Isaac Riffel

Hey all, I just sold my Audi and I'm now on a quest to buy a W211 Mercedes. The particular one I'm looking at is the E320 BlueTec model.

I really want to know a couple of things before I go look at this car. First of all, what do I need to look for? We do DIY mechanics at our house, so is this a car that can be serviced and repaired by hand or do you need to take it to a real mechanic?

I also want to know if there is a way to tell if this car has AIRMATIC or ABC. I really do not want to mess with these systems. It's such a cool car, but I do not want to fall into a money pit. I could probably get the seller down to about $6000 for the thing. Has 136k miles and was a regularly serviced one owner car.

And if this matters at all, I am a hard-working 17-year-old dude. I really love these cars and would love to drive one. Dad, the guy who is responsible for servicing the family's cars is hesitant about the hassle and reliability.

Thanks for any replies.

cetialpha5

Sorry can't really help you with the bluetec. One of the problems with the diesels is that there weren't many sold so not too many people know about them. If you had a question about the gasoline models like the E350 or E550, I'd be able to answer them.

I don't believe these models had ABC or airmatic, some early diesel models had airmatic as an option and on wagons they had them in the rear. You would just use a vin decoder like the one below to see if there's airmatic in one of the option codes.

https://www.lastvin.com/

Remember, they only sold 40-50k W211 bodies in the US in one year, probably the bulk were E350 an even smaller percentage of those were the diesels. I never considered the diesels because people would run into problems here and no one would reply because there were so few out there. Or people would say they would take it to their mechanic, but their mechanic didn't know how to fix it because it was a diesel. So if you take it to a real mechanic, make sure it's a real mechanic who knows how to fix diesels. Again, low production numbers means most don't get any experience working on them.

AlmostHappy

Diesels have a major problem with BLACK TAR DEATH coming out of the engine injections. That would be the first thing I would look for. You have to take the engine cover off to notice this. This is also very preventable but you have to catch it in the early stages. Google it.

Other than that, w211's do have major electrical problems/gremlins that make a DIY'er want to pull his hairs. Often times you'll need DAS XENTRY to code it if you happen to need to replace a module, etc. In other words, it will get expensive quickly, unless you plan ahead and actually study these model cars.

albi.ad8

The car you intend to purchase has the om642 v6 diesel engine. This engine is known for having oil cooler leaks which is costly i terms of labour involved but the part of the gaskets are cheap. Black death from the injectors is also known even though is less of a problem compared to earlier engines like om646/7/8. Problems with DPF and EGR can happen due to using the car for daily short commutes. Also the red seal in the turbo should be replaced regularly because it can leak oil directly in the EKAS( intake manifold motor) and ruin it.
All in all i own a w164 with the same engine and have not had any issue during the last 1.5 years that i have owned it.
Regarding DIY have seen a lot o videos that people maintain these cars themselves becaus even for electronics you can get a star diagnosis from or even other brands which can read the majority of the modules.

tjts1

Sorry, it's just not worth the Hassel. The om642 diesel breaks in very expensive ways. It's not an easy engine to work on and any fuel cost savings will be pissed away on repairs. The m112 and m113 gas engines are far more reliable and cheaper to maintain. Also avoid 06-07 E350s and E550s at all cost. They are money pits.