Restoring '88 W124
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Joined: Feb 2016
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1988 300E
Restoring '88 W124
Hello All!
This is my first post on this forum, I'm about to restore an old car and need all the help I can get!
So, here is the backstory, I am the second owner of a 1988 300E, of which my grandfather was the original owner. I have spent my entire life with this car. My grandfather took meticulous care of this car in the hopes that I would one day own it and care for it as he had. I drove this car all throughout high school (first kiss was in this car
) so needless to say this is more than just a car to me, its an extension of who I am. When I went off to college a couple of years ago, I left the car with my parents, who kept it in the garage for the first three years. and the past 2.5 years its been sitting in the driveway under a car cover. (The car has spent its entire life in the beach cities surrounding Los Angeles.)
Flash forward to 6 years later and I have long since finished my B.S. but I am still in school. Throughout these years, my parents have leased me vehicles to use out in my college town. Currently I drive a '13 Passat which I like just fine, but I have no intention of buying. My parents are done helping me with paying for my cars (as they should be) and have been badgering me to get rid of the Mercedes sitting in the driveway, so I have decided to revive the beast!
Now, here is where I need advice. My boyfriends father owns a mechanic shop with all the bells and whistles and has offered to fix whatever is needed on the car I just pay for the parts at the cost he gets them for. The only problem is I go to school in Tucson and the car is in Los Angeles. Since the car hasn't been started in about a year (and the fluids in the car are older than 5 years old) what is my best course of action? Regardless of the condition I was going to have the car shipped, but having the car in running condition knocks about $300-400 off the shipping price, so my thought is that we should put some gas in the tank just to get it running long enough to get it on the truck bed and get it shipped here. I know that isn't ideal, but I would like to use the money that I could save to fix other things on the car. Once the car reaches its destination every drop of all the fluids will be replaced but will starting it before hand do irreparable damage? Has anyone done anything similar? I'm really not sure what the best course of action is here. Any advice is MUCH appreciated!
This is my first post on this forum, I'm about to restore an old car and need all the help I can get!
So, here is the backstory, I am the second owner of a 1988 300E, of which my grandfather was the original owner. I have spent my entire life with this car. My grandfather took meticulous care of this car in the hopes that I would one day own it and care for it as he had. I drove this car all throughout high school (first kiss was in this car
) so needless to say this is more than just a car to me, its an extension of who I am. When I went off to college a couple of years ago, I left the car with my parents, who kept it in the garage for the first three years. and the past 2.5 years its been sitting in the driveway under a car cover. (The car has spent its entire life in the beach cities surrounding Los Angeles.)Flash forward to 6 years later and I have long since finished my B.S. but I am still in school. Throughout these years, my parents have leased me vehicles to use out in my college town. Currently I drive a '13 Passat which I like just fine, but I have no intention of buying. My parents are done helping me with paying for my cars (as they should be) and have been badgering me to get rid of the Mercedes sitting in the driveway, so I have decided to revive the beast!
Now, here is where I need advice. My boyfriends father owns a mechanic shop with all the bells and whistles and has offered to fix whatever is needed on the car I just pay for the parts at the cost he gets them for. The only problem is I go to school in Tucson and the car is in Los Angeles. Since the car hasn't been started in about a year (and the fluids in the car are older than 5 years old) what is my best course of action? Regardless of the condition I was going to have the car shipped, but having the car in running condition knocks about $300-400 off the shipping price, so my thought is that we should put some gas in the tank just to get it running long enough to get it on the truck bed and get it shipped here. I know that isn't ideal, but I would like to use the money that I could save to fix other things on the car. Once the car reaches its destination every drop of all the fluids will be replaced but will starting it before hand do irreparable damage? Has anyone done anything similar? I'm really not sure what the best course of action is here. Any advice is MUCH appreciated!
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93 320CE, 72 280SE 3.5, 55 220A, 05 E280CDI, 88 Mini Mayfair, 90 Peugeot 205GTI, 04 Mini Cooper
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2009 CLK 350
I bought a w126 that had been sitting with ethanol gas in the tank for over a year. Ran fine for a few days and finally gave up the ghost. Draining the varnished gas a can of b-12 and a new fuel filter fixed the issue. Get any old cap gas out of the system is my advice.
