khemani

Hello,

I'm looking at purchasing a 1995 S500 Sedan and wanted to find out what I should be aware of in purchasing this vehicle. The vehicle has 91,000 miles. Everything appears to operate correctly. The ride is quiet and smooth, and the vehicle accelerates quickly.

One thing I noticed was condensation on the lower part of the windshield when the air conditioning was running. Why might this be happening, is it of concern, what might be done to address it, and what might it cost?

Are these vehicles known to have certain problems that I should be aware of and look for?

I'll have the vehicle checked by a mechanic, but wanted to do some research first to insure it is a worthwhile pursuit.

I was driving a 1988 560SL - beautiful car and a joy to drive. Sadly, it was in an accident and the cost of repairs was such that the other party's insurance company decided to declare the vehicle a total loss.

I was looking at a 1991 560SEC that appeared on the surface to be a very fine automobile but upon closer examination was found to have several problems. Though I was trying to stay with a pre-1992 Mercedes, what I have found in my area has been limited, and often in less than ideal condition. So my search has brought me to a more recent Mercedes. Though they were most reliable pre-1992, this will hopefully make for an enjoyable vehicle.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and advice.

Yash

loveit_but_hate

Better make sure the main wiring harness under the hood has been replaced. If it has not be replaced yet, it will need to be soon at a cost of $1K or more. If available, check the maintenance records to see if the A/C system has had the $3K-$5K repair done - not sure of the specifics other than the entire dash has to be taken out of the car to get to the failed parts. Make sure there is no vibration in the steering wheel over 45 MPH. Make sure the transmission runs smooth. Make sure the timing chain is not knocking around due to wear slack as it is an expensive item. Most, not necessarily all, 140's are maintenance prone and require a well funded repair budget. The items above are some of the common items for the 140.

Forgot to mention the closing assist pump for the doors and trunk. This is another expensive and common failure point.

BenzKid24

Assuming that LOVEITHATEIT guy bought a lemon,he is blowing more smoke up your tailpipe about these cars..his S320 might have trouble,however i own a 95 Mercedes S500 and found NO major problems,other then normal thingsi did foind out i have a gasket leak on my oil pan,no biggie and not bad really,and i just bought Break Pads,Shoes,and Sensors from Mercedes here in Dallas for $163 and New Cooper Tires(Dad owns Cooper here) and i love my car and wouldnt sell it unless i got a offer that was just right! so please dont let one persons bad car make your judgement make yours!
till the next epsiode-benzkid

dtkw

Agreed, I have a 95 S500 coupe. It has been wonderful for many years without major problems. But now I have to decide to keep it or sell it since I am going to inherit a 96 S600 sedan soon. Tough decision! :v

loveit_but_hate

What rock have you been living under? Do you read more than this forum? The problems I listed are known problems with the W140. I suggest you do some research on the mid 90's 140s and you will find out that MB used a biodegradable insulation for the wires contained in the main wiring harness. The insulation degraded much quicker than planned and the wires start shorting together around the 5-8 year period. The A/C evaporator problem is also common knowledge. I think the most common problem is the closing assist pumps. Again, just search for these items in other forums. Have you ever looked at www(dot)benzworld(dot)org?

Here are a couple of pictures of the wires with corroded copper after losing the insulation:

The green on the wires is from corrosion - note no insulation left.


Look at this mess!

stephane

Isnt'it what is called dewpoint. I noticed that a lot of times in my car (between 5 and 25 °C).

See #18 for dewpoint temperature;

Contact mis ou moteur en marche.
Passez en mode auto (droite et gauche) sur la console de clim.

Maintenez la touche « REST » pendant au peu près 7 secondes.

L’affichage change.
A gauche le n° du compteur (voir ci-dessous)
A droite sa valeur

Pour aller au compteur suivant pressez la touche « AUTO » de gauche, pour revenir au précédent, celle de droite.

La touche « REST » permet de revenir à l’affichage normal.

01: Température intérieure.
02: T° extérieure.
05: T° de l'évaporateur.
06: T° du liquide de refroidissement
07: Pression du liquide réfrigérant (clim)
08: T° du liquide réfrigérant (clim)
16: Valeur du monoxyde de carbone
17: Valeur de l'oxide de nitrogène (j'ai un doute sur la traduction)
18: Température du point de rosée (utile pour savoir s'il est nécessaire de s'inquiéter lorsque vient la fumée blanche à la base du pare brise. J'ai même un passager qui a voulu sauter en marche lorsqu'il l’a vue).
21: Régime moteur
22: Vitesse du véhicule
24: Voltage de la batterie
Contact mis ou moteur en marche.
Passez en mode auto (droite et gauche) sur la console de clim.

Maintenez la touche « REST » pendant au peu près 7 secondes.

L’affichage change.
A gauche le n° du compteur (voir ci-dessous)
A droite sa valeur

Pour aller au compteur suivant pressez la touche « AUTO » de gauche, pour revenir au précédent, celle de droite.

La touche « REST » permet de revenir à l’affichage normal.

01: Température intérieure.
02: T° extérieure.
05: T° de l'évaporateur.
06: T° du liquide de refroidissement
07: Pression du liquide réfrigérant (clim)
08: T° du liquide réfrigérant (clim)
16: Valeur du monoxyde de carbone
17: Valeur de l'oxide de nitrogène (j'ai un doute sur la traduction)
18: Température du point de rosée (utile pour savoir s'il est nécessaire de s'inquiéter lorsque vient la fumée blanche à la base du pare brise. J'ai même un passager qui a voulu sauter en marche lorsqu'il l’a vue).
21: Régime moteur
22: Vitesse du véhicule
24: Voltage de la batterie

khemani

hello,

thank you all for your thoughts - it's greatly appreciated.

my mechanic agreed that i should not consider a 1995 if the evaporator has not been replaced. he suggested that the 1994 and 1995 models had several issues and that i should consider a 1996 or later model.

i'm considering a 1999 S320 - SWB. A smaller vehicle, a smaller engine. We're going to go test drive it this evening and I'll let you know what I think of it.

Thanks,
Yash

AKRY

Also, 1996+ get 5-speed eletronic controlled auto instead of old 4-speed hydraulic, even though there are reported glitches with 1996 software....

IMHO, best bet if go for newest W140 you can afford, '98 or '99 preferred.... They are least bugged and still well put together....

BenzKid24

Ok Ok Ok EVERYONE knows if you buy a 98,99 W140 you will be much better off with due to less wear and tear miles,ect HOWEVER...ANY Car Benz,BMW,LEXUS(UUGH),to the Fords and Chevys...ANY car can be a nightmare,its comes down to 1 thing with the exception of a lemon the one thing is Owners taking care of there cars,it comes down to how well the owner took care of his/hers car..and to the Gentleman who has the s320 with major trouble...soory to here that and to your advice to me about lookin gover and research mercedes????i have been around them my whole life and sir...i dont need to look my MY MY MY 94 MAJOR TROUBLE S500 has been a Sweetheart to my wife and i and thats the bottomline..cuz Benzkid said so!!!!

till the NEXT Epsiode-Benzkid

AKRY

It's not as simple as that.... W140 is consider the most over-engineered S-Class MB ever produced(developing time alone was nearly 10 years), but sadly, it has considerably more "bugs" than W126 it replaced. Yes, newer models are very desirable as they usually have much less wear.... But alot of early-mid W140s are hunted by design flaws rather than oweners' negligent.

As mentioned above, the bio-degradable wires, Evap Core, Close Assist Pump, even the rear parking guides(1992 - 1995) have be updated during the time they were used on S-Class.....

Like you said, ANY car can be in very bad shape if the owners are not taking great care of the car. However, if you DO search around, you would find alot of common problems on early build W140s. And with 1996+ W140s coming down even more in price, it's really a no brainer that newer(my personal recommendation is of course an 1999, but anything between 1997-1999 would do just fine).

I made/post a list about USA/Canadian Spec W140s... Though it seems no one cares, but I will just post it again here... This would give you some ideas if you are in market for an W140... And if you DO read it through, you would know why that I recommended AT LEAST an 1997...

https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w140/67393-us-canadian-w140-list.html

BenzKid24

Understanding what you said and I hear you all out,and IF W140's 92-95 were troubled cars(im a dealer)i bought my car in March of 04 and have owned it for 6 months and i ran car-fax nothing wrong it had 77k on it,it has 89k now i have been on a few long trips,anyhow its 11year old car since 05's car now starting to come out..its eleven years old! it is going to have trouble all my wires and find as i just checked,a/c evop seems find like i said the only thing wrong are..oh yeah i do have one other thing you guys keep talking about my door *** vac on my right front pass doesnt work maybe a leak in that door only?? as the other 3 work perfectly but again not a big deal,anyhow the other thing wrong is my oil pan gasket has a small leak so did my uncle 95 s500 it was $245 our cost and i did have to buy new break pads and sensors and new tires last week,other then that nothing.if that stuff was bad then it must have been updated,i did go to your site and i saw where it was 95 or 96 that a digital odometer was installed,my 94 has a digital odometer.again my car-fax report shows my car was owned my a CEO of a Eletric company in PA and moved to TX where he traded it in to the Mercedes store in Dallas.im 2nd owner and love it its 2-tone green and tan leather with ALL the toys that i love,and you talked abotu the 126...AGREED that was and is allwayz be the most reliable model ever mad my uncle owns a 89 420sel on our lot now he has had it for almost 8 years and still hits 100mph pretty quick he has owned 15 mercedes a number of rolls so we know our cars and yeah you know about the w140..but i also know about the newer s class and i have been in a few and i love my 94 i dont care is its old and the rumors wire problem that my car hasnt had or if it was it was repaired b4 i bought it,no report on it in the car-fax and if these things were that big of a deal Benz would have recalled it by now since its been 11years since my Benz left Germany to head here. final thought i really dont care what you or another benz so called "fan" here .if yopu have that much trouble i got one thing to say....GO..TAKE YOUR BUTT TO A LEXUS STORE AND BUY A LEXUS AND GO TO CLUBLEXUS.ORG AND LEAVE THE PEOPLE WHO LOVES THERE BENZ ALONE! and then in 11year come back and resale your LS400 and see if you get the same price of what a benz cost..Mercedes were the 1st car ever and the best..if oyu dont like us or our cars then get the heck out of our forum,so we..sorry WEEEE can enjoy our "Three Point Star"..and you can go drive a Toyota..Oh sorry "Lexus"


btw if i EVER have trouble with my s500 its ok...i will still love her! Let me ask oyu somthing else
You Married?? If so in the 1st say ummm 5 years of your marriage is great,and GOD FORBID your Wife comes down with Cancer in the 7th year.You ready to give her up cause all of a sudden shes falling apart form a problem??note i understand a car and wife are 2 different things but the same princeable.Are you ready to go get another wife?? stupid or not its the same thing. cars break down new and old bla bla bla IT happens.remember **IT HAPPENS!! it does and you just deal with it. take care and God Bless you with your troubles on your cars it sounds like you have tons of trouble!!!

till the next epsiode-The one and only Benzkid

TRUE MERCEDES BENZ LOVER OF NEW AND OLD OLD OLD!!! 4LIFE!

BenzKid24

SORRY for my spelling i have thick fingers and it gets hard typing fast with them.

loveit_but_hate

Your taking this thread too personal! This thread is NOT about you but rather the candid response to a question about problematic things that might go wrong and what to look for. Just as there are lemons, there are also the lucky few that get a cherry. Consider yourself lucky to have a cherry. Maybe in the future if that cherry starts to rot you will remember this thread. I am in no way knocking MB. I accept the flaws and love it just the same - thus my handle loveit_but_hate(it). I love the car but hate the maintenance and expense. Resale isn't that great either - '95 S320 new = $75K now = $9K.

By the way, how did you "check" your wiring harness? The damage and exposed wires are not visible unless you look into the loom. Here is another "happy" owner - look here and see what I mean about hidden wiring problems http://www.benzworld.org/forums/foru...posts=3&fid=13

Rod Spohn

AKRY, you seem to know this car quite well. I have seen in this thread and others how the W140 has a vibration, like out of balance, is this common? I have had my tires balanced and an all wheel alinement but I still have this slight vibration in the steering wheel. Oh my car is a '96 S320 What if anything can be done to fix this?
Thanks Rod

AKRY

Hi Rod,

There are many causes for vibration. For older, but low mileage cars, it would be just about anything... From old design suspension(shimmy feel), flatspot and/or even aged rims, drive shaft vibration.

Anyways, since yours is a '96(with updated suspension), and if driven on daily basis, I would suggest you look for...

1. Engine Mounts... See if they have been replaced or if in need for replacement

2. Drive-Shaft.... This type of vibration usual occur at certain speed and/or rpm.... If you get constant vibration and faster you go, it would become a "contributing factor" rather than the "source of vibration"....

3. If possible, try source another set of rims in perfect condition, mount those and try??

4. Also, check front tie-rod, steering mount, and any rubber mount in the front suspension area, maybe some of those are aged and in need of replacement.

Good luck!!

Andy

Thunderbone

[QUOTE=loveit_but_hate] If available, check the maintenance records to see if the A/C system has had the $3K-$5K repair done - not sure of the specifics other than the entire dash has to be taken out of the car to get to the failed parts.

I've been told that when Mercedes switched from R-12 refrigerant the new freon formulation (132?) ate the welds of the evaporator and that every car that Mercedes changed the freon in had the evaporator failed and they warrantied that failure...but some of these cars changed owners before the failure and the seller was unaware and the buyer was left with the consequences. The fix is to put in a redesigned unit, which is expensive. Sound right to you?