The usual air conditioning evaporator inside the dashboard can leak and make A/C inoperative and because of that the front aux fans wont' spin causing a little overheating/higher engine temperatures.

Have a look at the buyer's guide here on the forum. It's the collective effort of all members put together to describe the issues/what to check for.

Infamous T hose in the back of the engine needs to be replaced ASAP if you get it. My 94 has a metal one so it's pretty nice, many are plastic. 100-120k miles is when a few gremlins really show up, water pump, fan clutch, etc.

Check if the PSE pump works with no leaks. Try to soft close, trunk and doors. When you turn the key to position 2, make sure ALL bulbs on dash light up including "Check Engine". Some people take check engine light bulb out or let it burn out..

Test drive a couple coupes, see the power, so you can compare engine power.

Check if car blows hot and cold, duo valves go bad fairly often. Check seatbelts tight or loose. Both my coupes have issues with passenger side being slack, don't know why... I rarely have passengers lol.

 

On coupes, check all of the window lifts. Fronts are lever type, rear are cable. None are common with the sedans, and only source is Mercedes. Common for the plastic slider on the fronts to break, causing a characteristic metallic clunk at full up or full down. You can replace them with the one piece slider from Mercedessource. On the rears, the plastic piece that holds the two cables to the slide mechanism breaks. It is common with other Mercedes coupes and convertibles, but if the cables ratsnest, you need a new regulator. I don't know of any source for the cables.

Make sure the window drop function works when you open and close the doors. It has to work correctly, or the windows won't seal correctly. Watch the You Tube videos from Mercedessource on "Son of the Beast" playlist to see the function. This function gives the regulators a real workout, unlike the sedans. In their infinite wisdom, Mercedes used plastic components common with other series, but the double pane glass is twice as heavy, with the predictable consequences. Proper lubrication is critical to forestall problems.

I think all US versions came with SLS or ADS. Ensure that system is working correctly.

Count on changing the engine and transmission mounts unless you get records that they have been done recently.

The rest of the car is common with the sedans. The coupes are great fun if taken care of.

There is a ton of information in this forum; there aren't many issues that haven't been seen and written about before.

Jon

 

Honestly, These older Benz's are not built for the day-in and day-out reliability, and the season changes, or high humidity areas of country.

If I had to point you to a W140, then get a +94 420 as they are simpler cars with less fuss with the hydraulic suspension, but I would settle for +96 S420 as the humidity does not affect the distributor caps, nor the A/C evaporator is a issue on 92-95.

If it was my kid, I'd put them in a 2000-2002 E320 it is a "gas-up and go car" super low interval of maintenance of any Benz, and has lots of curtain airbags. A very cheap to own car if you get a non-4matic car.

The 03 LS430 super safe car with lots of airbags, but you got to live with a timing belt change which is not cheap to do. The car has leather everywhere, yet probably around 2 to 3 times more than any S320/S420/S500, so the car will look crappy if it is not oiled or cared for. Very reliable car, but the auto adjusting steering wheel/steering column every time the door is opened really puts a wear-n-tear on those two motors, and those motors are $400 each and a bit of pain in the ass to change.

I vote for the W210 E320(2000-2002) over any of these for any of my kids...

Martin

 

One more thing to add, that I took for granted, is 97+ have OBD2 port. I really miss it on the 94. My mechanic's 38 port scanner is broken and can't find another friendly mechanic around that has one with ability to scan Active Dampening and etc..

 

OBD II is useless for anything but the EPA mandated parameters on a late model. You still have to have the 38 pin to do everything else.

I'd stay away from a late model unless it's got 2+ keys and fobs as they are unobtainium anymore. If you lose your keys you have a very large paperweight unless you can find someone to defeat the immobilizer system reliably. Early models use plain keys.

 

I've read of a lot of problems on this forum but there are exceptions; my '95 coupe has been rock solid reliable. Granted I've kept up with all the maintenance and had a few involved projects to fix issues when I first bought it, but other than the replacing distributor caps and rotors every two years or so, the car runs perfectly. It's a GREAT freeway car, as good as any I've ever been in.

 

I agree wholeheartedly. I guess my point was, watch out for deferred maintenance. If owners either keep up with maintenance with a trusted mechanic, or, better yet, do it themselves, they are as reliable as anything else. Too many 2nd and 3rd owners buy the car for prestige, then drive them until they drop because they can't afford to properly maintain them.

Almost everything on these is built well, and most things are designed to be maintained, rather than thrown away.

 

94 coupe owner here.

It's been good for me as a (expensive) daily, save for the common issues already mentioned. ADS wasn't standard on 500s only 600s, but it was available as an option on 500s, which mine has. It's a vague system and seems to not want to work even when the computer says everything is fine. It's fantastic when it does work.

I'm having a BIG issue with rust around the sun roof, something I'm going to have to make a post on...

 

I recently saw a coupe at a junkyard with rust there. It was rust free other wise. What do you think is causing it? I couldn't tell on that car.

 

Sunroof issue idea, i think it's a mixture of the rubber around the sunroof being worn/leaking and clogged drains. Don't have this issue on any of my w140's but I'm in So.Cal. rarely see rain.

 

That's what I'm thinking the issue is, which is on the table of replacements for my sunroof project.