Hi,
I'm new to these forums and new to Mercedes cars in general. Just bought a 1985 500SEL this weekend and I must admit, I love the car so far. I think I had a great deal too ($3250) with only 116k on the clock. Car was originally from Phoenix so there is no rust on it and looks to have been looked after well. Here are my questions, is there anything I should look for with this vehicle, such as warning signs of some impending problem that it may have. What are typical common failures with this type of vehicle. I plan to get an Oil change immediately, is there anything else I should get done while I am at it? I plan to use this vehicle daily and also during Minnesota winters. Can anyone suggest a good snow tire for this vehicle. Looks like I am in the market for a new hood ornament also as this car is missing one. Looks like the surround for the ornament is made of brass and the lettering at the back of the car is brass/gold too. Can I buy a brass hood ornament anywhere and also the 500 SEL lettering on the trunk is peeling off so I will be looking to purchase that too.

Thanks for your responses.

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FIRST off welcome to the forum, glad to have you here, you can learn lots and save $$$ by seeking help and asking questions.

There are a few maintenance tips on line at the "buyers guide klicken sie hier www.mbcoupes.com which I co-authored back in 1998, take a look...

Do you have anymaintenance books and service records which indicate what has been done, to the car, and at what mileage: or are you starting at basically "ground zero"?

The tuneups come about every 30,000 miles, and check the plug wires, Beru are good ones to get. The owners manual suggests you change the auto transmission fluid every 30k, but every 15 k if the car is used heavily in dusty or stop and go conditions, but do it for sure now, if it is brown and dirty (not pink) and doesn't smell good.. I would personally us Mercedes Benz fluid for that.

The radiator, is plastic, and if original, you should know the original one was plastic, and the upper hose neck was weak, and could tend to crumble over time, therefore I would think about new hoses (don't forget that bypass hose) and a replacement BEHR radiator- as a one time fix to that problem.
Use Mercedes Benz coolant, not Xerex or other.

Might be a good time also to check all the fan belts also-replace if they are rotten. And look at the air filter, it's not that expensive, they get dirty fast in the Arizona desert environment....

Just a tiny little thing, but have you thought about replacing all the fuses
(The fuse box is located on the left side of the car in yours, near the firewall,
use the owners manual as a guide when replacing them.--Could save you a lot of trouble later)

At 116,000 miles you might also want to consider replacing your timing chain, tensioner and guide rails- that's a little expensive, but if it has NOT been done your chain is pretty long, and if it ever jumped the rails - the guide rail is made of plastic and could be VERY brittle on your new 21 year old car, and cause all kinds of expen$ive trouble if things went south. Does the car rattle a little bit, then quiet down when you start it up -if so, you need to attend to this issue NOW!!!

What is the condition of the brake pads? Luckily for you on the W126, it is VERY easy to change them out. However, if the rotors are grooved badly, Mercedes Benz does not repeat NOT recommend you turn them, you REPLACE them- fortunately, they are cheap.

Hopefully your alignment is OK, but if not, be sure and get a four wheel alignment, and if you have any feeling the tire shop or your MB mechanic can't do it, right, I would go and bite the bullet and pay the MB dealer to do the job.

Don't be INTIMIDATED by all of this, the W126 is a VERY sturdy car, and well run virtually forever, and you can worry about window leaks and airconditioning concerns later - just ask here! but for now, you will might need to get the car in perfect shape and that is what I personally do in your shoes.....

Once you are up to speed with the maintenance, you should be fine. Having cannily bought an Arizona car for use up north, probably you have no body or rust issues to worry about yet.

And be sure, you have bought a fine car, very comfortable, safe and likely to allow you not only to survive but WALK AWAY in the event you got in the mother of all accidents.

Again, welcome aboard.
Jim B

__________________
1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

I have heard that BLIZZAK tires are very good, (I think the brand is Bridgestone but I'm not certain of that) but have never bought snow tires for my coupe, so the other members here will have to advise you what
is good. Maybe nose around www.tirerack.com for a bit of window shopping
Drive carefully with them in the winter up there, if you get too frisky in the corners, you could have the tail slide out. These are NOT sports cars and don't like to be caned hard through corners.

The Hood ornaments are originally silver, and metal. I think yours must have been an aftermarket one. The replacement could be obtained cheaply from your dealer' I would imagine less than $30.00

Likewise the 500SEL script was silver. It should be cheap to replace from EBAY or your Mercedes dealer For 1985 I don't know if they were metal and went into holes into the trunk or plastic silver that stuck on. I just don't know, but am sure someone here does

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, have the DEALER (use only the MB grease) grease your car's sunroof if never been done in 20 years, if you don't and the sunroof jams, you are looking at a very ugly dearler only repair-notworth the risk

__________________
1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

Welcome

You have an S Class W126.

Here's a link for some DIY info (on this site)

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/forumdisplay.php?f=82

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/forumdisplay.php?f=84

and some DIY stuff here:

http://www.peachparts.com/Wikka/DoItYourSelf

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/forumdisplay.php?f=28

Read up.

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Regards

Warren

Currently 1965 220Sb, 2002 FORD Crown Vic Police Interceptor

Had 1965 220SEb, 1967 230S, 280SE 4.5, 300SE (W126), 420SEL

ENTER > = (HP RPN)

Not part of the in-crowd since 1952.

Wow, thanks very much for the warm welcome and the excellent and thorough advice. I will be going over all the information with a fine tooth comb. Thanks guys. The service history appears to be very solid up to 2001 or so. Looks like a local Phoenix dealer was doing all the work on the vehicle. In 2001 the car had 100k miles on the clock so it looks as though the vehicle has hardly been used since then.

Glad to have ya'll here. You're off to a great start!! Hopefully you'll be able to avoid the mistakes we made when we started out. Ball's in your court now,

Good luck

J

__________________
1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)