Is it worth it? looking for advice - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

conversekidz · #1 07-05-2004, 05:12 PM

I have a 1990 300e

I am currently trying to figure out if I should keep the car, perform all the repairs on it, or if I should unload the car and get something else.

Looking over it in the driveway today I have concluded that in a nutshell nearly all the rear rubber in the suspension needs to be replaced.
For subframe mounts, camber strut, sway bar link, thrust arm, sway bar bushings, control arm strut, control arm stay, and control arm repair kit, comes to a total of $569, throw in other random rubber parts for the exhaust, lets say $600 total for that area. The inners of my tires has decided to shred themselves, and you can see a very exaggerated camber in the rear.

The shocks/struts are well worn, both front and rear need to be replaced. I can pick up a set of them off ebay for $410 shipped. Bilstein HD with a lifetime warranty.

The rear brakes need to be done, $25 for the pads

That was all the easy stuff

My head is leaking oil, the car has almost 150k miles on it and the headgasket has never been done. so $70 for the gasket set, and I have been hearing upwards of $800+ to have the head reworked, is that right? plus whatever other odds and ends I will need when I do that. Lets say $1000

So as of right now we are looking at a total of around $2000 just for parts.

There is also the check engine light that has decided to come on. Its giving me an EZL related code, i'm going to take this into a shop to have them tell me what needs to be done to take care of that.

My cat is clogged from all the oil that my engine has been burning, lets not forget how the motor is running rich and rough because the shop the smogged my car "tweaked" it to get it to passed (car runs like crap now and they said they didn't do it)

I can get a generic 3way cat for my car for $200 and my friends shop can put it in for free.

So I am guessing, all said and done I am looking at spending $2500 for parts alone.

KBB lists my car value for a private party at the fair level $3600 and the good at $4200

So is it worth the money to do the repairs? I could cut my losses, sell the car for $3000 as is (i have seen far worse cars going for this much and more in my area) or do I perform the repairs?

The idea has come up to sell the car, then find another mercedes with all the work done on it and pick that car up for 5-6k and save me the headache and troubles of doing all the work.

Any words of advice would help.
Thank You

conversekidz · #2 07-05-2004, 05:16 PM

There more that I forgot.

The AC does not work, it was convereted to r134a by the previous owner of the car, and did not work when I purchased the vehicle.

The driver side seat does not lower itself in the rear, it only lowers and raises in the front, new rear motor maybe?

I think that is everything now

Benz300 · #3 07-05-2004, 06:12 PM

even though kbb lists our w124's for a certain price, it is nearly impossible to find one for that range that has all the gadgets in perfect working order. experience tells me that, it is important for you to have a car that you can trust on the road from a mechanical point of view and one which is not prone to frequent failures.
you mentioned that this is your daily driver, which leads me to believe that it doesnt leave you stranded on the side walks. with that said, all the things you have mentioned are not show stoppers. meaning the car will continue to run, perhaps not in pristine condition.
I suggest you keep the car and setup a yearly budget that you would want to spend on the car. and with that budget start investing in the repair with the most imporant to the least. this way in due time you'll have all the repairs done and you won't feel like you've invested a million in the car.
everyone here in the forum has been doing the repairs which are never mentioned during the calculations of NADA or KBB values. that is why when you are in the market to find a good, well taken care of, example, the asking price well exceeds the fair market price dictated by the whole sale price books/websites.
hope this answers your question to some degree.
good luck.

G-Benz · #4 07-06-2004, 10:46 AM

These cars were one of the best of the MBs ever made...but what you are experiencing is a vehicle that is getting pretty long on the tooth, and needs some TLC to get it back into tip-top condition.

Like Benz300 said, you should consider budgeting repairs in smaller increments...parts are pretty robust, and many are designed to last a decade. So it you do the suspension stuff for instance, you shouldn't have to worry about looking at it again for another 150K...

..with the exception of the techs here who can keep their rides at 100% all of the time, you are not alone. There are other commitments that prevent me from attacking each and every anomaly that plagues my vehicles...so I have to prioritize and do the critical stuff immediately, and then figure out which of the other repairs I will do later. I have many that have required attention for years (like a sagging headliner), but I just don't have the time.

The other issue is, what other vehicle would you consider as a replacement. You might consider a used Accord or Camry as an alternative, as both are considered fairly reliable.

Your wallet will probably breathe a sigh of relief, but understand that very few vehicles are built with enough robustness to last several years of regular use...so expect broken plastic pieces, torn seats, faded paint, and surprisingly, when something DOES break, parts and labor can exceed what it would have been for your current vehicle.

If you decide to keep your car, try not to look at all the potential problems in their entirety...that will overwhelm you.

Also, pick your battles and do some research...the head leak for instance. Some head leaks are not directly related to a failing gasket...have you seen oil in the coolant or consistently hot engine temps? And is oil leaking from the head or valve cover? Front or rear head area?

I'm saying this because there are other causes to oil leaks that aren't necessarily a symptom of the head gasket...and far cheaper to solve.

Anyway, that's just one of the ways you can go about determining what to do at this point.

Good luck on whatever decision you make.

conversekidz · #5 07-06-2004, 03:11 PM

Well with regards to what I think is the head gasket, my coolant has a nice layer of sludgey oil looking stuff floating on the top of the tank. However I have never had any water in my oil. My car never runs hot, it did over heat one time but I caught it and it was a bad thermostat.

Richard Eldridge · #6 07-06-2004, 04:47 PM

The odds are that the power seat problem is due to the switch not making contact. You could remove it (the buttons pop off, then the switch itself pops out and can be unplugged.

Some tuner cleaner might solve the problem without opening the switch. Do a search here and you will find how to repair the switch and not spend the $80+ mine cost because a couple of tiny ball bearings escaped.

There is a cross reference here to a land-Rover site where you will find very thorough directions and photos about repairing this switch. Dremel (or super cheap Harbor Freight clone) will be useful here.

Your car is probably quite similar to the $3600 average car according to Kelley.

It's really a matter of luck vs sure thing: if you fix your car yourself, you know what is new. If you buy another car you might just luck off and buy one in better shape that has had most of that expensive stuff intact or replaced recently.