99 S500
 

Find an used 99 S500 with around 70,000 miles, is there any particular things I need to be awared of? Not that familiar with these W140 models, Any advice is appreciated.

The last year(s) of production are almost always the best ones on any car OR model... all of the problems are worked out.. That car is no exception to that rule..

However be aware that the A/C evaporator design was still the same as a 1993 model & they ALL leak..

Thanks, DOC.
That confirms what I heard. Will go and look at the car.

What do you do about it?
 

If this is the case, Doc, what do you do about it? Is there some way to fix this so they stop leaking or is it a design failure that you just have to live with?

Great cars, just make sure the maintaince was done and is currant.

Went out and test drove that 99 S500 the other day, I really like it. It drives so smooth and it feels total differently from my 94 E420 (107K) and 90 560sec (55K). The interior is near perfect except the steering wheel is fading and some skin are coming off. That is to my surprise for a car with 72k miles. The paint is so shinny to make me think it has a repaint job. But I believe at least it has a respray clear coat becasue I saw a couple of finger prints look like are burried under and can't be wiped off. The carfax shows clean history thanks to Greg. But the thing I like the most is the way it drives. I am going to sell my 560 if I did get this one. Just wondering how expensive it is to maintain an used W140 since there are a lot of fancy stuffs which my older MBZs don't have and once they broke, you know they are going to cost big money to fix. Luckily on my 560sec I only need to do the oil changes and one time freon refill during almost 4 years of ownership and 12000 miles. Still can't make up my mind yet.

From what I have been told, the airconditioning/evaporator on these cars are diabolically difficult and complex to access and to fix. I saw an early '90s W140 in for repairs at a Mercedes dealer and the whole dashboard was out and the front seats too.

The joke is that the whole evaporator was suspended from a string and the entire car was assembled around it! The dealer says it is a 30 hour job to recondition a bad one, and dealer labor is near to $100 ph so you do the math.

The '99 is the end of the model run, so most problems were sorted out, but it's a big chance you are taking to buy one, all that could go wrong. I'd keep a big budget in reserve for repairs. A bad one could be a real money pit.

That said, they have marvelous interiors, great seats, and are very solid smooth cruisers, really wonderful cars to drive.