99 E320
 

Resale lot nearby has a 99 E320 with 112K miles for sale. Physically very nice, and my indie, who has a shop next door, says he went thru it for the lot owner and it's in great shape mechanically and electrically with only one glitch. Something about a vacuum leak that prevents the remote trunk latch from operating. He doesn't have a smoke machine to track down the leak. He replaced the AC compressor and a couple of window motors, checked compression and serviced the car. He has no interest in it by the way.

Clueless here. Money pit? Daily driver possibilities? I'm not really nuts about the bug-eyed look, but the wife has commented on it.

Good cars, should provide a few years of steady service before any major repairs.

W210's are great cars.

There is a pretty good list of common issues for the W210 at BW. It's in their stickies.

The vacuum thing is pretty easy to test. Check the line from the PSE under the rear seat to the trunk, you can just suck on it. If it releases, the connection in the pump itself may be flaky (disassemble and check/replace the hose). If not, it is more likely to crack at the connection than along the way, but if it isn't cracked at the connection I'd replace the whole line.

If the AT hasn't been serviced (and you buy it) that would be my first priority.

Good luck.

Question is how much do you trust this guy? If it were me, I'd want a 2nd opinion unless he is REALLY trustworthy.

Can you remove the trunk lid carpet, take out the lock and remove the hose and trigger it remotely and see if it sends a vacuum to the lock?

If it gives you any idea, I am driving a 99 E300 and it has about 360K on the clock and the biggest expense has been the body work thanks to the WI salting of roads.

so--check it yourself with an aquarium pump and a doobie:D

I trust the mechanic, he's worked on our W123 and all of our japanese vehicles and has some high dollar MBZ restorations going on for paying customers. He fixes lots of the ranch trucks hereabout, and just finished doing struts, rear shocks and brakes on my son's Outback. He managed to find a small coolant leak from a line that a mechanic in Flagstaff had told my son was a bad head gasket and "you better replace it now".
The seller is a crook, but the car is on consignment from a local retired geezer couple. I could tease out their names pretty easily, this isn't a big place. All I'd have to do is ask around.
I just got a call from the guy who said if I want to, come and get it and keep it overnight. I could easily get a second opinion from another mechanic nearby who is MBZ trained and is generally too expensive for me. An hour's labor wouldn't be too much to pay. I'd have to have the spousal unit drive it and say yea or nay and then proceed from there. I'm reading good things about that car but am a bit leery of all those bells and whistles. I don't need a car to pester me with cluster warnings that an overhead lamp is out.

You won't get that. The lamp malfunctions are all for external bulbs. The PCBs for the tail lamps can wear out and need a little cleanup with some additional solder and/or new lamp holders. The headlamp and foglamp wiring is marginal so you might have to replace that (there are repair kits available). The drivetrains are solid so long as they're properly maintained. The spring perches are an expensive repair, too, and the earlier ones were a bit worse about that. There are some quirky things that arise, but they are quite rare. The AC stuff is really costly to repair, condenser failures aren't common but they do happen and less frequently it's the evaporator core, which on a car of that vintage nearly totals it if you're paying dealer rates for labor. The W210 is nothing like the W220, and those bells and whistles are more prone to failure and they cost more to rectify.

If you trust the mechanic, read through the common issues list referenced above and then formulate some questions to ask the mechanic. Obviously if he didn't even look at some of the things that doesn't help you.

Isn't this the model with the strut tower problems?

No struts on the W210, so none of those strut-through-the-hood issues. Some have the spring perch problem referenced above, more in the earlier years than later and it's hit-or-miss as it's related to the quality of the seal job. Proper inspection requires removing the seal and then renewing it.

I beg to differ. I spent more money chasing body work and some AC than any of the other electronic stuff.

We don't differ, you didn't read carefully what I wrote. After specifically referencing the expense of AC repairs, I noted the electronics on the 220 as worse than the 210.

Most of us don't have bodywork issues, so that's a red herring.

Sounds to ,e like a decent example of a good car, though not so likely to be as bulletproof and straightforward as the w124 i was forced to buy a year aog when you decided not to sell me your lovely white eurospec w123 240 diesel that was my first choice