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So up here in Canada i found a facelifted 2008 E300 4matic with 200,000km for a silly price. If anyone has any pointers for me as to what to watch out for or some of the usual problems please share. The car doesn't have air suspension or adaptive cruise control. It is owned by an elderly couple that don't really know what gets done to the car, they just take it to be done and pay the bill, so maintenance info is a little bit rough. I'm new here so if anyone would be so kind as to help me out it would be very much appreciated!
One question would be the transmission fluid. It may or may not have been changed as they claimed it was a lifetime fluid initially then said every 39k. So it may or may not be part of standard maintenance. It sorta depends what options the car has, bixenons, make sure they auto level and move side to side, keyless go make sure all the door handles work, check to see if the rear sunshade goes up an down, not sure if that was a standard option up in Canada. Pano sunroof squeaks on bumps. Check that the trunk closer works if you have it as an option, the buttons on the trunk closes it and the button inside opens and closes it. 2008 doesn't really have any major issues, just the standard maintenance ones that most cars have.
Thanks a lot for the reply. So when I checked the car out I pressed every single button around the car and everything clicked, worked and heated what it had to heat up. I guess leading me to my next question. She drove over a curb and as the car dismounted it hit the underbody right behind the drivers side front wheel, so basically under the mirror, causing a piece of undercarriage plastic to flap down which she had duct taped back to the car. Although the tape made me cringe, is there anything important that could have been damaged at that particular place? For 7500$CAD is it a good buy?
$7500 CAD will make lot of this forum members drooling, but each market is different and there is good reason why I am buying MB cars 2-3000 miles from home.
This cars are very sophisticated and you might not know about lot of features to check.
Meaning don't hesitate to spend money on good PPI.
Even the low price might not be negotiable, but at least you will know what you should start saving for.
You will get banned from this forum if you buy the car and not post pictures
Well there's a lot of things under the car, like the transfer case, ball joints, control arms, motor mounts, etc. You should take the car to the MB dealer and pay for the PPI (pre-purchase inspection) and have them take a good look under there. When you're making the appointment, also ask for the VMI (vehicle master inquiry) which will tell you what service was done at the MB dealer. But at $7500 CAD, that sounds like a pretty good price, in the US, prices would be at least 10-12k.
Ok, so I test drove the car and boy is it butter! But I want to know if it is normal that the car doesn't creep up when you let go of the brake. I've never seen that in a car before and honestly had me slightly worried. Suspension seemed smooth, steering was feather light, boots/cv joints made no noise. I'm taking it in for a quick inspection tomorrow to finalize this deal and maybe be a very lucky new w211 owner. FYI I called the dealership, they don't do PPI and ONLY FRONT pads and rotors (NOT sport package) they ask 960$CAD installed.
Try another dealership. Just say that you want to know how much it will cost to have a mechanic check over the car and hook it up to their star diagnostic machine to make sure everything is fine. There may be error codes that will not trigger a CEL light. Get your brakes done somewhere else. There's probably a DIY write up somewhere, but it's nothing special, any independent mechanic can do them. If you had the older 2006 with SBC, then you'd want to be a little extra careful, but otherwise Akebono pads run for around $60-$100 in the US and the front rotors are around $100 each. Lots of times they just slap a set of pads on and don't even replace the rotors if they're thick enough. If they've already done that, then they might be too thin. It's probably just an hour or two of labor. That $960 price is probably a due to a huge markup on the parts.
In general, many auto dealerships will not perform a "PPI" due to liability concerns. However, most will do a thorough "service review" for the OWNER. Such a review will focus on current or forthcoming maintenance needs/concerns.
"PPI's" are a controversial subject for many prospective buyers. Hence, the best indicator of condition and value is a page by page review of actual maintenance records. Most owners keep such records in the ever trusted manila folder.
Ok, I'd like to thank everyone for their help! I'll make sure to keep updates on this $5700US 2008 W211. Also since i purchased the car I will post a photo to avoid getting kicked
Are you missing the hood star on the car? Looks like it snapped off. You can buy one on eBay or a vendor for $20-$40, that's US though. Interesting rims, are those MB ones? I'm just familiar with stock ones and I don't think I've seen those on US models.
Damn! Good catch! So yes the star is indeed missing because some goof walking by believed the car wasn't worthy of its star and ripped it off. Now the dealership asks 60$CAD for parts only, so idek how to put the damn thing on. As for the rims, they are indeed stock on the E300 4Matic and these were on the base model as opposed to the cooler looking twin spoke ones that come with the Sport package. They are 245-45-r17.
It's very simple, you just use a set of pliers and turn it 90 degrees and it slides right out. Instead of grabbing it from the outside, you put the tip in, open it up and then twist it. You can probably find a video on youtube.
Ahhh, what a beautiful feeling to be a Benz owner! Already have my first problem and not sure if I should create a new thread, just hoping one of y'all can answer this one. So I went to get a hot dog yesterday and as I was parking I noticed down at the dash with an ESP not operative light, Didn't think much of it so I turned the car off took the key out for a minute started right up no warning. This morning it comes up as I'm driving to work, and the car drove fine (NO ABS LIGHT! ONLY ESP MALFUNCTION!) So after some internet research I have attached
these 2 posts I would like someone to review and help me with my course of action (take it to MB or local?)
That is the joy of having car with 1000 sensors.
SOP in such case is making sure all wheels are the same size/wear and keep eye on voltage, what can be displayed on cluster.
Is cruise control working fine?
When those things check, then you need SD.
The car not creeping when you let off the brake is normal, especially if you're on a hill, even a slight one. The SBC braking system will hold the car in place until you push the gas. It was the very first thing that I noticed about the car, and it felt really weird to me until I found myself on some hills in San Francisco. Now I love it and it's one of my favorite features.
Tires are all Michelin run flats, but for some reason fronts are 2 months old rears are way older. Also how do I check the voltage, cruise control works fine when light isn't on, I have NOT tried using it with the ESP light on, so I don't know.
Hill Holding works only in Comfort mode. I am annoyed with it as living in mountains, I like HH, but then I need 1st gear and never figured out what idiot make system that you have to choose and not have both at the same time.
Now prolalatidis, the car voltage displaying is shown on youtube, but having mismatched tires sound like good reason for the light.
You can try over-inflate the old tires to make up for the difference, but sounds to me like you might be due for new tires.
You have spare wheel, so why run flats anyway?
Funny you say that, because the Run flat indicator also turns on with the ESP light. Do you think its just the tires causing this? Should i take it to the MB dealer and see what they say, will they charge me anything or just quote me for the repairs (if any)? Has this ever happened to you? Thanks for all the information by the way!!
MB dealers give free coffee, sometimes free donuts, they will check radio code for free, but my local guys want $150 minimum for any troubleshooting.
So what you are saying your TPMS show low pressure? I think we are going into right direction.
When I get to the car later today, I will post a photo of the dash light, IF it is still there. That is what scares me, it is intermittent, it goes on and off. It may be because the tires heat up after driving 15-20 min?
What's the tread depth on all 4 tires? You don't have SBC brakes, those were gone in 2007+. You could try new tires or making sure all 4 tires have good air pressure. And yes, each time you go the dealer, they will always charge you an hour of diagnostic if you don't tell them to do something specific.
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