The Fez

I just bought a 2006 E350 4Matic with 83,000 miles in October of 2018. The miles are very low for the year, but I'm concerned that some of the maintenance items that usually occur at higher mileage intervals may need to be done sooner due to the car being old / driven very little for the past few years prior to my buying it.

I just replaced engine mounts and am about to do the transmission mount. Are there any other parts to be aware of on these cars that tend to go after this age / mileage? Ball joints or other suspension components? Anything with the engine?

I'm new to Mercedes and learning, so any tips or pointers are appreciated!

cetialpha5

Usually the thermostat and the tensioner/pulleys. Also the 2006 had the bad balance shaft problem, but it didn't affect all cars, but cars that have 160k are still showing up with bad balance shafts. Just something to be aware of and not to sink too much money into it before checking out that your balance shaft is fine. There's lots of youtube videos on how to check it.

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...nce-shaft.html

Yeah, the usual suspension items come to mind, upper/lower ball joints, sway bar links, etc., but don't fix them til they go.

You have SBC brakes, but MB extended the warranty on the SBC brakes to 25 years so if you get warning messages about the brakes, take it to the dealer. They also extended the warranty on the fuel tank, but that's only 15 years so you've got a few more years. Basically if you smell gas in the cabin after filling up, they have to replace the whole gas tank.

They stopped updating the nav DVD a few years ago, if you search for it, you mind find a link where you can burn your own copy. You're probably also due to flush the transmission fluid at 80k. You can get Shell ATF 134 from a shell distributor, much cheaper than the dealer or online.

https://www.shell.us/business-custom...r-locator.html

Also you could take it to the dealer and have them do a PPI (in your case it would be a post purchase inspection instead of pre) on it, now there's a $150 off $300 coupon that I posted in a previous thread. Ask for the VMI which is the vehicle master inquiry and you'll get a list of all the work that was done at the dealer. Might not be much if the previous owner didn't go there.

Well that's enough for now, search the old threads or ask some new questions.

The Fez

Hi Cetialpha, thanks so much for the detail! (Also in MA here, coincidentally.) I was unaware of the balance shaft issue, but will read up on that.