W124 vs. W140 S350

4848 Views 10 Replies 5 Participants Last post by 300 D, Apr 11, 2009

300 D

Discussion Starter · Apr 10, 2009 (Edited)

Hi,

I'm in final stages of gaining ownership [shipping set up, etc] of a 300E diesel, pewter [smoke silver], special edition. Car has 182k miles on it [gulp], but is rust free, no dings, no dents, no braille parking bumper issues. Car presents itself well . . . Carfax is good . . .

Car has had two owners. This last owner just spent $2,300 having his favorite mechanic do things like: replace glow plugs, housing inlet?, thermostat, tie rods, fuel pump & housing, lines, new fluids throughout, filters, etc.

He also had 4 new tires put on some months back, claims about 1,000 miles use since then.

My twitch is 182K miles. I'm not used to buying cars with over 30, 40K miles on them, let alone 182K.

Also around here, the delta between gas and diesel is about 12-cents, plus or minus 1 or 2. Pundits claim the differential will become closer as time passes by.

The only change I'll probably do is spiff up the wheels with five or six spoke chrome wheels. Might be tough, since tires are 15's and new, so don't want to trash them by going to 16, 17, 18 inch what have you.

Any advice, counsel, and the like on this ride will be most appreciated . . .

Should you know of after market sellers of chrome wheels for this car, especially 15 inch, please post links, and/or other information . . .

Thanking you in advance . . .
Jas

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Zeitgeist

· #3 · Apr 10, 2009

Not quite sure what to make of your post, but welcome nonetheless. It sounds like you're acquiring a '95 E300D Special Edition sedan with the normally aspirated OM606 diesel engine with 182k. That might seem like high miles for a "normal" car, but this is a Mercedes, and one of the finest chassis the company ever built. These cars can chew up miles and still remain refined, comfortable and quite safe. If it's a '95 then it does suffer from deteriorating original engine harness issues, but thankfully on the diesels, there's not much of a harness to worry about. On a car with that sort of mileage, I'd start looking at how well the rear suspension is holding up, as well as determining if the AC works and whether the evaporator has ever been replaced.

Again, welcome to the forum. You should fill out your profile so we can figure out where the vehicle will reside, which can impact the types of advice you'll receive from other members.

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Zeitgeist

· #6 · Apr 11, 2009

I'm not familiar with the magnet device either. If the car's gonna be garaged, then you may not even need to worry about such things. The OM60X series engines start quite well below zero.

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Zeitgeist

· #9 · Apr 11, 2009

An even easier option would be to call your nearest Mercedes dealer and order an electrical cord made specially for the block heater that's already installed on the car. Simply remove the plastic cap, plug the cord into the heater, then zip-tie the cord to the frame and lead the male end out to somewhere near the grill. That way there's no crawling under the car.

Oh, and the oil pan on this car is aluminum, so magnets won't stick.

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