I wanted to put this in this forum for you technical guys to appreciate.
I have a customer that I have been performing the mobile maintenance for about four years.
He has a 97 E-320 that just rolled over 320-k miles.
He is a traveling salesman and puts all highway miles on the car.
He never had a head gasket yet and has zero oil leaks and never did.
I put a water pump on the car two years ago.
I drove all the way to Huntsville to rescue him from a failed alternator on a deserted road last summer, and he had a transmission replaced at 275-k.
Two days ago the car was overheating big time, and I put a new thermostat and a fan viscous clutch on it since the old one was weak.
Yeah it cost him a little money every now and then, but I'm just amazed at how great this car look and runs.
While test driving it the other day,I almost made him an offer for it since it drives like it's brand new with tons of pick up and shifts like a dream.
It is due for some motor mounts and rear shocks are getting a little weak,but overall it is amazingly solid.
The key is sticking to the service schedule religiously and not beating the living tar out of the vehicle.
He told me if his wife drove it ,it would have died at 30-k miles Haha.
He plans on selling it at 400-k.
Sorry no pictures,but it is a beauty. Black with beige interior.
Just thought i would share that with y'all.

Yes, it is.

I for one cringe so often at queries here looking for the quickest/cheapest/most expedient fix. You know, K-Mart sparkplugs, etc.

Pay me now or pay me later.

__________________
Kent Christensen
Albuquerque
'07 GL320CDI, '10 CL550. '01 Porsche Boxster
Two BMW motorcycles

Nice story. Not too surprising that the 104 motor lasted that long but a little surprising on the 722.6.

I don't want to burst your bubble but I've seen 3 Cyl Suzuki's put on over 100K in a year. It was a very long commute and they bought a gas saver. Take any car, put in pep boys or walmart oil, generic spark plugs, change the oil once every 30K miles and drive it 100K miles a year and you'll have a good running car with a body that still looks good. Virtually any car will do that.

I'm required to be transported for work frequently. They use GMC mini vans. They routinely go over 300K miles before they're sold and rest assured very little maintenance is done. 20K mile oil changes and virtually no other preventive maintenance is performed. They just retired a full sized van with 450K miles. These numbers are routine for a fleet that spans the east coast transporting crews.

Constantly running on the highway wears almost nothing out including routine wear items like tires and brakes. If I were to bet my life on the reliability of one of these mini-vans or my Mercedes the van is a hands down winner. It just doesn't look as pretty.

I agree diesel fan, but I'm talking about a Mercedes here.
Believe me I have seen my share of problems.
I guess you could say I'm sort of suprised because most of the cars like this I deal with are totally whipped at this mileage, but this one is practically lived in and still looks and drives brand new.
It's just nice to work on one that does not show it's age and mileage and you do see even older 80's cars that have 400+ k on them that look brand new.
I guess it's a nice change from the severely neglected ones I usually go out to work on.