W202 is it worth the risk?
 

Not a big fan of the early W202, however the 98 and later are much better, having benefited from re-engineering.

If the cost is worth the risk of possibly cutting it loose at a loss, then go for it. Easy decision. Take the risk and drop it if you need to. If the car is clean and worth the effort, give it a shot.

With the W202 you always run the risk of a giant meteor falling from the sky and squishing your W202 into a molten pile of liquid metal. :D

:D:eek:

1994 was one of the years for the biodegradable wiring harnesses. The literally fall apart over time. If the harness is original, it is very likely a head gasket job would cause the fragile wiring harness to crap out. Been there done that.

New they can be over $1000. Used ones are out there for $25-40% of that. Make sure to ask to check the date stamp on the harness so you're not buying another original.

There's other silly little things they could have missed to stop the car from running, but any shop would tell you its impossible to do a proper diagnosis if the original harness is showing wear.

simple diag is th check high tension and fuel
as u have compression.
they have the ht coil sitting on the intake side, kind of hidden.
can u borrow those timing light which u can clip alligator clip onto the ht wire, see if u have ht at all.
or pull the wire out to test any juice.
if no gas then try spray cold start/ether.
if it does work then u can run a temp vac line into a jerry can which should enable u to run the engine for testing or even gimp u home.
u can also test for fuel pressure too.
open fuel are very flammable u need a fire extinguisher stand by.
unless u have bought some form of fire ins.

plus 1 on the wire harness.

also vulnerable is the air vent diaphram gizmo behind the dashboard.

it leaks and causes the vac pump to operate needlessly. given time the vac pump can expire..

good luck.

How cheap is "really cheap"? It might not be as cheap as you think.

The old slogan still applies to the older Mercredes Benzes
 

"The cheapest Mercedes Benz is usually the most expensive one."

The w202 is good looking and VERY safe for a car its size.

But lots of them - I have heard even about 50% of them -- have problems--lots and lots of problems.

THIS one is likely one of them - it has problems at 140k already!


I'd walk away from it.

A thread from over a year ago . . . I hope the OP is a patient sort . .

oooops, knee jerk responses...