[tomer]

Sorry for the difficult question folks! My father-in-law has an 02 E430 with 50K miles on her here in Northern california, and he has another month before the extended warranty is up (he bought the car used with Starmark cert from Dealer in San Jose,CA).

Since I hope to buy it from them soon (my current ride is a sweet 93 300E with only 52K original miles can anyone offer me guidance on what are the common weak spots on these cars that I should have the dealer look into before the warranty runs out?

I was considering getting a thorough inspection from a reputalbe MB indy shop, and reporting problems found to the dealer. If I can get an understanding of the common problems, I will be much better able to make sure I get things fixed under warranty...

Only major things my father-in-law has done to the car under warranty is the infamous squeaky steering column problem (for which they went to the extent of replacing the steering rack!!) and he had a weird problem with the heat and AC, they worked on it for like 4 seperate days to fix that... I sure don't want to get slapped with some of these type of bills if I become the owner soon, even though the car drives like a dream (has the sport rims/tires on it) it would be horrible for me to eat several multi thousand $$ bills for things that could have been fixed under warranty...

On a recent drive, I think the motor mounts may be collapsed, as at idle the car shakes quite a bit (initially I just thought that was the mighty V-8 talking to me, but upon some reading discovered it is likely the mounts...great example of something to get repaired under warranty)

thanks in advance
Tomer

 

[tomer]

I am holding out hope here!!

Many views but no ideas yet...Was I not specific enough? WOuld appreciate that feedback also, otherwise I will cross my fingers and wait for the collective wisdom here

tia

 

[Musikmann]

I thought the Starmark aka CPO warranty covered you until 100,000 miles? Or are your 12 months up? In any event, I would recommend buying an extension of that warranty while it is still in effect.

There are some W210s rusting out there (body panels and spring perches), parts of the front suspensions going bad, A/C is very expensive to have worked on, rear window regulators failing, and a few more things I'm probably forgetting.

BTW, I bought mine as a CPO and the only thing I have used it for was the squeaky steering column issue. From the looks of it, I got half my money back on that repair alone.

Good Luck!

 

[Darkmann]

I have a 01 430 and just before warranty expired I took it to my SA and asked him to have his techs take a thorough look at the car. In my case nothing alarming came up. I also had the steering rack replaced due to that infamous noise. The noise came back a year later - after warranty expired. The instrument cluster is another expensive component that goes bad all of a sudden. had mine replaced under warranty but it went bad along with the steering noise after warranty xpired. Have them inspect the sensor at the tranny pan. They tend to leak. If yours is OK, then no problem. MB finally came up with a new sensor interface design after several years of customer complaints. You may also want to have them change the tranny fluid. I did have a AC leak but that was not age related - just a poor factory work.

I'd advice to take it to an independent mechanic to do the check-out. I have the feeling that since my MB shop had all my records, they really didn't have to do as thorough a job as I'd demanded. Then again, I practically knew whatever issues existed anyway!!!

I have heard of shot schoks but that's rear - I think. Other than that, these E-classes seem to be pretty solid. You'll enjoy the ride.

 

[tomer]

Many thanks so far folks!!!

Many thanks for the ideas... I agree the 100-$125 an independant shop will charge is a good investment...I certainly hope there is a least an oil leak or something like that...

I love the ride and power of the 02 E430, and of course I am comparing it to my current ride, a sweeeeet 93 300E with only 56K original miles...

E430 is head and shoulders above of course, but I wish the E430 had 1/2 the quality of my old W124 :-(

T

 

[MAE320]

Catalytic converters do fail very often on these cars at around 60-70K. Had mine replaced under warranty @ 67K. This is one more thing you should look for.