) 281K
1999 S500 (W140) 163K (Sold)
2002 S500 (W220) 72K
1999 S500 (W140) 88K
You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Hello Arif

I don't want to frighten you but I bought mine S500 one year ago with the exact same mileage of yours and since them I already done the following works:

1) Replace the switch at the gearbox, made the ASR light comes on and the engine loses power, very hard to find out;

2) Replace motor mounts, with 126kmiles they are gone for sure, makes o lot of difference;

3) Replace the electronic adjust throttle sensor;

4) Replace the complete cablage that connects the modules box to the engine, quite expensive but these cablage really turns bad with age, check yours;

5) Replace main fan hydraulic clutch;

6) Replace thermostat, very important with these mileage is probably going to fail very soon, and can cause serial damage to the engine

7) Replace front suspension soft mounts, completely gone at 126kmiles;

8) Replace nitro cells at back suspension;

9) Replace complete transmission shaft, it had a permanent vibrations at around 60 mph;

10) Replace fuel pumps and fuel filter;

11) Several others little things, such as filters of all kinds, power window system, electrical antenna, key ignition...

I might had not too much luck with this one, but almost all these cars that haven't a rigours maintenance jobs, and believe me the dealer papers does not mean much, mine also have the complete history at the official Mercedes dealer.

Folgado
93 S500

thanks Folgado.....

l checked the records (dealer receipts) on my car......pretty much everything on your list has been replaced except for item 5..... fan hydraulic clutch....... which makes me feel a little bit better!!!.
Thanks for posting the list.

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1993 500SEL

You can consider yourself a very lucky guy Arif!!

Mine is running fine now, this weekend I fulfil another 1000 miles.
It is for sure one of the best cars for travelling.
Does yours have ADS?

Folgado
93 S500

Folgado,

one question:
how hot does your car run. l am almost always at 100C and sometimes at 110C on uphill drives or heavy traffic. Is this normal? some have told me 100C is normal. it has been hot here in LA, in the 95+ F range!!


PSdont know yet what ADS is. will look it up.

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1993 500SEL

Hello Arif

The optimum temp. is 90ºC but is perfectly normal to reach 100 or even 110ºC, this does not mean that It's good as a matter of fact it's bad, not only for the engine but mainly because of the wiring, vacuum lines, electrical connectors etc...
There is nothing to do about that, so don’t worry too much, only never use pure water at the cooling system, that would damage the thermostat.

Folgado
93 S500