anyone know about older Mercedes?
 

specifically 87 190e 2.3s??

i know quite a bit! what would youliek to know my hairy little friend?

boon might too...i think hes got an older one

what do you wanna know, Kasey Sanchez

Kasey just wants to know about known problems and things to look out for if he's thinking about buying one.

- Justin

my friend had one and the wheel fell off... something broke at the axle. it has no purpose for me to tell you that, i just felt like sharing. Old Mercs FTW!!!!!!

Let me know what you want to know.

If I can't answer your question, I'm sure one of my teachers can (I'm at a benz training facility).

All I know is if you can pick one up in decent condition, fix the minor issues that they all have at that age, and do proper maintanence, it will last you forever. one of my buddies at school just picked up an 88 190e i believe. one of my teacher's has got a 93 (i think?) 300e. Both have got well over 150k on them and are running strong.

edit: i just read justin's post, if thats the case, off the top of my head...

if you can get under the car, look for the obvious (leaks, etc)...check the flex coupling at the end of the tailshaft. its on the driveshaft, takes the place of a u-joint in a nutshell, big rubber thing similar to a ragjoint on a steering column. if it hasnt been replaced recently, look into doing so. Make sure the control arm bushings look decent...wheel bearings and the like. After that, check the basics (brakes/tires, suspension, listen for noises, etc)...the fit/finish on the pre 94 models is damn near perfect, every edge was smoothed, they were put together very well. I'll check tomorrow for anything else.

Silly kasey..... don't you remember what some of the members do for jobs??

Explain your request.

i had one i sold it it was a pos no power it stalled and didnt start up over heated

Well maintanence issues are not really a concern

Car's been owned since new by a family friend, garaged, same mechanic throughout its life, and just had $600 of repairs done including water pump... that's all the time we had for conversation earlier. Gonna go check it out tomorrow, test drive it etc... they're asking 2000 but said they'd make me a deal.

I am basically just looking for any specific problems they might have to check for outside of normal things like heat, a/c, leaks etc.

Dan that helps a lot, thanks

dan is on teh ball with it man! they have been known to have bad control arm bushings so make sure that when you drive it while letting off the gas the rear end dosnt seem to sway around! make sure the driveshaft isnt all moving around cuss i have seen them with a weird flex coupling that is expensive to replace! and ehh well dan knows as much as i do i guess!

wat happen to the GP u bought?

Look for a post in the classifieds soon. If someone wants it who's willing o put time and effort into it then they'll get it for cheap... I don't have the will, money or time to deal with it and fix it. All the will and money and time goes into the camaro :lol:

turbo diesel!?!?

nah, the 190E 2.3 weren't turbo diesels....although may be he should look out for a 190E 2.3-16v i had one and it was a fun little car.

Kasey I have some more for you to check out:

Head gaskets are common issues on these engines. Look at the coolant reservoir, see if its chocolatey...if not that, start it, and look for bubbles in it.

Listen to the fuel pump...if its whining really loud...the bearings are pretty much shot and it will need a new one.

Also check out the CIS (fuel injection) system. They were a pain in the ass to work on, so there might be someone who tried to hack something. Check the idle, if its too high or all over the place...if the system has been altered don't buy the car, its not worth the headache.

If oil wasn't changed religiously, might want to think about some valve seals.

Well I drove it today but didn't see that last post. In terms of control arm bushings and flex couplings though they were just done.

about 123xxx miles BTW.

Whats the condition of the body? Underneath?

If those 2 items were just replaced, and theres a new water pump, might want to check and see if the head gasket and fuel pump were just done as well, sounds like the car has been well maintained.

Any peculiar noises?

Nope. Only negative things I noticed were it felt liek it needs an alignment (whatever) and the 1-2 shift and shifting from park to reverse were really hard. Then again I know a lot of older cars tend to do that... I'll stop by again tomorrow to ask about the head gasket, fuel pump, ignition and transmission service history. The car was kept in a garage so I highly doubt anything is rotting down there but I'll check it out.

old mercedes transes shift hard its a good thing if it feels that way,and they usually dotn start out in first gear unless you putt it down into first or have foot barried to the floor right off the line. sounds like the car is solid to me.

nice. I'm really lucky actually that i know this cars been taken good care of its whole one-owner life.. and the fact that the owner(s) have known me since before I was born should help the pricing thing :nod:

phils got it right on the money.. my benz shifts hard and thats got 192k on stock trans. the guts are different then most other automatics you would find. also like hes sayin they dont start in 1st but if they do 1st 2nd shift willll be hard and my car normally shifts 2nd 3rd pretty hard into 4th isnt to bad. as far as things to look out for on the 190e. blown headgaskets are very common, i didnt read your whole post so that may have been changed already. if not dont think your to much in the clear with the amount of miles and the age of the car.

ps. like what was said before.. the control arm bushings do go bad in the rear.. replace if you feel wiggling.. my cars went out.. anyways dont let this steer you away from the car. they are rather inexpensive i think i paid about 25 bucks per arm. this was stamped steel arm with bushings and also bolts.

:jake: i wanna see your corrado /:jake:

Here's a pic.....

[/hijack]

- Justin