Standing for 10 years

[OldMerc]

Hi All, my dad died recently and left me his Mercedes E200 1996 Petrol Auto (78,000 miles). Problem is that he has not used it for 10 years and it has been left un-started in a garage. It seems in good nick but would need a bit of paintwork. My main concern is that it will cost a few hundred to get it on the road and I am not sure it's retail value would match the outlay. It is such a shame to scrap it as it's a lovely drive. Any suggestions or experience with this would be great.
Thanks, Carl

 

[SmartAmg]

Welcome, Carl, sorry to hear about your Dad.

 

[SL63 Mark]

Hi Carl, Once you know what is wrong with the car you can work out what it will cost to fix. Then you can make a decision about whether to put it back on the road. It will need taxing, insuring and MOT. To find out, I would contact a reputable local Mercedes Independent Specialist near you. They can check it over and advise what the issues are. Sounds like there are already bodywork issues. If these are rust related, then yes, it may cost more to put it back on the road than it is worth. It depends on the sentimental value to you what course you take.

Hope that helps

 

[Craiglxviii]

Hello and welcome. Sorry to hear about your Dad.

A quick look on Autotrader shows your car to be worth about £1k if in rather tatty condition, upto £4K if immaculate.

 

[A.J.]

Hi and welcome to the forum All good that car is probably worth circa £4,000/£5,000 at a guess. Along with the bodywork the engine will likely to need re-commissioning and you would need to know what it is like underneath. Next is the roadworthiness of the car, it would want a pre-MOT inspection to give you a clear picture of what in money terms it would need to get it back on the road. It sounds like it is going to be a marginal exercise. It would seem that the issue here might be it's sentimental value to you. Hope this helps.

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

The big issues will be engine service and brakes with the possibilty of new discs, pads and calipers all round the brake master cylinder may also need replacing so all in all quite an outlay but the car is 25 years old. Might be better to let it go as is unless you want to use it. At least that way someone in the know will probably save money by doing the work themselves

 

[alexanderfoti]

Yes, as above. I think the best thing to do will be:

Turn the engine over by hand, to free it up
Drain the old oil and fill it with something new
drain the fuel tank and dispose of the old horrible fuel
flush the brake system out completely with new fluid

That should get it into a driveable state, then the tyres will need attention, but probably enough to get it going.

I would have thought the above would cost £2-300 plus the cost of tyres and recovery so definitely do able I would have thought?

 

[S500 Pete]

After 10 years hoses could be dodgy as well.

 

[EmilysDad]

Give Derek a bell ....

he'll sort it

 

[davemercedes]

Hi Carl

Given some TLC an E200 of that period could still become quit a desirable car for somebody. If you just want to get rid you can put it on the Bay and get next to nothing for it. But the advice given above is the best route to follow -i.e. get it to an Indy ((independent) to be checked over - and for budgeting follow the three column idea: i.e. Essential, Desirable and Nice to har (And it’s worth including Nice to Have because when you’ve got the first two in progress it could actually be a cheap thing to finish it off that will make the car attractive.

You haven’t put up your location - if you add it someone will be able to recommend an Indy nearby to help you without breaking the (YOUR) bank! Whatever you do, avoid “ordinary” garages who can far too easily lead you down a “try this/try that” route when anything problematic is found and that can cost YOU a fortune!

But we do have some highly experienced and caring specialists and one of them will be able to help at reasonable cost!

Do keep us posted and with luck your dad’s car will live again as somebody’s pride and joy. Best of luck!

 

[grahamcol]

Hi and welcome. Some great advice on this thread. Yes please do let us know how this goes.

 

[Deadeye-Detailing]

Hello Mark. Firstly condolences cor your loss. Where are you located? I mkght be interested if you want to off load it

 

[LostKiwi]

You'll need an oil and filter change, drain the fuel and replace fuel filter, new brake fluid as a minimum. Parking brake may be seized on if left with parking brake on.
That will get it to a basic movable state.
Alex says wind the engine over by hand (if it's a manual rock the car back and forth in gear) ideally do at least two full turns of the crankshaft. Only after that do you want to try starting.
Battery will almost certainly be dead as well.
From there it will depend on the results of what's deteriorated. Brake discs are likely rusted and you may have stuck calipers.
Aircon will almost certainly need regassing and the compressor seals may have dried out and be leaking.
Tyres will be beyond their best.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

 

[mioba]

drain, coolant, flush system coolant flush, replace with new, its easy on the w124, red plug at bottom of rad, get a new plug, check coolant circiut for obv signs of leaks (white deposits).

Get genuine parts and ask for discount at the dealer. W124s are one of the best engineered mercs from top to bottom.

If you are handy, most of the jobs can be done yourself and will be very rewarding.

Nice little project there and you will happy once all done, keep us updated!

 

[LostKiwi]

drain, coolant, flush system coolant flush, replace with new, its easy on the w124, red plug at bottom of rad, get a new plug, check coolant circiut for obv signs of leaks (white deposits).

Get genuine parts and ask for discount at the dealer. W124s are one of the best engineered mercs from top to bottom.

If you are handy, most of the jobs can be done yourself and will be very rewarding.

Nice little project there and you will happy once all done, keep us updated!

Could be a 210 at that age too.

 

[OldMerc]

Thanks to everyone from the above discussion - really interesting and positive points - thanks for condolence too.
I am still weighing up the options and am tempted to try and get this back on the road.
I am from the Wirral - Liverpool area. Thanks again - great community.

 

[bembo449]

was the garage nice and dry ?