OT benz question for the pros

[Jason]

An exceptional 300e 2.6 found me. its a 1990 w/ 135k on the clock. interior is a 10/10 exterior is a 9. 1 owner, garaged and i would venture to guess it was dealer servied too. the guy wants $3,800. is this car gonna be considerably more to maintain than the 5er? what do i need to look out for? and is there a better (more active) forum then www.benzforum.com? and lastly, the price? I dont know much about the 2.6 aside from it being the smallest US market motor for the E class and that it was available in the 190 as well. any other additional help you be much appreciated. thanks alot and sorry for the OT

[Bill R.]

the headgasket, look for oil leaks where the head gasket meets the block and where the timing cover meets the block. You'll need a few special tools to work on it. Like the goofy tool they have to hold the pulley while you remove the fan and clutch assy..its a must have, whether fabricated or bought. Some things are much pricier for it such as the compressor which has that speed sensor built into like the later bmw's have that detects belt slippage and shuts down the compressor... that particular compressor is quite a bit more than most, same with changing out climate control components... Brake parts are pretty cheap from the dealer, Factory exhaust components are real pricey just like bmw.






An exceptional 300e 2.6 found me. its a 1990 w/ 135k on the clock. interior is a 10/10 exterior is a 9. 1 owner, garaged and i would venture to guess it was dealer servied too. the guy wants $3,800. is this car gonna be considerably more to maintain than the 5er? what do i need to look out for? and is there a better (more active) forum then www.benzforum.com? (http://www.benzforum.com?) and lastly, the price? I dont know much about the 2.6 aside from it being the smallest US market motor for the E class and that it was available in the 190 as well. any other additional help you be much appreciated. thanks alot and sorry for the OT

[Zeuk in Oz]

is there a better (more active) forum then www.benzforum.com?

Try www.mercedesshop.com

[winfred]

i like the $1000 (at the dealer i can get em for about half that) hose that hooks to that expensive ac compressor, most of the ones i've seen need timing parts, rockers, gears/chain/guides, cam, tensioner. with just about any benz you gotta deal with vacuum crapola, pump in the trunk that runs the locking system, the lock servos and all of the little servos that run the airflow in the dash, if you are unlucky enough to get a car with a air/smog pump that's a expensive bitch that it's being on the car gives you a added pending unhappy moment, the bearing bracket that the fan clutch mounts on that self destructs is different on the air pump cars and harder to find when you need one when it renders the car totally undriveable, crappy belt tensioner, they seem to eat alternators, the steering box gets very sloppy and leaky, you can usually get one or two adjustments before it's shot if it doesn't start pissing first, about half of the suspension needs some sort of special tool to change the balljoint/bushing, rear diff mounts break, bolts fall out of the flex couplers, as long as you don't let the car sit for long times the K-jetronic injection system is not too bad but they seem to eat fuel pumps and theres usually two main pumps (one kills the other when it dies) at a couple hundred a piece, the ignition module takes a expensive dump, the becker radio is sub k-mart spark-o-matic quality but for some reason costs over a grand reman at the dealer, speakers suck hard too..........is that enough? i can keep going

[winfred]

and if the ac evap craps you don't even wanna know how much that job can cost parts/labor

[Jason]

.

[winfred]

yea the dealer kinda has their way with you, the one consolation is theres a healthy aftermarket for mercedes because the dealer is so damn expensive, you just need to find it but the problem is that car is 15 years old and some of that support is going away as it's not as proffitable as it once was, i try to paint the ugly picture so you know how bad it can get, it could be a good car, i am just not a benz fan been there done that sold it before it took a dump


.

[Jason]

.

[Bill R.]

1000 ac hose thats only about 80 bucks if you take it to an ac shop and have them crimp a new hose on using the existing ends.. or the central locking system thats really not any worse than bmw's ,its just different using vacum hoses and pumps, the stuff like the alternator isn't an issue since i alway replace them with a lifetime warranty one from a local source. The fuel pumps don't seem to die any more frequently for me than the bmw, they're both bosch, I'd stick by my original statement that they cost just about the same to own and maintain.. with one exclusion the ac evaporator is a real bear to change , mercedes time is 13.7 hours not including emptying and recharging the system plus .4 hours if you replace the expansion valve at the same time. But its not exactly a party on the bmw either, though not nearly that bad.






yea the dealer kinda has their way with you, the one consolation is theres a healthy aftermarket for mercedes because the dealer is so damn expensive, you just need to find it but the problem is that car is 15 years old and some of that support is going away as it's not as proffitable as it once was, i try to paint the ugly picture so you know how bad it can get, it could be a good car, i am just not a benz fan been there done that sold it before it took a dump

[Jason]

.

[Jon K]

I am interested to hear about the vacuum locks. Is this literally what it sounds like? I 've heard about them in the past but never really asked any questions about them. I don't really have anything to add except I know that the 300e's i see on I-95 ALL seem to sag real bad in the back causing horrible negative camber... but i figure it is just failed rear struts and not something more serious, though it seems consistant.

So how do the vacuum locks work, and wouldn't it be a huge pain if a vacuum hose became crimped and thus a door wouldn't open?

[Bill R.]

document after i convert it to adobe.. just did the conversion and some of the pages are cut off in wierd places but its still readable...







I am interested to hear about the vacuum locks. Is this literally what it sounds like? I 've heard about them in the past but never really asked any questions about them. I don't really have anything to add except I know that the 300e's i see on I-95 ALL seem to sag real bad in the back causing horrible negative camber... but i figure it is just failed rear struts and not something more serious, though it seems consistant.

So how do the vacuum locks work, and wouldn't it be a huge pain if a vacuum hose became crimped and thus a door wouldn't open?

[winfred]

most of the manifold/ac hoses/fuel cooler hoses i come across the fitting part has been dammaged otherwise they get refered to the hose place for a build (i've hose rebuilding tools and can do as nice or better a crimp then new hoses), i sell a **** load more fuel pumps for 190/300e's then bimmers and volvos through the parts store, alternators are not quite as popular as they use to be but neither are the cars. i get a unique perspecive on cars with the parts store, salvage yard and shop and the shops i know and have friends at. e30/32/34 evaps are a couple hour thing, i just did a valve on a e39 yesterday and it loosed a little harder then a e34 due to a brace in the way but still not too bad, hell a 850 volvo evap job is as involved as a benz but the volvo is only 6 or so hours, how many mercedes are over 15? most of them


1000 ac hose thats only about 80 bucks if you take it to an ac shop and have them crimp a new hose on using the existing ends.. or the central locking system thats really not any worse than bmw's ,its just different using vacum hoses and pumps, the stuff like the alternator isn't an issue since i alway replace them with a lifetime warranty one from a local source. The fuel pumps don't seem to die any more frequently for me than the bmw, they're both bosch, I'd stick by my original statement that they cost just about the same to own and maintain.. with one exclusion the ac evaporator is a real bear to change , mercedes time is 13.7 hours not including emptying and recharging the system plus .4 hours if you replace the expansion valve at the same time. But its not exactly a party on the bmw either, though not nearly that bad.

[Jon K]

document after i convert it to adobe.. just did the conversion and some of the pages are cut off in wierd places but its still readable...


thanks bill, got the e-mail very interesting.

[Nick.Hay]

MODERATOR!!!

All these people using such profanities on the forum... It has to be stopped!!

Its disgracefully offensive, all these guys and girls saying:

!!MERCEDES-BENZ!!

Wash your mouth out with peroxide, and go to confession!!

Mercs are EASY to fix and maintain... see below:
http://www2.montana.edu/policy/student_trips/images/dynamite.jpg










(Very tongue in cheek... I actually like alot of the Mercs. Its just the BMW/Merc rivalry I had to play on a little) :D