First off a little background on my situation. I know that when towing a 124 or any non front wheel drive car for that matter, the best way is to use a car hauler with all 4 wheels off the ground or if using a tow dolly, disconnect the drive line.

I bought a 1995 E320 for $100. The interior is in great shape and my plan is to use the front leather seat skins and transfer over to my 1987 wagon as I have collected pretty much all the wagon specific interior bits and I just needed some nice front leather seats and leather front seat door panels.

The seller told me he inherited car from aunt and his daughter had been driving it for a couple years until she ran over something and knocked a hole in the oil pan. His local mechanic told him it would be $900 to replace oil pan. He didn’t want to put that much money into the car, considering it had 300,000 miles on it.

He just wanted the car gone. Needless to say I jumped all over it, especially after he sent me a few pics of the interior and how could I go wrong for $100?

So I picked up a tow dolly, hooked it up to my 1987 300TD, and drove the 150 or so miles to go pick it up yesterday. My thoughts were that I only care about the interior, so no big deal if towing it with rear wheels on ground kills the transmission.

Relatively uneventful trip, except that I apparently have a leak from when I installed my EGR delete plate, and this basically made my turbo non existent which made for some very slow climbs on inclines.

Unloaded the car and called it a day. Well, went to go check it out a little more this morning and was pleasantly surprised to say the least. I have never seen a smoke silver E320 with this many miles and no clear coat failure. No noticeable dings or dents. Already knew leather in pretty good shape. Looked at the instrument cluster, looks new!! Steering wheel, no cracking. Zebrano wood has a few hairline clear cracks, but no fading or clear cracks on any of the other wood, even the door trim. Armrest, 9.9 out of 10. Radio knob, clean and looks barely used. This car has obviously been loved and garaged. Opened the hood, harness updated, valve cover still has all paint and no peeling, etc.

Needless to say, feeling pretty good about my purchase. Grabbed the owners manual pouch and went inside. Folded in the owners manual case were at least 50 or so service records, up to about 6 months ago. As I kept reading, I started to feel worse and worse about dragging this car on its rear wheels for 150 miles.
-head gasket replaced @ 240,000 miles
-upper engine wiring harness replaced
-throttle body wiring replaced/rebuilt
-AC compressor replaced at 200,000 miles
-AC Evaporator replaced at 220,000 miles
-complete transmission rebuild at 260,000 miles
-new Mercedes car mats at 275,000 miles
.....and many more things.

Basically here is my question....is the transmission more than likely shot?

Fluid doesn’t smell burned. I haven’t drained it yet. As far as the oil pan goes, hole is not quite accurate, more along the lines of a 1/2 inch crack that leaks badly.

I don’t mind replacing the oil pan, but last thing I want to do is fix that issue and and then the transmission is shot.

Any thoughts or suggestions as always are much appreciated.