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