I have had my 190E for a little over a year and while there have been no big problems, no huge failures... The little things are starting to really annoy me.

The car was bought on eBay(big mistake. especially if you live in California... That was a huge headache just with the emission laws.)

Anyway, the car has around 219,600 miles on the clock. It had just over 208k when I got it. Some of the things that didn't work when it was purchased were the A/C, the left rear window lift and the power door locks have a mind of their own. They only work when they want to and seem to be regulated by a ghost or something.

Well, now the car has a bit more issues. After the car finally passed smog, after an entire new catalytic converter was put on, and a couple of other things in the engine things just started popping up. Wonderful little annoying things. First things first, when the new exhaust was put on it was done by my step father. Everything was fine, but recently the whole thing has been hanging pretty low. Low enough for it to scrape the road if there is a dip, or if you go over a speed bump. It is pretty embarrassing. There are quite a few 190s running around where I live and I looked underneath one of them yesterday at the muffler and it seems to have a hook or something that holds the end of it underneath the bumper where it should be. I looked under my car and it doesn't have any sort of hook, and it almost looks like it was removed.. There seems to be patch work where it should be. What a mess right? I will take pictures. It looks like my car has a tail... Anyway, just the other day I went to turn on the head lights and none of the interior lights came on like they are supposed to. I mean nothing. Not one light execpt for the cd player, which I guess would be seperate from everything. The gauges aren't lit, the window switches, etc. You get the picture. I opened the hood and looked at the fuse box and it doesn't appear to have a fuse for all of them. They just seem to be here and there. Does anyone have advice? I'm going to get rid of this car as soon as possible just because it doesn't suit my needs, but I want to try and figure out some of these problems before I put a for sale sign on it.

 

not sure about the lights, but why don't you just take it to a meineke or some muffler shop and tell them to fix the exhaust, they can weld a hanger or something on it

 

Don't take it to Meineke lol.. Go to some mom and pop shop, all you need is the hook. Mine has a hook, and on the hook is a rubber ring and the exhaust hangs from there.
The reason its hanging on the rubber is because if the exhaust is stuck onto the body, it will be bent and there's a possibility of it breaking.

Sorry to hear we are losing a 190e owner . As for the lights, I find that odd because the lights on the cluster (the AC/air/window switches cluster not gauge cluster), wont go on unless the CD player is turned on.

What year is it?

The problem with your windows, I get the same thing and the problem is due to old wiring. My fuses blow about once every 2 weeks. But they dont work sometimes and when this happen's, I just move the fuse around and they start working.

Every when do you need to pass smog? I know for a fact I wont pass.

 

If i rememeber correctly the dash bulbs are running off of fiber optics... i think there is only a few bulbs to run everything. If the CD player lights up still, when you turn the lights on (night illumination on cd player, not power up) then i'd start with bulbs first, then the DIMMER on the cluster (next to temp guage). fiddle with that dimmer switch, quite possible it sucks! I know this from expierience.

I too had issues with california emissions.. my issues were more to do with the check engine light comming on due to a plugged EGR pipe which the shop taught me how to "reset the light" with an ".99 cent test lamp"

 

Thank you for the replies. I really would like to get another Mercedes, however, I would really like to find a nice diesel version of maybe a 300D. I will take the car to a place that I know of that will probably do the work well and hopefully cut me some slack on the labor when I get paid next period. I will work with the dimmer switch, I would hate to think that maybe I turned it all the way off, gosh will I feel sheepish. About the windows, you know they all work perfectly fine except for the one right behind the driver. Kind of strange. Now the door locks are another story. They literally have a mind of their own. One day I went to unlock the door to leave and all of the doors were unlocked. A bit unsettling to say the least. I have a question: I was told that the Merc inline 6's were prone to leaking oil. My car however leaks no oil whatesoever and it has 220k on it. Strange?

 

Mine is leaking oil.

I think my locks have been opening them selves up sometimes.