I just purchased a 1985 mercedes 380se. I would like to know any problems the car might give me. I heard that the camshaft goes bad quicker than the other models. Is that true. Thanks It has 97000 miles.

 

left side headgasket,
steering box leaking,
differential leaking,
intake manifold needs to be resealed,
thrust rod bushings,

where do u want me to stop?

those cars always need everything unless its ALL be done.

 

Very good preventative care is the best you can do. Only use MB coolant. Fully synthetic motor oil (Mobil 1), ditto for ATF and differential fluid. These engines only have camshaft issues because people use inferior lubricants and do not change it often enough.

 

And just a side note, plenty of people are madly in love with the 126 cars.

 

I just picked up an '85 380se, "a creampuff" it was supposed to be. I am 6k into it in repairs and far from done. I think the first owner maintained it and the second owner could not afford to maintain it and let the mechanicals slide even while keeping the appearance in good shape.

Here is 83k and what has been done so far:
tie rods
steering damper
ball joints
outer control arm bushings
alignment (after replacing all the front end junk)
valve cover gaskets replaced, were leaking
spark plugs
cam oilers
timing chain
tensioner and guide rails
replace all tranny seals, flush, and refill
transmission service kit
drive shaft bearing and center support
crankshaft seal
output shaft seal
kickdown cable seal
shift lever bushing
modulator valve
oil changed
thermostat replaced
trunk tumbler and lock was replaced (old one jammed up)
replaced all belts
upper shift linkage bushings
replaced chinese junk power antenna with hirschman
exhaust hangers (all of them)
restuffed rear seat
replaced a few broken springs in front seat
4 wheel brake job, replaced all rotors, sensors and pads
put in a reman becker stereo from Becker Audio (new one works good)
replaced throttle ball on actuator linkage
replaced air intake hose
replace distrib cap
replace distrib rotor


Still TBD:
Shocks all the way around
Seat is still POS, I think the whole frame and pad are needed to get it back to a good seat.
The little lumbar support air controls not functional
Needs plug wires
Washer reservoir grommets shot
Has a miss at idle
Tach bounces all over the place sometimes when driving


How is that for a creampuff? Mechanic tells me that at 100k will need valve guides and heads done for another $2k. So why were these cars supposed to be good to own?
AC compressor makes noise, prob needs replace/rebuilt

 

On order:
1 new, not re-man, A6 ac compressor for this car (my mechanic found one!)
4 bilstein shocks (comfort, not the HD, any opinions on this?)
1 reman steering gear box.

Completed today:
Installed 1 Beru spark plug wire set. MB must have run partially completed wires through the plastic heat shield and then put on the distrib end caps. I just zip tied them up neat, looks OK, could use a few more for a good job.

 

Your car should not need valve guides or heads until at least 300k miles. Use Mobil 1 15w-50 or 0w-40 depending on where you live, and your valve guides will be fine for a very long time,

 

Thanks. That is good to know. I am a chevy guy and am pretty much an idiot when it comes to MB. This was an ebay deal gone bad and now that I own this thing, my intention is to get it back to a good, reliable, driveable condition where I would not be afraid to hop in and drive to, say, Nova Scotia.

I'll keep the forum posted on the repairs, there does not seem to be much activity in this thread, so time to liven it up and maybe the guy who started it can learn from my mistakes.

 

Your car is an example of the worst thing that can happen to an MB, neglect. Care for your car and it will more than care for you. These cars really will last forever if you want them to.

 

Replacing the plug wires has cleared up the miss at hot idle and also the tach has been stable as well. Could be the arching of a bad insulator/plug wire was causing the miss as well as messing up the tach signal. This is good news. Also, I like the cylinder numbering system, 1-4 down the left then 5-8 down the right. Always had to think too much when swapping wires on a chevy, evens down the left, odds down the right.

 

You know what is scaring the hell out of me is that I am pouring all this $$$ into this car and the car was supposed to have 83k actual miles. I am pretty much a sucker, always have been, I take people for their word and it turns out that a lot of people are liars, you'd figure I would learn. Anyway, my mechanic is doubting the miles considering all the suspension issues, he is just thinking there is no way there can be that much wear for that few miles. I drive a Kenworth with 350k miles on it and it has tighter steering. I don't know yet, cosmetically, it looks pretty good and at least US cars from the 80's pretty much were worn out when you drove them off the lot. You mentioned that you can get a lot of miles out of the engine, if cared for, I wonder just how many are on that engine. I'll have some faith and assume 83k. I do enjoy driving it and it seems to be very well put together, the best I have ever seen.

 

I remember reading an article somewhere about a 380SEC with 800k miles (original engine, transmission). Something else you may want to consider doing is changing the differential fluid, which I doubt anyone else did. Get some Mobil 1 75w-90 synthetic diff. fluid and a 13mm hex. You should also change the transmission fluid, M1 Syn ATF, and filter. Remember on MB you have to drain the torque converter and pan...

 

The transmission was completely drained, refilled, and when the main seal was done and the transmission was pulled back the front pump was resealed and all other seals replaced. The transmission shifts smooth and is quiet.

I had asked that the rear differential fluid be drained and replaced but I did not see that on the completed work order. I can tackle that one myself this weekend. I agree this is a good thing to do, it is not a typical maintenance item, but over time, gear oil can get dirty and if there was a very small slow leak, it can get low. Thanks again for the size of key and type of oil.

 

This is what I did with my sold 1986 560 SEL. The differential and transmission oils were changed and after the former was replaced I could tell that the car was running much smoother. Oil technology 20 plus years ago was nothing like what it is now.

 

I noticed that the washer reservoir was not holding fluid. I had suspected only the grommet and plug were bad. However, when I pulled the plastic reservoir out of the car I noticed a crack in the bottom of it near one of the support tabs. Hmmm, 70$ for a new one or 5$ for some JB weld and a couple of hours? I took the latter, sanded the cracked area, mixed of the JB epoxy and smoothed it on with a popsicle stick. It worked great. Installed the new grommet for the pump and the new plug for the other hole, must be there for options available on other vehicles and it sealed nicely.

As long as I had that out, I noticed that the battery tray was rusted. I pulled out the battery, and then used PB blaster on the bolts and pulled out the tray. Some nasty corrosion under the tray where the sway bar comes through. I wire brushed all the rust and dirt and cleaned it all with soapy water. Then I sprayed the whole area with rustoleum "stop rust". Let that dry and sprayed over that with beige rustolem clear acrylic stop rust. Some of you might cringe at getting a can of spray paint anywhere near a MB, but I have to tell you guys that it came out great. Looks damn near factory again and way better than the cancer that was growing in there. Sprayed the tray the same way and reinstalled it. Cleaned up the battery on all 6 sides and reinstalled that as well. I could not find a battery tray on the internet at all, anybody have a source? I'll call the local dealer Monday, but dread paying 2 grand for a stamped piece of metal, just kidding, but I have heard horror stories about MB dealerships. Seams, they started with a great car and then built dealerships to pretty much soak you dry.

Even with all the new suspension components, still seems like there are some clunks when I cut the wheel hard as when making a U-turn.

More to come...

 

I called MB of Tucson parts department.

Battery tray: 66.83
Battery clamps: 21.75 ,need 2

So just North of $100 for 3 pieces of production stamped metal, gotta love it.

I did not have the heart to order the parts just yet as I dropped off the car this morning to get the ac, shocks, and stering gear box done.

 

Keep the faith. My 85 380SE ate a timing belt (they have a notorious appetite for them), a water pump, a catalytic converter, and I don't remember what all the first year I got it, 1995, at about 106K. It was about $4K before it was done. The front seats all break in the same place, a wire frame part. Stuffing won't help. It now has over 300K (odo' died months ago, why fix it?) and the car costs nothing to maintain. It runs fine. Rear axle needed replacing years ago, but only sounds bad when big people are in back and I'm going fast, so I don't do that. Lots of little things don't work any more, but the car is comfortable, safe, and gets me anywhere reliably in good style.
You could go crazy fixing everything. Just use it up. My tranny wouldn't downshift after I floored it once. Rebuild would have cost $2K according to specialist shop. Instead I opened the hole in the carpet around the kick down button under the gas pedal. Fixed. The W126 are heroically fault tolerant. Find an honest mechanic and he'll keep it running forever.
Enjoy!

 

Wow, my 560SEC seems to have been almost flawless compared to these stories. I am looking forward to bringing it in to the classic center for a complete restoration.

 

You must maintain your W126 meticulously. My sold 1986 560 SEL had a number of faults, none of them serious, but had to be fixed continously.

After all, the car was designed in the 1970s before the Vietnam War ended and lacks many of the technology available today. One of the superior aspects of the car compared with model MB design philosophy was the metal gauge. There was no skimping on use of materials and less worry about mileage. MB set out to build the best car and it succeeded at the time.

In the British CAR MAGAZINE in 1987, (a snooty rule Britannia magazine) comparing the 560 SEL with the BMW 750iL and the Bentley Turbo R. Predictably the British car won. The reason? The Turbo R had "the bulk, the presence, that the Mercedes does not have"! In other words, the MB is the best car but since Britannia has to keep ruling the Bentley wins.

A new car with the W126 body and modern engine-transmission package would be ideal.

 

Thanks for the kind words. I am on a mission to fix everything, not sure why yet, just have this compelling need to do it.

Shocks were installed. Gear box was installed. I drove it across the parking lot, the steering finally seemed very tight, no slop at all, but this is not a road test. Issues with getting the AC compressor after all. There is a new one in Phoenix that will mostly fit. He will have to pull off the pulley and rotate the permanent magnet and electrical connection to match the car, he says they do this all the time, the compressor itself is standard but the electrical connection can be rotated around depending on what manufacturer installed it.

Also, I called MB dealers around the south west and southern cali and found one that will deal. I guess not all dealers are out to totally screw you. Got a new seat frame from a dealership for $244. Go beat that, the best I could find on the internet was 310. Ordered the MB dealer seat pad for 115, saw equivalent for 110 on the internet but not sure of the manufacturing pedigree. Also picked up the battery tray and all fastening hardware for 39.60 and I think 15 each for the retaining mounts. I asked if the parts could be drop shipped since all were special order but the parts guy said they had to be received and processed by them and then reshipped. Shipping estimated at 15, but we will see when it comes in.

I shared this experience with my mechanic and he said he gets all his ford parts from Phoenix rather than Jim Click in Tucson. Says the parts are usually half the price than local ford. So, moral of the story is not to just accept the shaft that your local dealer is holding out for you but to call around and get a better price.

I read a tips and tricks on the W126 and one of the tips on ride quality was that this body style is very sensitive to wheel balance. The place I bought the car from had installed new tires, I think they have to by state law, not sure about this, but my guess was that they ordered the tires cheap and did the garage install on them with no balance. The stars aligned and my mechanic just this week installed his new Hunter 7700. My tires will be numbers 5-8 ever used on it, so all the factory tolerances and sensors ought to be dialed in. I was pretty happy about this, call me insane to get all gaga over wheel balance, but hey, this is the good stuff right? So should have well balanced tires in addition to pretty much the entire suspension, that ought to improve things significantly.

Several things still broken.
1) Air powered ortho seat settings do not seem to be functional. Anybody know how these work, is there an air pump installed somewhere that I can check? When I do the seat frame, I'll poke around but it would be nice if someone had some experience in this area.

2) An occasional miss at hot idle that I thought I had cleared up with the new cap, rotor, and plug wires but is still there. Seems like the threads also indicate this is a common problem, but I was not quite bright enough to glean the common solution.

3) Tach is sometimes erratic and flutters around now and then. There is some mention of a tach amplifier but I think that is pre -'85, I sure could not find it where it was supposed to be. Any ideas here?

 

I just follow the service guidelines very closely and use the best products I can find (lubricants, etc.). Belts, hoses, spark plug wires, and shocks I consider to be maintainance items, so having to replace them does not count as a "repair" to me. I have had to replace the AC compressor and fuel distributor though, and suspension bushings/exhaust hangers here and there but at 114k miles, I really cannot complain.

I will admit though, I am secretly hoping MB will ask to borrow the car for the Museum once the restoration is complete. Probably a pipe dream, but it will still have its own shrine in my garage.

 

I completely understand you here, and am behind you all the way!

Sorry to ask such a stupid question, but are you sure this is a factory ortho seat? You can check with the VIN, or I would be happy to. Just suspicious because I doubt many 380SE were equipped with such a rare option.

I am sure you replaced the spark plugs with the correct type (I hope). It may be a fuel injector or a fuel distributor issue. Try adjusting the fuel enrichment. I believe you need a long #3 hex.

It will look like a film container, but a little wider. Probably along the driver's side fender. Also, I like to always keep a can of electrical contact cleaner around, it can help is so many areas.

 

Good suggestions, I'll look more closely for the film can.

I have every reason to believe the option was factory, but here is the VIN
VIN#: WBDCA32C7FA114405

I am very interested in knowing what you find out.

 

There is a plastic cylinder towards the front side of the driver side fender well that has a screw on cap. I had originally thought this was it but when I unscrewed the cap it looked like a connector receptacle for some kind of pre-ODBII engine information system. I left it at that but this may be the part. I guess I am going to have to break down and buy the MTX manuals so that I can start doing some educated trouble shooting.

 

VIN WDBCA32C7FA114405
Model 380 SE
Chassis 1260321A114405
Engine 116963 12 058978
Transmission 722310 02 573053
Order 0 4 705 34460
Approx. year not defined
Lights BOSCH
Cab 09728
Dealer United States (USA) (705)
Interior leather pebble (275)
Paint
684 pastel beige (T) (с 01.01.1979 по 31.12.1981)
75 Unknown code
Options
222 right front seat, electrically adjustable (с 01.11.1978)
first aid kit (с 01.11.1962 по 30.09.1970)

227 ashtray and cigar lighter in the rear, illuminated (с 01.03.1980)
grab handle on roof front frame (с 01.06.1972 по 31.08.1973)
catacolor-glass for coupe-roof (с 01.11.1963 по 30.11.1965)
heat absorbind glass for coupe-roof (с 01.12.1965 по 28.02.1967)

240 outside temperature indicator (с 01.03.1982)
second spare wheel (с 01.01.1964 по 28.02.1973)

241 left front seat electrically adjustable with memory feature. only applicable to w 210 when installed in conjunction with code 275. (с 01.03.1983)
wood rims (с 01.01.1964 по 31.08.1971)

286 luggage nets on front seat backrests (с 01.01.1962)

406 single seat with orthopaedic front seat backrest, left and right (с 01.07.1970)
seat bench (с 01.01.1962 по 31.07.1965)


410 electric sliding roof (с 01.03.1965 по 29.02.1988)

440 bumpers with guards, front and rear (с 01.10.1970 по 30.04.1974)
bumper with horn and rubber buffer front and rear (с 01.03.1964 по 30.09.1970)
tempomat (cruise control) (с 01.09.1975)

461 instrument with mileage reading and english lettering (с 01.04.1990)

470 anti-lock braking system (abs) (с 01.06.1978 по 31.10.1993)
special export version 3 (с 01.12.1966 по 28.02.1968)
fan clutch (с 01.04.1970 по 30.11.1976)

491 USA version (с 01.01.1963)

506 outside rear view mirror, left, electrically adjustable and heated (с 01.07.1983 по 30.09.1983)
outside rear view mirrors, left and right (с 01.01.1963 по 31.07.1971)
outside rear view mirror, left and right, heated (electrically adjustable on the right) (l.h.d.) (с 01.10.1983 по 31.03.1989)
outside rear view mirror, right, convex, taxi export version
501 + 509 (с 01.08.1971 по 30.04.1974)

519 Becker radio Grand Prix electronic cassette - USA (с 01.08.1980 по 30.11.1990)
Becker radio Grand Prix LW/MW/SW/USW - USA (с 01.01.1963 по 29.02.1972)
Becker radio Grand Prix stereo MW/USW - USA (с 01.10.1972 по 31.12.1976)
Becker radio Mexico Grand Prix, electronic (USA)

531 automatic antenna (с 01.01.1963)

543 exhaust-pipe cover trim (с 01.01.1963 по 28.02.1963)
seat adapter between the front seats, and halogen lamp unit (с 01.01.1967 по 31.12.1972)
sun visor with vanity mirror, illuminated, left and right (с 01.11.1978)

551 anti-theft warning system (с 01.11.1978 по 31.03.1998)
anti-theft/anti-break-in warning system with anti-towing system (с 01.04.1998)
steering wheel, ivory-colored (с 01.01.1963 по 31.05.1973)

570 folding armrest front w202/210 stowage box front with armrest (с 01.04.1970)
front folding armrest w202 - housing at front with armrest

588 Thermoking air conditioner and electric window lifters (front doors) (с 01.04.1970 по 31.12.1972)
automatic climate control and electric window lifters (front and rear doors) (с 01.01.1977)

592 wyellow foglamps (с 01.01.1963 по 31.10.1965)
heat-insulating glass, all-around, heated rear window pane (laminated glass), band filter
heat-insulating glass, side window panes (с 01.02.1967 по 31.01.1971)
green heat-insulating glass all round, heated rear window, laminated safety glass - tinted strip (с 01.01.1972)

611 courtesy lamps for front and rear doors, with W124 also for central doors/W202 front doors only (с 01.11.1978)
sealed beam lamp unit, l.h. traffic (с 01.01.1966 по 28.02.1972)
lamp unit, symmetrical (с 01.01.1962 по 28.02.1963)

639 radial-ply tires, elimination of warning triangle (с 01.11.1973 по 31.10.1974)
elimination of first-aid box and warning triangle (с 01.08.1977)

640 aluminium disc wheels with radial-ply tires (с 01.10.1969 по 31.12.1989)
tires with tube (с 01.01.1963 по 31.08.1965)
15-hole light alloy rims (с 01.01.1990)

805 Change of year of model, last figure shows new model year

877 reading lamp in the rear (с 01.11.1963)



You have dual front orthopedic seats. I'm impressed!