G4VSQ
Active Member
Hello all, this is my first post!
I am very interested in buying a used Mercedes 260E saloon. It's "D" reg, 1987, and has covered 138,000 miles. The price is good (under £2000). The car looks really good in a grey/silver metallic colour with a rather dull blue cloth interior-it's an automatic by the way.
Now the question is...is it a worthwhile buy? The mileage seems very high, although there have only been two previous owners. The first owner kept the car for 12 years and had it serviced at a main dealer regularly up to around the 100, 000 mile mark. The second owner seems to have changed the oil a couple of times (marked in the service book) and not much else.
The car has just passed the MoT, although I did notice that the rear discs juddered when braking at speed, and inspection proved they were ridged-these will be replaced.
The bodywork is really nice except for about 4 small rust blisters-one each on the rear doors where the end of the window sealing strip meets the door. There's also a small one on the roof by the sunroof edge and one on the lower part of the wheel arch. None are bigger than a 10p piece. How much would it cost to repair these? There are more blisters under the bonnet, but I'm sure I can repair these.
The car seems to run quite well, although it was a bit less than perfect to start. The engine block and just underneath the engine in the engine bay is rather oily-not terrible but there does seem to be oil staining form the front top of the engine. However, the coolant seems clean with no trace of oil in it. The engine sounds quite quiet for its mileage. There is no air-con luckily!
The steering felt a bit slack, though nothing terrible. I did notice that when you are stationary there is no or liitle play in the steering when the wheels are straight ahead but when you turn the wheels to left or right lock then there feels like an inch or so play in the steering-is this normal or horrendous? Surely any fault would have been picked up in the MoT, unless it was dodgy!
There didn't appear to be any clicks or droning sounds or knocks from anywhere when I drove the car.
Finally, I revved the engine to check for blue smoke from the exhausts-there wasn't any but I did hear the odd pop in the exhaust-does this mean the fuel injection is set too lean or is it an air leak into the exhaust? The exhaust was relaced at the end of last year by the M-B dealer.
I would be very VERY pleased for any advice you can offer-please excuse the length of this posting but I'm very concerned that I don't buy a complete load of old rubbish-I love the looks of the car and have wanted a Mercedes since I was a lad, so this could be my chance!
Thanks, Al
I am very interested in buying a used Mercedes 260E saloon. It's "D" reg, 1987, and has covered 138,000 miles. The price is good (under £2000). The car looks really good in a grey/silver metallic colour with a rather dull blue cloth interior-it's an automatic by the way.
Now the question is...is it a worthwhile buy? The mileage seems very high, although there have only been two previous owners. The first owner kept the car for 12 years and had it serviced at a main dealer regularly up to around the 100, 000 mile mark. The second owner seems to have changed the oil a couple of times (marked in the service book) and not much else.
The car has just passed the MoT, although I did notice that the rear discs juddered when braking at speed, and inspection proved they were ridged-these will be replaced.
The bodywork is really nice except for about 4 small rust blisters-one each on the rear doors where the end of the window sealing strip meets the door. There's also a small one on the roof by the sunroof edge and one on the lower part of the wheel arch. None are bigger than a 10p piece. How much would it cost to repair these? There are more blisters under the bonnet, but I'm sure I can repair these.
The car seems to run quite well, although it was a bit less than perfect to start. The engine block and just underneath the engine in the engine bay is rather oily-not terrible but there does seem to be oil staining form the front top of the engine. However, the coolant seems clean with no trace of oil in it. The engine sounds quite quiet for its mileage. There is no air-con luckily!
The steering felt a bit slack, though nothing terrible. I did notice that when you are stationary there is no or liitle play in the steering when the wheels are straight ahead but when you turn the wheels to left or right lock then there feels like an inch or so play in the steering-is this normal or horrendous? Surely any fault would have been picked up in the MoT, unless it was dodgy!
There didn't appear to be any clicks or droning sounds or knocks from anywhere when I drove the car.
Finally, I revved the engine to check for blue smoke from the exhausts-there wasn't any but I did hear the odd pop in the exhaust-does this mean the fuel injection is set too lean or is it an air leak into the exhaust? The exhaust was relaced at the end of last year by the M-B dealer.
I would be very VERY pleased for any advice you can offer-please excuse the length of this posting but I'm very concerned that I don't buy a complete load of old rubbish-I love the looks of the car and have wanted a Mercedes since I was a lad, so this could be my chance!
Thanks, Al
