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'92 300TE 4Matic

3K views 45 replies 8 participants last post by  Real1shepherd 
#1 ·
I don't want to jinx myself, but I've tentatively bought this car in Seattle for a sweet price. Beautiful blue with parchment interior. Paint is holding up well except for some clear coat failure on the top hatch. Interior is supposed to be immaculate, heated seats...and leather! I'm really tired of old Iron Butt MB Tex. I haven't seen the car in the flesh, but a member here went to see it and test drove it. His family vetoed the wagon concept, so he bought a CE. He graciously shared his impressions of the car. It has 101,000 miles...a teenager. That's 180,000 fewer miles than mine has, the very same car.

The present owner is a very pleasant character. I've sent him pics (thanks again Paul) of where to find the plate if the TC was a factory reman. He thinks he sees a portion of the plate. He also sent me some pics of what he says came out of the TC....it looks like the piston/seal is toast. Hard to believe a reman failed in such short order. I have over 170,000 miles on my reman TC.

Nobody is behind me on this that I know around here...they think I'm crazy for venturing back into the same car/model. Except for ONE soul....she asked if it had reverse (mine has not for about three yrs now) and I said 'yes'....she said, "There ya go!"....lol.

Again, I don't want to jinx myself by posting a bunch of pics pre-sale. The previous owner to this one in Seattle was an enthusiast in MN and did a lot of work on the car. But nobody can seem to really verify if a reman TC was put in. I'm expecting to just drive it home.


I think it quite possible that the enthusiast in MN is a BW member or was. More to come on this adventure.

Kevin
 
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#2 · (Edited)
It may sound hard to believe, but I'm vouching for you. If there is one soul on this board who can see their way through a 4Matic 1.0 it's you.

So more power to you.

On the topic of W124 4Matic wagons for sale, I just ran across this one. Talk about one rare beast, 300TD turbodiesel 4Matic, A/C, heated seats, and supposed a Duchatelet version on top of that.

It's far away from you, but might be worth a poke since the car is 25 years old and free for import into the US

https://www.2dehands.be/autos/mercedes-benz/300-serie/mercedes-300-td-turbo-4-matic-348942824.html
 
#3 ·
^ This and more. If 4 Matics ever had an understanding father he would be Real1shepherd!

Sounds like a great car. Don't worry about the appearance associated with buying another 124. There is a small band of quirky social outcasts on the face of this earth who appreciate the value proposition provided by a 124. Take comfort in knowing you are one of their elders.

Quietly we tolerate those who can't see the mountain top the way we do. Smugly we watch as they fork over hundreds of dollars a month to drive someone else's car, or as they line the pockets of their new-found "Specialist". They wander aimlessly like pinballs in an arcade game trying to reach the inner peace those of us who drive 124s experience every day.

Be gentle with them for they know not what their weakness is.
 
#4 ·
Why thank you, guys! That's why I posted here...I figure to get some smitten of empathy...lol. I'm getting none here on the home front.

Wow...on that TD 4Matic! If I had any money, I'd definitely bring that puppy over. And I always assumed that over there, if someone wanted it that way, the manual tranny could have been ordered as well. Manual transmission, turbo diesel, 4Matic....what a tease.

Andy, I shall make that my new motto as I drive; 'For they know not what their weakness is...' There definitely is a certain amount of Zen in driving a TE.

I see these soccer moms in some giant, butt ugly SUV with on average 1.5 people....what a waste of resources, gas, etc, as they seek 'status' within their peers.....the ones that are supposedly going to shepherd this planet. Some of the moms have multiple kids at the day car I take my grandson...putting out thousands a month in daycare and the payments for their big, butt ugly SUV. In a town where salaries are known to be low.....this ain't the Bay Area.

Kevin
 
#5 ·
There definitely is a certain amount of Zen in driving a TE.
Kevin
Absolutely! I recently let a few vehicles go since I don't have a practical use for them. The 300CE is off to Poland and good friends up on a farm in CT took over my 300TE 4Matic. (They had taken over my 300TD 20 years ago and were ready for an upgrade). Of the two motorcycles and the two cars I moved on over the last year the one I miss the most is the TE.

If J. Peterman had written a summary on a Mercedes TE he would probably have said something like; "Solid, yet refined; a driver's companion on dirt or tarmac. Elegance and utility combined. Either MB tex or leather, a tradesman in a tuxedo. Seats seven, hauls plywood, available in 2 wheel and all wheel drive" LOL
 
#6 ·
Excellent summary, Andy! It is bank solid like a basic 124 is supposed to be, but you have the continuous knowledge that you can haul about anything you want, at any time. Everything that the old American station wagons should have been without all the size and heft. Although there will always be a place in my heart for those big, gas-guzzling behemoths...learned to drive and took my driver's test in one...lol.

Kevin
 
#7 ·
Steve, that's a real shame on the Duchatelet TD 4Matic....I hope the fool who covered it with the cheap tarp doesn't reap some kind of huge reward. My brother did that to a XKE once and totally destroyed the paint job. From the pics, the interior looks to have suffered as well. It might clean up...hard to tell by the pics.

I can't believe someone would sell something like that with leaves and dirt all over it....unless it was for a song.

Kevin
 
#8 ·
You, Sir, are a brave man. :thumbsup:

Then again, you already have experience with 4M already, so it should make it that much easier to work on in case of any 4M issues.
 
#12 ·
This sounds like the 92 300TE 4M that sold on ebay a year or two ago for over $10k. Lovely color combo, looked near mint minus the fading clear coat on top of rear hatch, previous owner obviously put a lot of money into it. It was wearing newer Mercedes wheels IIRC.

Saw it show up on Seattle craigslist about a month ago for dirt cheap and with noted 4matic issues. Seller was using same photos from old ebay ad yet seemed like a seriously good deal if it all checked out, but I need another 4matic wagon like a hole in my head so didn't inquire further.

Good luck Kevin, if there's anyone who knows these cars it's you!
 
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#13 ·
Bingo, you hit the nail on the proverbial head! That's the car.....the MN enthusiast did (or had done) all the work on the car. The Seattle owner has done nothing for it. He's offered me the wheels you saw in the original ad for more, but I hate the design....so I passed. They were on Craigslist for sale too. He got really dirt-balled on Seattle Craigslist...you know the drill; people promising to be there at a certain time and never showing....promising to buy the car and never calling back etc. Really soured him which was good for me in negotiation. He crawled under, which I take is a big deal in his situation and supposedly got a TC sample, which looks bad. So he came down much further on the price...hell, he was gonna donate the car to a local charity rather than relist on craigslist! Talk about timing on my part....that never happens to me! Super nice guy to deal with.

I'm taking the bus to Seattle next Sunday and he's picking me up. Keep your fingers crossed I make it home OK.....lol.

Kevin
 
#14 ·
Got the car, got it home! Lots of piddly arse stuff wrong with it. Interesting to me how far these cars stray from the original with three or more owners.

Has a bizarre central locking bug, not to mention that the rear hatch won't close completely and a rear passenger door opening handle won't work at all....tape over the lock on the driver's side (you're not supposed to use it). While I went north of Seattle to meet a guy about another hobby, the central locking system decided to lock itself while I was talking to him with the key in my hand. Good thing the key was in my hand.....lol. Needs a brake job and a good tuneup at the very least.

Colors are beautiful even with the clear coat failure on top. An odd mixture of leather and Seattle mold smell coming home...almost overpowering. My original car feels more solid and points better. I figured a car of this low mileage would be more solid feeling, given what the MN enthusiast supposedly fixed on it.

Anyway, the owner was a great guy and the car was priced right. I don't think I'll be robbing parts off my car to make this one 100%....more likely I'll fix them both up.

Pics to follow after I get rested from the ordeal.

Kevin
 
#15 ·
...My original car feels more solid and points better. I figured a car of this low mileage would be more solid feeling, given what the MN enthusiast supposedly fixed on it.

Anyway, the owner was a great guy and the car was priced right. I don't think I'll be robbing parts off my car to make this one 100%....more likely I'll fix them both up.
Something tells me that the polar white beast will live on and is about to receive a new interior and transmission :wink
 
#24 ·
Kevin,

Glad to hear you have the car and its at least what you expected for the money. It sounds like the central locking issue is a top priority. You might strip back all the doors that control the system (passenger front, driver's front, hatch, and see how mucked up it is in there. I hope you can get the hatch open to work on it.

As for the failure of the clearcoat, talk to me. What does it look like? Is it peeling? If not, you could just reclear it after a light wet sanding to give the new clear something to bite into. I did this to my wife's 400e (brilliant silver - clear's worst undercoat partner) and my '89 300e (desert taupe or something like that). The results are amazing. My wife was getting questions about "oh you had the car painted?" You could clear the whole car with a quart of clear. It might cost $200 in supplies if you have an HVLP gun to shoot with. If not, Harbor Freight has a great pair of guns for under $40.

(and I don't have a booth to shoot in. I set up one of those soft sided shelters on the driveway, washed it all down and acted like I didn't know you need to have a$100,000 booth to shoot in. My results are better than most shops. )
 
#25 ·
Andy,
That's pretty ambitious on the clear coat project...lol. I was thinking of wet sanding with like 1,000 grit and then rattle,rattle. I lack the confidence to do more. The clear is just gone around the top of the hatch and a rather large area around the sunroof. After that are spots where the luggage rack is. not really peeling.....just gone. I thought I'd start with the hatch and see how it goes.

Kevin
 
#27 ·
I understand your concern, at this point you might not want to invest more time/effort/money. I get it. Also, you might feel you aren't prepared enough to tackle the job. Okay, I hear you but please think about how many people transitioned from body putty jockies or hamburger flippers to top gun at a local body shop. It ain't that big a leap.

Just a few points to consider:
- the worst you can end up with is clear that has a run in it, clear that is more dull than you would like it, or clear on things you didn't want to get clear on.
- the solutions for above are 1. move the gun faster, 2. move the gun more slowly, 3. do a better job of masking. (oh and BTW shooting a rattle can doesn't eliminate any of these less than satisfactory results)
- before shooting you can pick up a bent fender or a door at a body shop and play with the gun.

Yes, wet sanding with 1000 or 1200 grit will give you the surface you want to paint on. The reason why I am trying to provide an alternative to rattle cans is that for the most part, the paint in there is junk. It doesn't last, doesn't allow you to work on it (wet sand or polish), and the spray pattern is too small. Plus, it doesn't give you a skill set you can expand on.

Applying paint (or clear in this case) is very low tech (don't let anyone tell you otherwise). The difference between someone applying Pebble Beach level paint versus a novice is equivalent to about a year's experience.
 
#32 ·
So I'm trying to put together the provenance of this car from a Carfax and folder receipts. For a car with just 101,000 miles, she's sat on a few late night bar stools.:wink

Really an astounding amount of work has been done on the car given her mileage, including a full FD rebuild and recalibration for $700. And the list goes on....

She started out life in Lexington, KY for about 83,000 miles. Then probably through a trade she became a dealer car....sold at auction and moved up to a dealer in NJ. I see no individuals listed at this point other than the original KY owner. Then a woman in MN bought the car from the NJ dealer-Martha Crane. This is when some serious money was sunk into her....I haven't totaled it yet but probably $4-$5,000.


Two places worked on it extensively in Minneapolis; German Auto Works and Top Gear Auto Works. It would seem from the receipts that Top Gear redid a lot of German Auto's work.

Then the car was listed on eBay Motors and sold for a ridiculous price to my seller in Seattle. I have to make sure that last part is accurate with my seller.
He did virtually nothing with the car but drive it. Even though there is a lot of piddly stuff to fix, I much prefer that to hamfisted stupid repairs.

I just got the insurance switched over, so you'll be hearing more about this car in the future. Pics after I get the outside clean. I think the color is called 'ice-blue metallic'.

Kevin
 
#34 ·
So my seller just verified what I stated above. He tried to get a dealer to do a VMI and they refused...or at least lied and told him the car was too old to be in the system.

So that may be all I know unless there is some kind of psychic breakthrough.:devil

'Ice is nice'....lol

Kevin
 
#36 ·
She is a purdy color, fer sure!

After some very LONG deliberations, I've decided to make the ol' white, family truckster a part's car. I do this for a number of reasons; I don't have access to decent garage space (or keeping the ol' white TE going would be a no brainer). I can't really afford new parts for both the cars and the new-to-me car seems to need the good parts I have on my ol' truckster.

I made a list of all the things the ol' white truckster needs doing and it's staggering...and that's before replacing the tranny! Just doesn't make sense to me to funnel more time & money into it when she could give up what she has. Oh yeah and the dash has to come out to replace all the HVAC pods.

Low & behold the back hatch opened up yesterday! Like the sea suddenly decided to give up her treasures....lol. Now I can get inside the panel and fix the latch.

Took a trip in the car yesterday to Idaho and she did well. No AC and the owner hasn't gotten back to me about when that last worked. It was converted to R-134 after they found a leak. I don't see where the leak was addressed specifically or much mentioned other than it was converted. In any event, AC would have made yesterday's trip perfect, but it was not to be.

Kevin
 
#37 ·
Continuing on with this thread......

Driver's wheel was wabbling so I thought it was finally time to put both cars up on jack stands and start swapping out good parts from my old one.

It's a good thing because I found all kinds of issues. Tie rod assembly on the driver's side was completely shot and ready to separate (looks original). Center drag link was OK (newer), but somebody put a regular tie rod assembly on the passenger side and not the correct 4Matic tie rod assembly. What a mess.....I knew it wasn't tracking right. Both struts in the front need replaced, as they are original. Lower ball joints seem OK, but when it goes in for an alignment, I'll really check them out while the car is overhead. The steering wheel is crooked now because of all the parts I put in...hence the alignment.

And both the half axles up front have ruptured boots and slinging grease everywhere. They were rebuilt by CVJ Axles, I found the receipt. I don't know what made them fail, but we recommend that outfit here....maybe there is something to question about the CV boot kits they are using. Both rear diff seals are leaking too before the half shafts. The CV boots look fine back there.

I can't just strip my old white TE, it has to remain movable. That makes for a long day putting the same parts back in it.

Kevin
 
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