New to your Forum
 

I would like to say hello and introduce myself.
I have owned Mercedes since 1980 I am currently on my 7th Mercedes. I usually do a lot of work on the cars and hope to find this forum useful.
My son and I just spent the last 2.5 years rebuilding a 1965 Mustang Fastback, completely. We had everthing off the car. Installed a perormance 289. A new 5 speed, new suspension and rebuilt the interiors. It will be painted this summer. Since it is a daily driver for him up at Oklahome State University, the paint job will not be an expensive one.

I own the following Mercedes.
1982 300TD
1986 300SDL
1988 560SL
1999 E300 Turbo Diesel
I am currently started to rebuild the 300TD. It is a sound vehicle but as you will see in a post to follow. It's time for a suspension rebuild.
throttle linkage adjustment and Trans service.
I realize that the 300TD's are reducing in numbers so I would like to slowly start to rebuild the car.

The SDL is now my daughters car. It was my wifes car but she now drives the E300. The SDL has 262,000 mile on it. My daughter will be going to college next fall and the SDL will be sold.

The 560SL is of course my toy. The 107 series came out when I was a senior in High School. while all the kids were drooling over Camaros, Corvetts and Musle cars. I saw the 350/450SL and realized that I wanted one. I found the car in 1995.

The E300. This will be the interesting section. this is my 7th Mercedes, but I'm afraid it will be the last NEW Mercedes I buy. (I would like a 280SE) I have found the quality of the cars to be deteriorating. I do like the car. But its been in the shop a little to much for my likes. In the 56,000 miles I have on the car, the following items have been done.
Glow plug system-3 times
Transmission-4 times
Radio-7 times
front seat belts- 1 time
new door panels due to seatbelts- driver and passenger
center glove top-1 time
climate control-1 time
Fog light lenses-2 times ( hate those stones)
rear light assemblies-1 set

I really like the car, 36MPG on the highway is great, but I'm not impressed with the reliability. We have a 8 year/100,000mi Starmark warrantee on it so we'll see how it goes.
I just don't see this car lasting the way all the other ones have.
One side note, I have changed dealers, Ive gone back to ******** in Dallas. I use them for 17 years before I changed. I changed because of the distance involved. So maybe things will improve.
We'll enough whining.

The 560 is of course my baby. I will keep it for as long as I can.

I have been browsing your forum for a couple of days and do like what I have seen.

I find this forum to be just as nice as Vintage-Mustang.com
a little more organized by topic. but nice. I noticed that someone here has a Mustang. The Mustang rebuild was fun, but boy is there a difference in quality. The Mercedes are so much easier to work on.

We'll Ive ranted for quite some time. And all I wanted to do is say hello

Dave

Now on to the other posts.

My wife sold our 1998 E300D due to it's status as "shop queen" in our house.

OTOH, our 1998 C230 has been very reliable, Japanese like, maybe better...

Welcome!!

Welcome Dave,

I bought a 1983 380 SL last Feb. that was almost a basket case mechanically. Found this forum and all the great people here and with all their help and advice and directions I have gotten through most of the mechanical problems myself and believe me I am not a mechanic of any sort. New shocks, new exhaust, new brakes and rotors, idle problem sorted out, heater problem sorted out, valve stem seals and today a new fuel pump and now I've got a fairly nice SL that I can drive everyday. Will continue with some cosmetics when money allows. Am I bragging, you had better believe it, about all the help that I was able to get from this forum and some new friends as well.

Keep well

Hey, welcome to the forum!

I think you'll find that the "quality" issue of the newer Mercedes models to be a hot topic around here that gets discussed, and probably the majority of those here feel the older ones are better. The 123's, 124's and 126's have large followings.

Don't be too shy to post frequently on the diesel forum. There are many, many guys from Texas that are "diesel heads". They also have get-togethers 2 or 3 times / year, and just had one not too long ago. It is also probably the most active section of the forum, too.

Hi Dave