Looking at a 98 E320 this weekend. It has 90K on it and was owned by a Dr. who had all work done at MB. Looks like he did about 6K a year. Are there other certain things I should be looking at with these cars, systemic problems etc. I am a very good DIY'er so I can fix just about anything. Live in FL so no sand and salt to rust car out.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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Moohampshire
1988 300E 124K
1994 Volvo 850 Turbo 115K Killed by a Cement Truck
1992 300 CE 95 K
1986 300 SL Euro 96K

Assuming you have near perfect service records, just check for issues that came up. Should have had Mobil 1 Syn+fleece filter once a year. Brake fluid every two years and coolant every 3 years.

Their are a few items which seem to come up at about 100K for most people. They are O2 sensors, MAF, motor mounts, transmission/differential flush and plugs. Of course, a thorough inspection should be done regardless of how well you think the car has been cared for. Common rust areas were underside of doors and 'lip' over license plate.

There were two issues when the car was new. Some owners experienced corrosion on the upper spring perches under the mastic and faulty harmonic balancers. At this stage, +14 years, probably not an issue.

Decent performance for a V6 and great mileage (18-20 / 27-29mpg).

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Good luck.






1998 E320 Wagon

Be careful I don't know which v6,has problems with hamonic balancer falling of.
Two don't know which E class has shock perches that rot.
This is why I only buy S Class.

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran

Both were issues with the W210 which is what the OP is considering.

__________________
Good luck.






1998 E320 Wagon

-Apparently the American models suffer from failing spring perches. Have read of about 10 cases where they have failed at speed and all were American cars. Just be careful and regularly inspect.

-The temperature and time/gear displays all have dead-pixel problems. A 98 model should have problems with dead pixels already and if not it has most probably already been fixed. Replacement kits are available on Ebay. Youtube has a few good instruction videos on how to perform the repair. Just dont trust any that tell you to cur mouldings apart. Also make sure not to remove gauge needles with a screwdriver, but rather by twisting them anti-clockwise against the stop and pulling. They were designed to be removed this way. I have also seen many companies that advertise repair service in America.

-The Aircon fan is controlled by a switched mode regulator that WILL fail.
Switching the fan speed to a low setting, if you can hear a high pitch sound coming from the passenger side of the dash you have a failing/failed regulator. They work fine for a while and then switch off so be careful when checking. There are many tedious fixes using the regulator from a W140...ignore them. Also dont replace with a new one because they are very expensive and will fail again. Dont replace with a secondhand one because it will also fail soon. A failing regulator is most irritating when it is incredibly hot or the windows are misted up. In these cases you usually put your fan to max. I designed and implemented an augmentation of the fan wiring harness to provide a manual override bypassing the regulator and switching the fan to maximum. I am busy with the writeup, images and videos an will a post a link to the thread as soon as I'm done.

-The suspension has many rubber bushes that were later classified by mercedes as service parts. This means they fail and cause suspension noise that is difficult to trace. Once they have been identified they are reasonable cheap to replace. Febi-bilstein has a lovely website that lists all the suspension parts and tell you exactly which models they fit.

-Seats and sunroof will squeak with age but can be replaced

-MAF sensors fail after about 150 000 km

-Apparently the correct size tires are incredibly expensive. I have 215/55/R16 Firestone TZ700 on mine that were relatively cheap and have very good performance.

-Rear window regulators fail, same as the 124 series. Mercedes keep using crappy plastic pieces of crap. There are many cheap replacement parts available on ebay that are much better than the original parts. I have also seen regulator kits(ebay) that include all the crappy plastic bits and the cables needed for a proper DIY fix.

**I have had my 210 for 2 years now and these are all the problems I have come across or read about. These are amazing cars and I would encourage anybody to get one. One thing though, the series was facelifted in 2000 I think. The facelift models are a lot prettier than the older ones and have a few extra features. Rather look at a facelift if you are going to buy a 210. Truly magnificent cars though!!!!!!

-Apparently the American models suffer from failing spring perches. Have read of about 10 cases where they have failed at speed and all were American cars. Just be careful and regularly inspect.

-The temperature and time/gear displays all have dead-pixel problems. A 98 model should have problems with dead pixels already and if not it has most probably already been fixed. Replacement kits are available on Ebay. Youtube has a few good instruction videos on how to perform the repair. Just dont trust any that tell you to cur mouldings apart. Also make sure not to remove gauge needles with a screwdriver, but rather by twisting them anti-clockwise against the stop and pulling. They were designed to be removed this way. I have also seen many companies that advertise repair service in America.

-The Aircon fan is controlled by a switched mode regulator that WILL fail.
Switching the fan speed to a low setting, if you can hear a high pitch sound coming from the passenger side of the dash you have a failing/failed regulator. They work fine for a while and then switch off so be careful when checking. There are many tedious fixes using the regulator from a W140...ignore them. Also dont replace with a new one because they are very expensive and will fail again. Dont replace with a secondhand one because it will also fail soon. A failing regulator is most irritating when it is incredibly hot or the windows are misted up. In these cases you usually put your fan to max. I designed and implemented an augmentation of the fan wiring harness to provide a manual override bypassing the regulator and switching the fan to maximum. I am busy with the writeup, images and videos an will a post a link to the thread as soon as I'm done.

-The suspension has many rubber bushes that were later classified by mercedes as service parts. This means they fail and cause suspension noise that is difficult to trace. Once they have been identified they are reasonable cheap to replace. Febi-bilstein has a lovely website that lists all the suspension parts and tell you exactly which models they fit.

-Seats and sunroof will squeak with age but can be replaced

-MAF sensors fail after about 150 000 km

-Apparently the correct size tires are incredibly expensive. I have 215/55/R16 Firestone TZ700 on mine that were relatively cheap and have very good performance.

-Rear window regulators fail, same as the 124 series. Mercedes keep using crappy plastic pieces of crap. There are many cheap replacement parts available on ebay that are much better than the original parts. I have also seen regulator kits(ebay) that include all the crappy plastic bits and the cables needed for a proper DIY fix.

**I have had my 210 for 2 years now and these are all the problems I have come across or read about. These are amazing cars and I would encourage anybody to get one. One thing though, the series was facelifted in 2000 I think. The facelift models are a lot prettier than the older ones and have a few extra features. Rather look at a facelift if you are going to buy a 210. Truly magnificent cars though!!!!!!

You're going to need to check spring perches (front and rear if you have the wheels off mine as well), rust around the trunk lip, bottom of the doors for failed seals, soft rad hoses, oil in the coolant. Loss of performance. You know the drill.

The failing spring perches are caused by overly stretched steel and poorly applied rust proofing. All W210's should be checked periodically for cracking of the rust proofing.

If you see cracks in the proofing it should be repaired straight away.

The rubber engine components on the M112 and M113's have started to harden after 10 plus years. e.g. You may see oil leaks developing around the oil cooler, oil filter chamber and oil filler cap support. These leaks should be attended to as soon as they develop as oil dripping on the serpentine belt pulleys can cause catastrophic problems.

Pay careful attention to the shift pattern on the 722.6 transmission. Any hard shift on 1-2 when starting or coming to rest plus a bit of indecision on other gear shifts could be an indication of a near future problem.

depending on the price, I would love to have an opportunity to drive another one of these in the condition you are looking at. You wont be disapointed. These are great cars and will out perform most cars that are made today other than new Mercedes of course.

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1998 E320 150,000
1980 300SD 240,000
1965 190D 79,000

Check to see if the transmission has been replaced yet. If not....it might cost you sooner than later. It's somewhat common for 98's to have transmissions go bad. Mine was replaced at 90K miles; though I did not foot the bill.

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1982 240 D, 308,000 - 321,127 miles (sold)
1982 300 TD,166,500 - 226,000 miles
1998 E 320, 120,000 - 144,000 miles
2005 C 230 K, 26,000 - 77,000 miles (sold)