preventive maintance 91 300ce
 

I Just bought a 1991 300ce in good shape and it was well maintained.

Ive read on this board that the 104 engine which I have is prone to Head gasket problems, bad evaporater ac valves, and wiring harness problems. My question is basic how can I prevent these problems from occuring?

The car is a beautiful machine I have some reserve funds saved up just in case But who wants to spend money on repairs after just buying a car.

I apreciate your input.

Only problems I know of for the 104 are the wiring harness and head gasket.

Also the radiator if it has the plastic neck, and not the metal reinforced neck.

Evap core possibly, but if it isn't broken I don't see a reason to fix that until it does. unless it will cause other damage when happening.

Best thing to do is change the oil and filter every 3000 miles, use the right grade of oil for your climate and car, and chaneg it hot.

Keep it maintained.

You may want to have the suspension, engine mounts, trans mounts, subframe mounts, and all the other rubber suspension compoentns checked and refreshed as needed. This will help tighten up the ride. and smooth out the car. If it feels out of whack.

Have a full 4 wheel alignment done to factory specs. To help ensure proper tire wear.

Have the tranny fluid checked, and Get the fluid and filter changed if needed. Some will say not to do it to a tranny, so I say research if its ok or not. I would say its ok, but Others will say dont.

Other than that, Enjoy the car, they are great.

Send us some pics of yoru car, and post in the open discussion 300ce owners rolls call.

Welcome to the coupe club. :)

Alon

Alon has some excellent advice!

Make sure to "sign" in the 300CE/E320 Coupe roll call on the Open Discussion.

Yeah, the M104 engines are known for head gasket leaks - oil leaking at the right rear of the gasket, or at the front at the timing chain cover.

Many cars, including mine, have experienced engine fault codes suggesting low egr flow. The average mechanic will want to change the EGR valve, thinking it is stuck closed. Two separate MB Independent mechanics that I went to suggested this. Stevebfl posted an article on troubleshooting engine diagnostic codes, and in that article, discussed the problem of carbon coking up the hot inlet pipe to the intake manifold.

This "hot inlet pipe" gets blocked up and the fix is to ream it out with a speedometer cable and a drill motor.

I've read a post from Benzmac that his shop performs this function every 30,000 miles on the M104 engine.

Last, the engine wiring harness was not a problem in 1991, or 1992 for that matter. It is limited to 1993 through 1995 models.

You may do a search and read hundreds upon hundreds of posts on this.

I'm sure you'll enjoy your 300CE. It's one of the most beautiful MB's designed and, I believe at some time it should stop depreciating and perhaps go up in value due to the relatively low numbers that were sold in the U.S.