I just discovered this, your saga of the new wagon.
I love / hate mine. Until recently it was a 50/50 love / hate affair but suddenly its become 90% hate
3 years ago almost to the month I bought one, a '95 E320 wagon of the same color (I think 99% of the '94 - '95 wagons were painted smoked silver). It had 120K some miles on it and needed a new suspension, gas spheres, lower control arm bushings and everything up front that was rubber was replaced.
A new exhaust line was in order because the Seattle PO must have driven the car for short distances because the pipe rusted from the inside out.
Then there was a new ignition harness, a spark coil and plugs to get it running well. After a new MAF it passed smog and I got new CA plates and drove it regularly on trips. I've put around 35K miles on it then last month I saw the dash light for coolant come on briefly so I added a few quarts of water and finding no outward visible leaks I recognized that as a bad sign!
Today a pressure check confirmed the head gasket is leaking. Welcome me to the infamous M104 head gasket failure club!
DDH