fkong777

im looking at buying a e500 so it will be a 2003-2005 model year car.
They are usually 100K to 150K miles
I did some research and find that I should be aware of the following. Just wondering if Im missing anything.

1. Rear air bag leak. Solution to replace bags with Arnotts.
2. Transmission shift Solution to replace harness adaptor and or conductive plate.
3. Fuel pump leak. Solution - bring in dealer for recall or dont buy such car after 150K miles.
4. obvious the standard. Clean title, Clean car fax. No Accident.
5. SBC. issue.. dont know how to spot this one out.
6. Front ball joints.

Should I stay away from cars over 140K miles?
Thanks.

homeofstone

Also motor mounts, transmission mount, center driveshaft bearing and mount, front and rear flex disk. Front shocks when they fail use arnotts.

cetialpha5

For the fuel pump, I think you're referring to the gas tank warranty which also covers the fuel pump. That one is 15 years with unlimited miles. However if you get a 2003, depending on the date it went into service, you might only get two or three years left of coverage. SBC would be an issue, the reman pump is $850 plus a few hundred to put it in. If it was replaced once, you might be ok. They had a 10 year warranty on the pump, unlimited miles also, but there's a good chance that half the 2005's would be past the 10 year mark at this point.

I think the conventional thinking of buying an older car and just spending the money on maintenance doesn't always work when it comes to Mercedes because the repair prices on certain items can be pretty high. It works on cheaper cars, I've noticed prices on repairs tends to be 2-3x more than on regular cars and the availability of aftermarket parts can be limited due to lower volumes so you're stuck with factory prices instead of cheaper aftermarket which can be as low as 1/3 of the factory part. On the other hand getting a newer year can eliminate certain problems like SBC which went away after 2006, but you end up with a different send of engine problems, don't remember when those went away.

Surfer69E500

Just recently got my 2004 E500 with 77K for 13K. Everything is fine now just afraid of whats to come. Hopefully no problems for a while.

fkong777

found a 2003 e500 145000 miles black on black $6000
with
1 broken headlight mount
slight rattle in resonator
engine throttle feel a bit sluggish.
some paint and body wear.
rear sun shade dont roll back in right.
driver seat wont move forward or backward.

other than above issue seem pretty solid.