PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post

johng99 · #2 02-24-2009, 10:10 PM

I can only tell you about my experience. When I bought my first used Mercedes, over 5 years ago, I was advised (on this forum) to make sure the car had maintenance records and was well maintained. I also called various independent shops and dealers and I was told to expect to pay between $1,000 and $1,500 per year to maintain one of these cars if driven regularly. I have followed that advise on the three that I own and have found the maintenance estimates to be more or less on the money. My diesel has been very reliable, but it has had a few big-ticket items (evaporator core) as well. My 560sec, while not the most beautiful cosmetically, was owned by my independent mechanic, and he was a stickler for mechanical quality, and it shows. The car runs great, but has needed a few things. As a 21 year old car, I would expect it to.
Your '88 is also getting up on 21 years of age, and things do wear out. You don't say what your mileage is, but some items wear with distance and some with time. Your issues with airflow tend to be the vacuum actuated pods failing after many years of use. This wouldn't surprise me. I replaced all of them on the diesel when I did the evaporator core.
These are wonderfully engineered cars and for me are a joy to drive. I do not get any personal satisfaction driving a Japanese car - even the best just don't "feel" right to me. But that engineering requires maintenance - as you have probably noticed most of us on this forum do some degree of maintenance ourselves. We appreciate the engineering and design of the vehicles and most feel that it's part of the ownership experience. While not a mechanic, I do what I can, and actively participate in all the repairs in some way or another.
Your rash of issues seems to be a bit higher than I would expect, without any knowledge of how the car was maintained prior to your purchase, I would suspect that maintenance was a bit lacking.
Can you give us more info?