Pround owner of my first Mercedes

[Mattty]

Hello everyone.

I'm from Lincolnshire and last Thursday I took a gamble and bought my very first mercedes e320. It was advertised for £995 with only 110000 miles on the clock and full service history. I took a machanic with me, he found numerous things wrong with it. Oil seeping from the turbo, exhaust fumes in the cab, some electrics not working and a few other little jobs. With a bit of haggling i got the car for £570. Not sure if it' a bargain or a money pit but never the less I have a luxery car with all the bells and whistles. The engine is very strong as you would expect from such a low millage example although I'm treating it with kid gloves at the moment so I don't make the turbo issue worse. I'm aware rot is a big thing with these cars. But I have receipts for a full underseal back in 2012 and the boot is solid.

So in my quest to save money and restore this car to its former glory I find myself here. With your help I plan to run this for at least another 80000 miles, I can't see myself ever wanting to replace it.

I have already found many solutions to the problems I have.
Exhaust fumes - seal between cat and turbo
Oil leak - turbo oil seals
Pixel issue - foam mod
Head rest - vacum pipe investigation
Srs bas - random fault - relucta rings, speed sensor. To many to list
So thanks to everyone here for provinding this information already. Great place you have here

 

[brick10]

Hi, welcome to the forum, good luck with the car.

 

[Craiglxviii]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Remember engine size is the key to running costs, you have a 320 so £320 per main repair item!

 

[A.J.]

Hi Mattty, welcome to the forum

 

[John Laidlaw]

Welcome Matty- you can’t go far wrong with that!

 

[davemercedes]

As John says above, looks like you can't go wrong.... Welcome to the forum!

 

[gr1nch]

Hello everyone.

I'm from Lincolnshire and last Thursday I took a gamble and bought my very first mercedes e320. It was advertised for £995 with only 110000 miles on the clock and full service history. I took a machanic with me, he found numerous things wrong with it. Oil seeping from the turbo, exhaust fumes in the cab, some electrics not working and a few other little jobs. With a bit of haggling i got the car for £570. Not sure if it' a bargain or a money pit but never the less I have a luxery car with all the bells and whistles. The engine is very strong as you would expect from such a low millage example although I'm treating it with kid gloves at the moment so I don't make the turbo issue worse. I'm aware rot is a big thing with these cars. But I have receipts for a full underseal back in 2012 and the boot is solid.

So in my quest to save money and restore this car to its former glory I find myself here. With your help I plan to run this for at least another 80000 miles, I can't see myself ever wanting to replace it.

I have already found many solutions to the problems I have.
Exhaust fumes - seal between cat and turbo
Oil leak - turbo oil seals
Pixel issue - foam mod
Head rest - vacum pipe investigation
Srs bas - random fault - relucta rings, speed sensor. To many to list
So thanks to everyone here for provinding this information already. Great place you have here

Welcome Mattty, also from Lincolnshire, in Louth. Great introductory post. All the best with your car, it sounds like it's in good hands.

Sent from my G3112 using Tapatalk

 

[Yugguy]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Remember engine size is the key to running costs, you have a 320 so £320 per main repair item!

Note to self, buy 0.9 Smart.

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

Welcome!

Great car and keep reading and asking they need to be understood to get the best out of them

As a backstop find a good independent for those issues that require experience

Hope it serves you well!

 

[mikestrivens]

A good indie will repay you in spades when you need work doing on it.

 

[Mattty]

Gr

Welcome!

Great car and keep reading and asking they need to be understood to get the best out of them

As a backstop find a good independent for those issues that require experience

Hope it serves you well!

Great news I found an independent garage in Brigg called macleods. I first called the merc dealer in Grimsby. Who wanted 2 hours labour just to investigate the issues I have already investigated @ £85 per hour. Called the guys at Brigg and he said he would look and diagnose for free. He sounded like he knew his stuff, after I explained things to him he gave me even more free advice surgesting the fumes were more likly to be injector seals and the oil near the turbo is more likly to be a spilt pipe. Both things are consistant with the turbo whisle and tapping noises.

Thanks for all the replys and a warm welcome

@gr1nch what car are you running and do you do all your servicing and repairs yourself?

 

[daibevan]

This is the place for all your answers.
Welcome

 

[gr1nch]

Great news I found an independent garage in Brigg called macleods. I first called the merc dealer in Grimsby. Who wanted 2 hours labour just to investigate the issues I have already investigated @ £85 per hour. Called the guys at Brigg and he said he would look and diagnose for free. He sounded like he knew his stuff, after I explained things to him he gave me even more free advice surgesting the fumes were more likly to be injector seals and the oil near the turbo is more likly to be a spilt pipe. Both things are consistant with the turbo whisle and tapping noises.

Thanks for all the replys and a warm welcome

@gr1nch what car are you running and do you do all your servicing and repairs yourself?

@Mattty, I've a silver 2017 S350d, bought from that dealer you mentioned! They replaced a rock-cracked windscreen for me and I got reimbursed from MB insurance eventually, but not had servicing there yet. So unfortunately I've no indie recommendations myself. Hit up HumberMart, as he may have though.


I've enough time on my hands, but neither sadly the skills or equipment to mend the car, which it hasn't needed yet. It's my first new car for a very long time and I was used to doing very basic mechanics on the ones before. Now I'll do surface stuff like always hand washing my car and I'm fitting a dashcam tomorrow intending a professional and discreet job of it.

Good luck with the indiesand and car. Perhaps we should organise a Lincolnshire meetup next year?!



Sent from my G3112 using Tapatalk

 

[A.J.]

From the small amount of feed back on the web the reports seem to be good
https://www.yell.com/biz/macleods-of-brigg-ltd-brigg-1039527/

 

[Mattty]

From the small amount of feed back on the web the reports seem to be good
https://www.yell.com/biz/macleods-of-brigg-ltd-brigg-1039527/

I read that too. I particulary like the fact they gave someone a list of jobs that needed doing to get the car top notch.

I'm going to see them today and I thought about creating a progrees post with images and work carried out and the diffrence it's made.

 

[John Fletcher]

Welcome Mattty...I too am from Lincolnshire (Barrow upon Humber to be exact) and read with interest on the indie at Brigg. To have genuine MB stamps in a service book is only beneficial when selling if it is still under warranty - in my opinion of course.

I've just bought my very first MB, a E350 estate and love it

 

[Mattty]

Just got back from the indie @ Brigg.

Injectors dry and fine

Fumes coming from blocked cat. Cheap fix apparently just knock the insides out and reseal.

Oil on turbo is actually diesel mixed with dirt and soot coming from pipes near the pump. Going to get the pipes done and a new fuel pump just to be sure.

Cars booked in for the 2nd of January so they can go over it with a fine tooth comb. Very helpfull and extremey knowledgeable.

 

[A.J.]

Just got back from the indie @ Brigg.

Injectors dry and fine

Fumes coming from blocked cat. Cheap fix apparently just knock the insides out and reseal.

Oil on turbo is actually diesel mixed with dirt and soot coming from pipes near the pump. Going to get the pipes done and a new fuel pump just to be sure.

Cars booked in for the 2nd of January so they can go over it with a fine tooth comb. Very helpfull and extremey knowledgeable.

And the impressions of Macleods of Brigg ?

 

[Mattty]

And the impressions of Macleods of Brigg ?

first impression is excellent and I'm very confident they will find every little thing that's wrong with the car. It's the little things like while they replace the perished fuel pipes I should get the fuel pump done. I also suspected the car had been lowered but apparently avantgarde is a sporty version and they can be fitted with lots of diffrent size suspension parts. It's this knowledge that your just not going to get at kwik fit. To top it off they had mercedes cars quing up to be fixed and while I was thet they had a c240 complety stripped and resprayed ready to be rebuilt, huge job for any garage

 

[LostKiwi]

Hi and welcome.

For the pixel repair I found the foam mod didn't work at all.
I thoroughly recommend the kits from here. Did mine last year and its been perfect ever since.
http://www.akspeedo.com/mercedes-lcd-pixel-repair-shop.php

I used the non-bonded kit. Ask him nicely and he will supply the tape he uses in the youtube video.