It's sad, but our E300 seems to develop a new problem every day now, yesterday it was noises in the transmission. A few days ago it got a little hot with the A/C on, I later discovered that the aux fan belt had come off. Right now it just seems like the car is on the road to falling apart. And really, who wants to drive a car that's falling apart?

A partial list of what's wrong (in no particular order):

• Tranny noises
• Climate control
• Interior coming apart (eg passenger's door squeaks, driver's seat creaks, passenger's seat adjustment wood surround coming off, etc etc)
• Suspension needs work after 170k
• One stuck glowplug (hard winter starting)
• Paint on driver's rear door attacked twice in one month by full-grown laboradors wanting to see our lab puppy
• Ticking noises from engine at idle
• Sensors failing (eg oil level, wash water level, etc)

Oh, did I mention the climate control operates in no logical way whatsoever?

Other that that, the car is still fully functional and an absolute joy to drive (no joke there)...it's just getting ready for retirement.

The two cars we have in mind are the new R320 CDI 4Matic and the VW Passat TDI. Get the R320 CDI now to replace the E300, then when the Passat comes with the V6 commonrail TDI (hopefully next year), buy it and replace the Excursion. Then we'd still have a sedan and an SUV.
Or an E320 CDI/Bluetec is always an option.....

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99 E300 TD -- sold
01 540i 6 spd

Were you the original owner of this car?

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

This is a little unnerving. I thought the 98-99 turbodiesel was supposed to be one of the longest running ones out there after the 617... or whichever 240 is supposed to last that long, I never have studied them much. Isn't this low mileage to be having serious problems?

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~Michael S.~
Past cars:

1986 300SDL
1987 300SDL
1982 240D
1982 300SD


Current:

1987 300SDL

Seems a little unreasonable to blame the car for this one.

Everything else on the list is something to deal with on a 8-9 year old car with 170K miles on it...fact of life. You could probably resolve everything on the list for less than the downpayment on a new E320 or R320 but everyone has their own priorities...some people prefer a monthly car payment to the hassles of dealing with an older car...some find it challenging and rewarding to keep them on the road. Hopefully you'll post it here for sale and let someone on the board who wants to do the latter enjoy it since a M-B dealer would probably offer $5K as a trade, would fix it and sell it for $12K.

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

No disrespect intended but some of your problems IMO are related to calculated risks you've elected to accept.

IIRC you've driven quite some time on one completely dead GP; I know which inj/cyl I'd be looking at first concerning the ticking you're hearing. You also are fond of alt fuels which carries increased risk, moreso if anything other than commercially prepared Bio.

Isn't yours chipped too? Aggressively?

Whats up with your CCU? Intermittent blower or display issue?

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Terry Allison
N. Calif. & Boca Chica, Panama

09' E320 Bluetec 77k (USA)
09' Hyundai Santa Fe Diesel 48k (S.A.)

No, not chipped. The CCU display and the blower work fine, it's the internal vacuum flaps that are screwed up. Half the time it will give cold air to all the vents, half the time it will blow hot air, and there's nothing you can do about it except close the offending vents.
Also, all the Bio I've been using is commercially produced.
And no, we're not the original owners. Bought it from the original owner two years ago at 128k.

I understand some of your concerns that this is somewhat unnerving...keep in mind the car is still running fine, and by no means is the E300 a "bad car." Quite on the contrary, it is one of the best cars I've ever owned...I just have that feeling that it's time to move on.

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99 E300 TD -- sold
01 540i 6 spd

Tranny noises - could be anything, but you're right to be worried.
Climate control - could be as simple as dust blocking the roof sensor
Interior - sounds like abuse to me (not from you), although my seat creaks now
Suspension - show me a car that doesn't need suspension work at that mileage
GP - big deal. Its not going to harm anything.
Paint - get cats instead.
Ticking noise - could be a million things, probably dirty injectors
Sensors failing - cheap and easy DIY

All minor problems IMO (except the transmission).