1994 Mercedes S350 Diesel Opinion
 

I just came across a very clean 1994 Mercedes S350 Diesel with 192K miles on it. It is very straight with no rust. The interior has no rips or tears, the a/c is ice cold and everything works but the radio and one power window.

They're asking $5,900. Is that a decent price?

Thanks.

TX, welcome aboard! How familiar are you with the dubious rod bending technology fitted to these cars?

None at all I'm afraid. I'm more experienced with Dodge Cummins Diesel engines. I had the car looked at though and they said it is mechanically very, very sound with no issues.

Not worth it, unless you enjoy driving a big diesel car. I owned two S350s and a long wheelbase S320. The S320 cost less to run per mile, ran better and had a lower purchase price.

If it's not burning any oil by 192k I would venture that the motor is ok. Look for any exhaust smoke, and look at the tail lights... the driver's side reverse light should be the same color as the passenger side :) I would also stipulate that because of the known engine problems with this model you should have 1,000 miles to return it if the motor turns out to be bad.

-J

Unless the car is pristine and the engine has been swapped a 3 liter block in I would have to pass. If its the stock 3.5 its a ticking time bomb in my mind. If its a 3.5 liter which has had a new short block recently I would consider it.

The sign of the bent rod is a skip at idle. It will go away at high rpm or at least be hard to detect. You can drive them that way for a long time though with good care....prolly up another 100K and the problem will only get worse.

Look for a silky smooth idle or try to get it for about a grand imho.

Somebody will buy it at some price but it wouldn't be me at over 5K unless it had a fresh 3 liter block in it.

Thank you very much for all of the input. I'll offer them $4500 and see what they say.

I asked him what his bottom dollar was and he said he would take $3,995. Surely that's a good deal, right?

Eh that is a bit too much for me. Too risky with the engine issues IMHO.

To add to what others are telling you....

That chassis is called the w140, in Mercedes-speak. I am not sure what the market is for the diesels, but you can get the gas equivalents for less money.

The point I would make is, if you want a large Mercedes with a turbodiesel, for that money you can buy an older model (the w126 chassis, 300sd 5-cyl. or 300sdl 6-cyl.) that will most likely cost less to run, if kept well won't depreciate into the ground, and doesn't have the rod-bender gotcha possibility. Given where they started, the w140s dropped like a stone in a well, value-wise.

Just want to throw that out, as no one else mentioned it.

If you are in love with the car, it's your money, so go ahead but be forewarned. I would say at minimum, have a qualified Mercedes shop (dealer if it comes to that) inspect it prior to buying.

An OM603 turbo in a W124 body is slow, I can only imagine what its like when you pile on the extra 1000LB of the W140. But hey, at least its got a turbo. In Europe they sold a W140/OM603 NON turbo for a while.

The horror.

A very nice fix (if the engine is bad) is installing the later OM606 turbo from a '99 E300. Keep your mechanical injection pump, but use the engine/turbo/intercooler from a '99. More power, far more reliable engine. May cost a few grand, but you'll have a better car.