buying advice

[Anoetic]

i have been looking at buying a E320 W124 M reg with 110000 miles on the clock. what potential problem areas should i look out for when inspecting the car

thanks

 

[mjtray]

1) Head Gasket.....is it leaking from the offside rear?...is the car loosing coolant or does it have contaminated coolant, ie oil in the expansion tank. It's the major weak point on these cars and they usualy gives out at, you guessed it at @ 110,000 miles +......@ £1000 to replace. Most people then get the valve stem seals replaced at the same time. Once done, you will get another 110k miles +. Bottom ends on these engines are bullet proof.

All in all these cars can rack up huge mileages and still feel fresh. If you check out some for the US forum's its not unusual to see cars with 300k+ miles on them and still going strong......at the end of the day a million taxi drivers can't be wrong!!!!!!!!!

The W124 were considered to be the last of the over engineered Merc's.

2) Over Voltage Protection relay. Had a design fault from new. If its packing up it will show up with lots of electrical engine problems. Just replaced it on mine, as the car was cutting out intermittently and now its fine...cost £47.00

3) Does the car idle with a rock steady idle....if not get it checked out. Could be simple or very expensive. Does it pull cleanly, with no stutters etc when accelerating

4) Then check the usuals, service history....if its not complete or had missed services or very late services......consider looking elsewhere.

Is the auto gearbox working correctly...ie smoooooth shifts. The four speed box is stronger than the 5 speed.

There should be no nasty noises etc etc.

If you decide to buy, enjoy it, they really are great cars. I traded down from a 2001 E220 and can honestly say that I think the W124 is a better built car.

Cheers

 

[Anoetic]

thanks for the info