Hey I am considering a 2001 E320 with 143000 miles on it. I a novice with mercedes mechanics and electrics and was wondering if you guys could give me some ideas for what to look for while inspecting it? With that mileage is there some major maintenances that I should make sure have been done or have to do?

Also I've heard that mercedes are a pain in the *** to maintain? I've also heard that if you treat them right they run forever? What do you guys think?

Thanks,
Mitchell

 

Hi Mitchell,

Try Change all those wear and tear parts, such as

1.Hardening parts like valve cover gaskets,

2.oil seals, rubber hose,service engine and transmission,

3.service/replace radiator and all those radiator hoses,

4. replace spark plugs & brake pads.

5.Replace brake fluid

6. Clean up the throttle body, Check all those Stabilizer links and all those arm bushes & the ball joints + the Rubber boot for the drive shafts.

7. Check your Shock absorbers esp on your mileage like that it should be due for replacement with all those above.


other than that.. nothing else I can come out with.. replace those all in 1 time to avoid returning to the garage again and again

Heavy price and alot of things you need dig into if you really need it to run smoothly

Good luck trying Hopefully my answer can assist your car issues

 

Hi Mitchell,

There are 3 categories of people who can afford Euorpean Cars (Mercedes, BMW, etc..) in my humble opinion.

1. Rich people
2. Mechanic or soon will become one :-)
3. Rich and a mechanic.

I have just purchased a 1998 E320 with 111,000 miles on it. Yes, there are many things that you need to do when purchased a pre-owned Mercedes or other brands. I have changed and replaced the items below;

1. Oil changed (Full Synthetic oil). Secure the bottom anti-noise plate, or it will fly away, mine did.
2. Spark Plugs (All 12 sparks - ain't fun, especially the last 2 sparks, special plug removal tool needed)
3. Front Shocks (need to know some tricks to take them out)
4. Rear Shocks (Once you done the front ones, the rear shocks are a piece of a cake)
Note: Make sure you know which ones are fronts and rears, I replaced the front ones first and realized that they should be on the rear. So, I had to redo them...Don't make the same mistake...
5. I was lucky the pads and rotors are in good shape and tires were brand new when purchased.

Items that I need to do in these few days...
1. Transmission fluid and filter (It is hard to find ATF 134 at the retail stores), I ordered the gasget and filter online and returned it because the filter was printed made in China.
2. Rear Gear Box fluid, it is easy just want to wait till the tranny fluid job.
3. Fuel Filter wait till the tranny fluid job

I am a novice mechanic like you, I used to own a 1980 240D and that's how I become a novice Mercedes mechanic. Compare to other European cars, Mercedes is really easy to work on don't need as many special tools as others. When you do you own maintanence you save on labor. You can get very good deals on the parts if you know what and where to find them.

If you can do 60% of labor work by yourself such as mentioned above plus break pads, I can assure you, you will save a lot of money in the long run and have lots of fun driving it. In addition, safety features are much more than Japanese vehicles and that's something....priceless!

 

I have just bought an used 1998 E320 with 111,000 miles on it and when purchased I noticed the shocks (Front and Rear) need to be replaced.
When I replaced all shocks with Blistein HD shock absorbers I still noticed a bouncing sound in rear left when hit bumps. I took all the loosen goods out of the trunk except the spare tire, securely fastened.
Someone mentioned to me that it might be it is too light when there is no luggage or passenger on the back.

I just want to know if this is the case and I can live with it, because I don't want to spend extra money on sports shocks and shorter springs.

Your comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated!!!

 

False alarm about the rattle sound. Found a box of paper clips under the CD box changer and that was the cause of it!