Leej

Hi

I know this is a general question, but looking for feedback on a 2000 E430 that I am considering purchasing. It has 190,000 miles and they are asking US$ 3,000.

I have only seen pictures of the car (going to see it tonight) and I don't know the service history. From the pictures, the car looks very clean, and I don't see any rust (I'll have a better look tonight). The title and CarFax is clear. Is $3,000 a fair price? Should I be worried about the high mileage?

I have read through the "List of Common W210 Problems" and will look for rust and other obvious things, but any feedback on this car would be appreciated. Thanks

Lee

kajtek1

You are buying 20 years old car build in times when car life expectancy was 7 years.
The W210 IMHO are as good workhorses as W123, but not too many rubber and plastic parts last 20 years, so be prepared to deal with them.
Than the truth is that the only thing that can kill W210 is rust.
Don't hesitate to spend money on good PPI.
Value will depends a lot on service records.
If all the parts are still original, be set aside more funds than purchase price.

Leej

@kajtek1 I certainly understand about it being a 20 year old car, and expect some plastic/rubber deterioration, etc., and will likely be some required repairs and baseline maintenance.

The seller is a car broker (I presume someone traded the car in), and of course they say there are no known problems, but they don't know the history and/or won't admit any flaws. I am considering this as a first car from my son, and thought it would be something he could work on and would be a great learning car. Having a 3rd party do an inspection is great advice, but I'm not sure how practical it will be (I'm an hour away and don't have a good mechanic near the seller, and I don't know if the seller would even cooperate), but it is definitely something I will consider. The seller said there are no "check engine lights", but I have a Star SDS and will check for residual codes tonight (assuming they will let me check it).

I've had other Mercedes (C107, W123, W126, and have an R230 now), but never had a W210. Just wondering if $3,000 is in the ballpark on a 2000 with 170K miles, assuming there are no major problems...

If anyone has any additional thoughts or opinions, please don't hesitate to share.

Thanks

Lee

khomer2

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kajtek1

I know TN is not really "Mercedes country" and I bought my Bluetec there very cheap, only to drive it home to California, so for $3000 I would expect no rust and paint with solid clear coat.
Pristine "garage queens" W210 go over 10 grands, when beaters sell for less than $1000, so there is no ballpark figure you can come with before seeing the car in person.
Good idea about taking scanner with you. The car will probably come with a list of historic codes, but check for pending ones and be prepared how to address them.
I like the idea about getting "fixer" for first car for a young one.
Did that with my sons and even they did not show much of my technical genes at the time, later on they appreciate the knowledge I forced them to.

Leej

Just following up, I went to look at the car last night (2000 E430, 190K Miles). Overall, the body and interior looked very good for a 20 year old car with 190K miles. However, there were some questions... Below are some (not all) of the things that caught my eye...

Rust
There were a couple of really small rust spots on the body. No bubbles in the paint, more like chips that had some rust. Nothing visible from 5 feet away. The chrome on the grill was separating, I suspect this would be a cosmetic issue in 1-2 years. The spring perches looked great, no rust, and still coated with the rubber undercoating?

Paint
Paint looked good, but might be a re-spay. Looked great everywhere, except clear coat was peeling on the side mirrors and a few places on the trim. Wouldn't surpise me if the clear coat started peeling in the next 2-4 years. I didn't go over the body too meticulously, its 20 years old, 190K miles, and $3K, I would expect some imperfections...

Brakes
Felt good, pads and rotors looked good.

Engine...
Engine started and ran as expected. I did hear a clicking noise for a few seconds (like piston slap or valve click, but when away within a few seconds). I drove it pretty hard (interstate and other roads), acceleration wasn't bad, and temperature was rock solid.

The upper radiator hose had what I assume is a patch in the middle. It had what looked like black duct tape wrapped around it (I should have taken a picture), and you could feel something underneath that felt like some kind of patch all the way around. It was not leaking, and the tape/patch looked like it had been there a while (maybe a year). There was some discoloration spots on the plastic engine cover that I presume was where coolant had sprayed and left some residue, but I couldn't see any active leaks and coolant level was good. Why wouldn't you simply replace the radiator upper hose (looks like $15-20 on Amazon, and two hose clamps with a screw driver, maybe 15 minutes and a little coolant)???

I checked the oil, and it looked good on the dipstick... BUT, when I pulled the oil cap, I saw this:




Here is looking into the oil filler hole


I presume this is caused by moisture, maybe condensation from not being driven often or breather/PCV valve, bad head gasket, coolant mixing with oil???? The oil on the dip stick looked good and coolant level was good. Didn't see any steam or other from exhaust. Any thoughts?

Interior
The interior looked good in my opinion for the age and mileage. However, 3 of the door lock plungers pulled right out, not connected to anything, and the trunk wouldn't open. The broker said that their shop had been working on it, and thought they were trying to fix the locks. I'm wondering if they were replacing the actuators, and gave up or hopefully simply weren't finished. The broker told me that he would find out and let me know. I would hope that they would address that...

Star SDS
I connected my Star C3, but I couldn't get it to run a "quick test". It seemed like everything was good, and it would communicate with the car (and I had green light on the multiplexer and voltage indication on the laptop). However, when I tried to run the quick test, it would get to the stage where it says to "turn on the ignition" and I couldn't get it to go any further no matter what I did with the ignition (I tried all positions, on and running), and it wouldn't recognize it and I could only "abort" that stage and then Xentry directed me to check some fuses and relays which all seemed fine??? Its very possible I was doing something stupid wrong (I have only used SDS on my 2008 R230), or maybe I had a bad connection on the cables or the OBD port? Regardless, I tried several times with no luck, and eventually gave up.

Summary
I am most concerned about the pudding in the oil cap (or worse) and the door/trunk locks (hopefully the seller will address, waiting the hear what they say).

Thanks

Lee

kajtek1

Water vapor on oil cap is normal when the engine is started for short periods and shut down before operating at normal temperatures. Still check oil on dipstick with white towel.
Did you try to run the scan via OBD ? Those cars need 38 pins.
Locks operate on vacuum and you have PSE pump under rear seat. Chances are the door actuators have membranes rotten out. Those are the "rubber issues" I was pointing above. Probably not big expense in parts to restore, but lot of labor.
Peeling clear coat is a disease and even mid-grade paint job will exceed car value.
So IMHO you have to make your mind if you want to live in bad-looking MB in your household for next few years.

Leej

@kajtek1 Thanks for the feedback.

I presume the water vapor could be wiped out and longer drives might clear it up (assuming the dipstick is clean).

I have experience with the vacuum locks and agree, could be lots of labor and likely the actuators are shot. Seemed odd that the plungers were just sitting in the hole, makes me think someone had tried to repair and then gave up (I'm hoping there aren't pieces missing). They said their mechanic was still looking at the locks, so I'm wondering if they will fix the door locks, or did they just mean the trunk lock which wouldn't open at all??? I will see what they say.

Regarding the SDS scan, yes I was trying via OBD (I knew I was doing something stupid ). I didn't even think about using the 38 pin connector (I should have known this, I have the cable...). I presume this connector is under the hood, near the fuse box?

The car is an hour away, so I think I'll wait to see if they come back with good news on the locks/trunk, and maybe a lower price, then I would consider further inspection. Otherwise I may pass and keep looking...

Lee

Strigoi

I paid $3500 for my 2001 E320 wagon with 123k on it. The car needed nothing mechanically and looked much, much better after a detail. Zero rust on it either, that's to be expected with cars that have always been in California. I bought it from the 2nd owner who had owned it for many years and had all the work/maintenance done by the shop my friend works at. They knew the car well, the original owner only took it to the dealer.

I've got 135k (I think) on it now and have had zero issues with the car. I love that damn wagon. I plan on driving it into the ground, which is going to take a lot of years.