I think I've decided on a 1999E300TD for my wife. Are parts as cheap (or at least not astronomically expensive) as the earlier cars? Are they a good DIY kinda car? I do all the work on all of my cars, and I'm not about to pay a Mercedes mechanic their going rates . If its something I can tackle myself, i'll do it.

 

Good to hear. I've always done all maintenance on our vehicles and I learned quickly with our BMW that its the cheapest car on the planet if you do your own work, but the most expensive pile of money if you have someone else do it. I also found with my very minimal German experience that they are usually easier to work on than any Japanese car I've dealt with. I was hoping that MBs were similar.

 

On the broken glow plug. If you got all of the treaded part out usally just turn the motor over and the compression shoots it out// put a rag over it and don't let someone stick their head over it to watch!

 

Ah, the old let 'er rip technique. I did that with a spark plug once on a Pontiac V8. I forgot to torque one down and it went through a garage window.

Any advice for a good shop manual? I've used Bentley manuals before and I don't like them. Haynes and Chiltons are good manuals but don't really cover much German stuff. Are there MB factory shop manuals available?

 

I found a fault code table at http://www.robisonservice.com/servic...erc_faults.asp and there is an answer service at http://mercedes.justanswer.com/mercedes/ and manuals are available from http://www.mercedesmanuals.com/Merce...5_1999_s/5.htm for a lot of money.

Manuals show up on ebay, probably worth a try. The US models differ from the European cars, so watch out for manuals that cover the euro models only.

Just got a 99 E300 turbodiesel so I don't have a lot of experience with it. (I have owned several MBs in the past) There is a local non-mercedes shop that seems to do nice work. A new taillight assembly cost, for instance, $107. I couldn't get the similar part for my Mustang for that. I know that it's not much to go on, but the few things I've bought for the car seem to be about the same price as OEM for American cars. There is NOT, however, a flood of cheap stuff like there is for Japanese and American cars, you will be getting a lot of stuff from the dealer.

I got this car for the family Mom because I believe it to be the safest vehicle available. Accident rates are low, survival rates are high especially with nonvolatile Diesel fuel, and economy is good. Between Tampa and DC I got 32+ mpg at 70, and around town we get around 27 mpg.

That said, anyone who buys a Mercedes as an economy car should take a look at a nice bridge I'm selling......

 

well, the "old let 'er rip technique" might be great to use on some cars, but not a Mercedes. The shop manual is a must if you plan to successfully work on the car. Not difficult physically in most cases, but the way the car is put together requires the manual to take it apart. Simple things, like hidden latches, screws, bolts, etc. I have a 96 E300d, which is less complicated than the newer models and the manual has been a great asset when I needed to figure out how to do the job. Got mine off ebay for about $20, and it came on a dvd. Does not cover all the things that the official Mercedes manual, but it covers about 90% of the items most owners would be interested in doing. The other 10% usually required the use of specialized Mercedes diagnostic instruments that I would not have available. Good luck