Bratman

Hello People of the forum.
I'm looking at a 92 600 here in Brussels. It has 120 000 kilometers on it and look in good shape. I've read so much about the quality of these early 140s, but then again, would not most of the problems be solved by the owners by now? Surely the AC/thing would be taken care of? What else should I look for? It is pretty cheap, about 9500$.

Snowman

Yes a good deal of problem MIGHT have been solved by now but that doesn't mean that more will not happen. W140's are very unreliable in the early years and the v12 just makes things even more complicated.

Think about why it is in fact so cheap.

mbtech208

The '92 600SEL is about the worst S-Class you could buy. You'll be spending more than the car is worth just to keep it maintained. It's not worth the headaches, you'll be buying sombody else's problems. If you want a 140, go with a '95 or newer S320.

Bratman

Hello Dave.
I appreciate your response, but miss some specific details. COuld you give me some indications on what will go wrong or break down? I have read some of your erlier posts calling early 140s "abortions of cars" and such, but nothing really specific, besided some A/C leaks and head gasket. My thought about these two problems is that they surely will have been taken care of by now, and if they are not, I'll find another 600.
I live about one hour from the German boarder, so I reckon it will be alot cheaper to service it over here than in the US where prices are simply an insult, and I would never by a Mercedes if I lived there.
Anyway, please let me know your thoughts, I really appreciate your comments.
TB

Snowman

I have no idea what labor prices are like over there, but the AC evap costs about $4k over here. Apparently it takes a couple of days just to get to it. Generally anytime you have a V12, you're asking for problems.

But since you mentioned that you're in Europe, it might be different over there.

mbtech208

It's not that a lot of things fail, it's just that the things that DO fail are ridiculously expensive, both in parts and labor. It's like Mercedes-Benz engineered the most expensive components to break first. And all the inexpensive components, they buried deep within the car so when they fail, the cost of labor to replace them is astronomical. There's a heater hose plastic T-fitting on the firewall that tends to break and leak all the coolant out. The part itself is cheap, only a few dollars. However, in order to gain access to replace it, on a V12-equipped car, the entire intake manifold must be removed.

Snowman

Yeah if you go check extended warranty web sites they won't even give warranties to Benzes out of original warranty or over 50000 miles. It wasn't like that year ago. In fact they were even giving out warranties up to 1994 W140. I guess some of the repairs came in.