S600 Sel

[mattsurf]

I have seen an S600 SEL on ebay - I know that I must be mad, but given the fuel costs at the moment, I think that it may be a bargain.... or will it be a nightmare.

What is a realistic price for an 1992 S600? I was thinking sub £2000

According to the description the Auto closing doors do not work, and the sunroof does not work - is the door issue a problem or can they work like normal doors.

I vaguely remember that the S600 has the same wiring loom issue as the 320 and 280 - is this the case.

Is the 6 litre engine reliable, are there many known issues

Matt

 

[stumpy]

Expect the worst and you won't be disappointed. I would be able to live with the door and roof issue, but the engine would keep me up at night. It has the same issues as the straight six engines of that time, but X2. The suspension could be an issue too. With the 140s a fully loaded S500 is the better bet.

 

[Setanta]

I would not touch it - better to get an S500 (I just sold my S500 coupe a few days ago)

Check EVERYTHING on the car and if it has no history, walk away - they will munch threw money if you get a bad one but get a good one and you can rest easy and enjoy the hilarity of a piloting a supertanker with a vicious rate of knots

EDIT:
Oh, you will feel the pinch at the bowser - 100 litre fuel tank!

 

[jibcl500]

Great car if you know how to fix them, very expensive if you dont, engine loom £500 common failure.

I was after the 600 but decided on the 500 as its more reliable.

jib

 

[Roccoaster]

Are the W140s really that bad ? Is there a thread somewhere with all the common faults ?

 

[television]

Are the W140s really that bad ? Is there a thread somewhere with all the common faults ?

The 140 range of cars are very good, and most owners keep them, like all things, if things are not done as and when the need attention it builds up to a point where the cost of fixing outweighs the value of the car. The cars are beautifully built and nice to drive. A RR of the same year would require a complete rebuild of the rear end of the body, and suspension

 

[stumpy]

The 140 range of cars are very good, and most owners keep them, like all things, if things are not done as and when the need attention it builds up to a point where the cost of fixing outweighs the value of the car. The cars are beautifully built and nice to drive. A RR of the same year would require a complete rebuild of the rear end of the body, and suspension

Tell me about it! Mind you, I hope this one doesn't

 

[Pontoneer]

I had the same thought last year , when fuel prices were at an all time high . I also really liked the looks of the W140 , but when I started to research before buying I found they had a bad reputation for all the 'gadgets' going wrong ; besides that - several people advised me to stay away from the 600 . It is basically two six- cylinder engines joined together , with two distributors etc : twice the potential for things to go wrong and twice the servicing costs at times . Several 140 owners I spoke to ( including one gent who had been through 3 600's ! , before ending up with a 500 ) said the 500 was a better bet .

I also found a general consensus that the W126 series were considered more reliable , certainly much easier to look after if you do your own maintenance . I bought a W126 500SEL a few months ago , have put about seven thousand miles on it and had done nothing but put fuel in it . I don't think the air con is working but with the ambient temperature being so low , it's hard to tell . The pop up wind deflector in the sunroof had a broken hinge - I obtained a hinge from a W124 a friend was breaking but have yet to fit it - I just removed the deflector and don't have a problem with it not being there . Everything else works fine and I'm just about to give the car it's first service , including replacing all the discs & pads as a precautionary measure : if the bleed nipples are free , I'll change the flexible hoses and the fluid too but will leave alone for now if they're siezed .

The car has done 155K and used to belong to a funeral company ( it is 199 Blue/Black ) and is excellent body and paint wise , it came with FMBSH to just beyond 100k and then stamped by a 'local garage' after that , hence it drives as it should too . The leather seats are somewhat 'tired' with the usual broken springs in the driver's seat base , so I'm watching out for a mushroom leather interior from a facelift model .

I'm also about to fit a towbar , and plan to also fit a pair of Monroe 'ride levellers' to cope with the additional load as this car does not have SLS and is prone already to 'sit down' at the back with a heavy load in the boot - sits perfectly level unladen and the springs look recent .

Overall fuel consumption hovers around 20mpg , driven more or less within speed limits , and I have seen 24mpg on a run from Glasgow to Liverpool and back over New Year when temperatures were sub-zero (this could expect better under normal conditions) . Performance isn't bad either : had an 'encounter' with an idiot in a Golf GTI (saw him coming in the mirror , overtaking people right and left and generally cutting everyone up) as soon as I had passed a slower car , as expected , I saw him lurch to the left in an attempt to 'undertake' in the 100m gap before another slower car : however the 500 was more than able to see him off and I doubt that he would have expected an 'elderly barge' to move so quickly . I moved over and let him go after that , as I'm sure he was in a hurry to get to his next accident .

 

[television]

Fair point Derek about silly gadget faults, like the 215 or even my SL 230 they can have many silly faults, but some things are expensive to fix. The 126 is a much more sturdy car, but a bad one is also expensive to fix, or should I say neglected.

 

[jibcl500]

Personally think the W140 is one of the best Mercedes ever made, I love my CL500 and dont think I will part with it any day soon, I find them easy to fix mechanically as brakes, suspension are all pretty much like any other car from the mid 90'2.

The electrics are complex on the W140 but with breakers for the W140 becoming more so parts are eays to find and cheap compared to MB.

If anyone should search mercedes W140 in google they will find plenty of info on the net about the W140 and the chaps in the US seem to like giving huge detail about the fixes they have done.

Great car, buy one but buy the right one theres plenty of W140's that have been owned by the flash with no cash.

jib

 

[Pontoneer]

Very true what you both say about neglected cars . Just because they were very well engineered when new , some people expect them to run forever with no maintenance whatsoever .

Sadly , you do see both W140 and W126 cars for sale at a few hundred pounds and they will fall into the hands of people who can barely afford to put fuel in , never mind look after them .

I looked at several cars before buying the one I have - there is a lot of rubbish out there , fortunately most of the bad cars are easily spotted .

Whilst I wouldn't have a problem with routine mechanical stuff on a W140 ( brakes , oil , filters etc) the cars do seem more complex with the possibility of difficult to diagnose faults ; on the other hand , the 126 is not really any more complex than a W123 , W124 or W201 , all of which I have happily worked on before .

Although I could not afford to have my cars garage serviced , the parts are not any more expensive than for most other cars and I can do all the routine stuff myself . Besides , if I do it myself , I know it has been done right !

 

[Roccoaster]

My Dad had a W126 (that's an older s class right), the 500SEL and it was that car that made him decide he wanted another Merc.

Personally I didn't like the slow throttle response or the springy seat but it looked lovely and was a real motorway cruiser.

 

[shayes]

My Dad had a W126 (that's an older s class right), the 500SEL and it was that car that made him decide he wanted another Merc.

Personally I didn't like the slow throttle response or the springy seat but it looked lovely and was a real motorway cruiser.

At the risk of being thought a cheapskate, a quick fix for non electric Mercedes front seats is to put a square of hardboard into the base of the seat with holes around the edge and inject Gorilla filler into the springs. Firms up the seats as though they were SEC foam seats. (had one of those so I know). When a spring went in my 500SEL I was in agony driving it home from the airport. Had to sit virtually in the door tray to avoid the curving of my spine.
Once done it was like driving a different car.
The throttle response depends if you want to use kickdown. It wasn't slow from memory.

I like my replacement '96 W140 with an extra 70k miles on the clock, though I am grappling with a few hopefully minor problems. There is no comparison as to the feel of quality between the W140 to the '86 SEL - IMHO.

 

[shayes]

W140 Towbar fix

Coming back to this thread. Has anyone fitted a towbar to a W140 series? I don't have any exploded diagrams of the back of the W140 but assume a Witter will be much the same as I fitted to my W126 series which is a straight bar to four holes where the rear bumper fits + and underside part.

A further problem, however, will be the electrics, not so simple as the W126 where extra connections don't create warning signals.

I have read on another forum that I will need a black box and that there is a seperate fuse for the Towing electrics. This "black box" doesn't seem to have a proper name or does it? and what will it cost?

Any help will be appreciated as I have bought a Trailer (cart before the horse !!) and need to fit a Bar, or arrange for its collection.

Thanks

Stuart