Buying my friend's E300 soon, any tips?
 

Hey guys I am buying my friends 2017 E300 soon and wanted to join this forum to learn more about this car coming from Hondas and Toyotas. Is there anything I should be aware of before buying this car in terms of common issues/ catastrophic issues I should know about? His car currently has 41k miles and won't sell it to me until his new car is built and delivered and assume I would be getting the car with 45-47k miles. I have went through this forum a little and read about the reliability issues with this engine and really wanted to know is it a large percentage of cars who are being effected with engine issues? I have already reached out to someone to get warranty and got quoted : 5 years or Till vehicle reaches 100,000 miles on the odometer Bumper to bumper, all components (minus major exceptions: airbag and exhaust), and wear/tear/maintenance items) is $1809. Does this sound like a good deal? I will get a sample contract tomorrow from my guy.

This is my first European car so I am a little nervous with the reliability stigma.

Thanks in advance and glad to join this fourm!

edit - WDDZF4KB8HA124461 . This is the VIN is anyone can tell me any additional information I didn’t know about the car.

To ensure you stay friends after the potential sale then you better get a prepurchss inspection from a top knotch independent. :p:

^^^^^^ For sure, get it inspected, AND make a verbal agreement that you will not tell him about any problems that might develop in future. Otherwise, do NOT buy from a friend, period.

Mercedes-Benz are as reliable as any other car brand. Owner's with no problems do not have a reason to post here. You only read about "reliability" issues from the average number of people who experience problems. That said, when issues occur, they are more expensive to fix, so your idea of getting an aftermarket warranty is a good if you can't absorb expenses yourself.

I don’t understand what the point is of me not telling him about future issues? He’s a good friend know he isn’t trying to scam me, he’s even letting me buy the car for less than what the dealership offered him.
i know he’s going to sell the car regardless , I just convinced him to less it to me a little less than what the dealership offered since I want to drive it and not make a couple thousand on it.


Also I am ready for the more expensive parts / labor. I am just not ready to drop 10k on replacing the engine due to a cracked piston or if my transmission ****s the bed

does he have any service paperwork?

Positive crankcase ventilator usually fails between 30 and 50K miles and is a $2,000+ job at Mercedes. I just had mine done even though I am out of warranty (52K miles) but it was done for free under goodwill. At 50K, they also recommend you change out the spark plugs.

My friend isn’t that big of a car guy so I am almost certain he wasnt tracking his services.
he goes to a Indy shop out in Long Island NY and informed me he has only had regular maintenance done like oil and etc. I was hoping these would come up on the carfax when I run it.
He is also the second owner buying at the in October 2019 with 20k miles on it.

Thank you for telling me about the crankcase ventilator. This is something that would be covered by my bumper to bumper warranty no?

I dont know how the aftermarket warranty works. Ask your friend if he has had random check engine light come on and then turn off a few days later. This is a sign of the crankcase ventilator valve failing. It will throw a code P052E.

Shouldn't that be covered by the emissions system warranty that runs beyond the factory warranty?

isn't that all "digital" nowadays ? - i think a dealer can access the details no ?

My MB dealer sends maintenance info to carfax.com.

I wouldn't rely on carfax and sometimes buying from friends is not a great idea, depending...

I, like others, would not buy a car like this from a friend. These cars are much more expensive to maintain than what you've stated you're coming from. Proceed with caution.

I have sold multiple cars to friends and relatives. They know they have been maintained and are usually low mileage. Not Mercedes or Bmw though. I have never sold a car that had any sort of known issue. They are all still friends.

Right on :y

I've not had any issues with my 2018 except for both USB ports breaking/coming a loose. Not sure how much they cost to repair since they were covered under warranty so my experience has been pretty much trouble free. I haven't decided whether to get an aftermarket warranty or not. I've had my Porsche 11 years and 7 without warranty and haven't any issues except for the lift struts on the hatchback. I got an extended warranty (extra 3 years) on our X5 and it just lapsed last fall even though I never ended up needing to use it. YMMV. I say that you commit yourself to keeping the car serviced on a timely basis and you'll likely get many miles out of the car.

Attached MB data card & service sheet.

Check for open recalls here: https://www.mbusa.com/en/recall

View marketing brochure here: https://www.auto-brochures.com/mercedes_benz.html

Thread listing 213 bulletins, Recalls, and Service Campaigns released to date: https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...ins-213-a.html

Those ports are pretty robust but If you ever get it fixed try to use a USB extension cable in the future.
It can be as long or as short as you like.
It will take the brunt force of daily use while leaving the other end which is in dash undisturbed.

I ended up buying a dedicated cable that is left attached so I don't bother with it anymore.

Nope, this is not covered under the emissions warranty. Tons of posts about this problem in the C and E class forum about this

$2k to replace a PCV is ridiculous.

tell me about it. Actually they quoted me $2,300. Apparently a lot of labor goes in since they have to remove a bunch of stuff to access it. Anyway, common fail point to which Mercedes created a new part to prevent further problems.

Pardon me being completely naïve here -- but if this is something that usually fails between 30 and 50k, as you are approaching 50k when the warranty runs out, unless it fails, you can't simply ask them to replace it, right? You got lucky that it went at 52k and you got it replaces as goodwill. Is this the kind of thing you simply don't replace or change until it fails? As opposed to spark plugs for example, LOL. Is there a typical service they recommend at 50k? Thanks in advance.

As far as buying your friend's car -- first, you are buying it when the original, manufacturers warranty expires (guessing that it was 4 years, 50k miles). That's important. You are not buying a CPO car, so after 50k miles, you are on your own. I would review all service records. Second, I have no knowledge of any reliability issues with the engine. Third, I can't speak to the aftermarket/third party warranty -- but, yes, get a sample contract. Talk to mechanics, MB dealers, and others and find out if this is a good one, or one of these nonsense ones. Five years, 100k miles, bumper to bumper, all covered, for $1800 seems cheap to me. The two year MB extension of the CPO warranty is $3000. Some of these aftermarket/third party warranty plans are a joke. I'd leave no stone unturned on this. Lastly, friend or no friend -- I would have a pre-sale check done on the car -- and I would ask the mechanic what tends to go at 50k and 75k, and what does the mechanic recommend that you do at 50k and 75k. Good luck!

This is not a maintenance part so nobody will replace it until it fails. It is not suppose to fail but was a poorly designed part. If anything, Mercedes should have created a TSB for this issue and gave this specific part a higher warranty period, but they didn't. This part was subsequently redesigned for later model years so buying for example a 2019 would not necessarily have this issue. Since the OP is buying a 2017 model, it should be on his radar.

I did get it replaced under goodwill because I was complaining about check engine lights at my 30K, 40K, and 50K mile services that randomly turned on and off a few days later. The service advisor said this was such a common problem that he had no problem pushing it through goodwill with corporate.

I believe he might be able to buy the extended Mercedes warranty which is 7years and either 75k or 100k coverage. Basically almost the same as the CPO warranty as the CPO comes with one year and you can get 2 extra years. But CPO is unlimited miles. You can check for vendors mentioned in the extended warranty subforum. Not sure if it's better for his friend to buy it and then transfer it or if he should buy it afterwards. Probably about the same price and I'd take the MB warranty over some unknown 3rd party warranty any day. You never know what the exclusions are on a 3rd party warranty, either they exclude a lot of coverage, require inspections, have deductibles, go out of business, deny claims, have limits on coverage, take a while to approve items etc.

https://mbworld.org/forums/extended-...-warranty.html