I have returned... AND I have another wagon!

... But perhaps not the wagon you where expecting out of this Oldsmobile lover... Nope, not at all...






It's a 1994 Mercedes Benz E320 "Estate" car, 3.2 L6, 153k miles, has a few electrical issues, like the blower fan won't turn off, the power mirror switch is broken, and the oil pressure gauge doesn't work. Runs great, drives great, rides great, handles great. Traded my 1985 Dodge D100 for it, because I need something I can drive while I fix my 1977 Oldsmobile Delta 88 (The project).

So yeah, I have a wagon, it's quite luxurious, it had a sticker price of just over $50,000 new, it has power seats, power telescoping steering wheel, cruise control, AM/FM/CD player, power mirrors, power windows, power locks, heated rear window, rear window wiper, headlight wipers / washers, sunroof (No glass, just a hole in the roof that opens to the sky), grey leather interior, alloy wheels, few other goodies I can't remember. Oh, it has the third row seat also.

Power antenna doesn't work, it's stuck up, front turn signals have a bit of water in them, blower fan is stuck on and sounds like it needs repair, blower fan switches are not functional and the auto switch flies off when it toggles. Power mirror switch is broken (Guy who test drove it before the man whom I bought it from broke it), has decent tires, oil pressure gauge does whatever it wants, and it has a few cosmetic defects, may need a windshield, there is a crack on the lower pass side corner.

So yeah, I'm baaaaack!

EDIT: For those of you familiar with the W124 chassis, the idle control wiring has been replaced, along with another part of the harness that is problematic, it idles dead on 600 and some RPM's in drive, supposed to be 667, but it's not an accurate enough gauge to tell.

 

Welcome back. That's a nice looking station wagon. All problems that can be sorted out and fixed. I'd be adding a blower switch until you can figure that out and get some sort of oil pressure gauge.

 

I know a guy who knows these things inside and out, nothing seemed strange with the car, so I figured I'd take a gamble and do the trade. I'm going out now to yank the fuse for the blower until I can have it looked over, also going to do a more in depth look over the car, might get some more pics.

Also, thanks, it's in pretty good shape, two tone was added by someone, it's pretty good but a little sloppy, good enough though. My only complaint is that the beautiful sounding L6 can't speak. So, I'll have a local exhaust shop fix that when I have the car looked over and figure out how much I'm gonna have to spend on it.

 

Welcome home.

I bet that drives like a dream.

 

Oh yeah, I had it up on the interstate, 60MPH speed limit, looked down, 82MPH. OOPS!

Gonna get it registered tomorrow, at least they can skew me with a $75+ sales tax, 'cause, I traded for it. So it shouldn't cost me more than $60 to tag and title it.

Found out someone swapped in some Pyle 3.5" speakers in the dash, should be 4" speakers, right one was rattling, tightened it's one screw and it's good for now. I'll get something nicer later on, for now they'll do.

 

Got a quick video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6wy0fRWUbI

Think I forgot to mention the electronic telescoping steering wheel, and the fact that the car weighs 4,900lbs. Man this thing is a lead sled.

 

Congrats

Congrats! :2_thumbs_up_-_anima
I always liked that vintage of MB.

 

Wow, a really solid and dependable car!! That's why we bought one as well! Congratulations....anbd welcome back to wagoneering!

 

Thanks, and yeah it has a look about it, it has just enough lines to make it stylish, but not audacious. I found something else broken, the hazard light switch. Oh well, I can fix that, I think.

Thanks, I hope it is, we'll see. I don't know much about 'em, but it rides soooo smoooooooooth... I think I ran over a Mazda earlier, dunno, could have been a pot hole.

Unfortunately Virginia does not accept "Trade" as a valid form of exchange on automobiles, so they valued it at the $800 I paid for my truck, so, $75 tax, $10 heavy vehicle tax, and $2 for the plate transfer. It weighs 4,900lbs.

 

Always thought a moderately-used Mercedes wagon was a heck of a deal. The wagons don't seem to hold resale value near as well as the sedans, making them a pretty good deal.

 

Exactly, had a friend of mine look at it tonight, we're going to plug it into an old OBD scan tool he has, but he confirmed my suspicions with the oil pressure gauge. Which is the sending unit being exactly what you expect a 20 year old sending unit from Das Vaterland to be... Broken...


It's got a few broken switches, keep finding 'em, so far, hazard lights don't work, fog lights won't stay on 'cause the knob for the headlight pulls out, but the latch is broken, blower fan is stuck on high, therefor, off entirely 'cause I pulled the fuse. Uh.. Power mirror switch is broken, couple interior panels are on the verge of coming off, tail lights are somewhat rough, turn signals have moisture in them. Pass side headrest doesn't adjust, rear view mirror power switch is broken, radio antenna is stuck up. It's a 20 year old Mercedes, I'm amazed it's in this nice of shape. The inside of the engine is CLEAN though. Runs like a top, can move pretty good for a lead sled, shifts good, has a bit of fun intake noise, should mesh well with a decent set of mufflers.


Think that's it really, apart from that, get some decent tires for it, have a local exhaust shop knock off the muffler and resonator (It's two pipes into the cat, two pipes out, two into the muffler, one out, one into the resonator) and get dual mufflers put on it. Maybe some turbo mufflers, they don't resonate much but they sound really good.


Oh I also need to replace the dashboard speakers, someone swapped the stock 4" speakers for 3.5" Pyle speakers (Who puts wal-mart speakers in a damn Mercedes?), but I think I've mentioned most of this. I don't know, it's 1:30AM, I've been up since 8AM, worked 7 hours, lost another portion of my sanity to the DMV for an hour, I'm ready for sleep.

 

Speaking of DMV. Bring that thing down to Florida or a few other states and tranfer your title and tag. You'll loose a lot more than sleep.
From the sound of broken things the owner must have been a Sumu wrestler.

 

Nah, guy who test drove it before the previous owner broke some things, he was chased off the lot by three of the car dealers when they realized how many things he'd broken. I wonder if the Benny Hill theme was used when he was chased off the lot?

But yeah, it's originally a Florida car, not sure how it made it's way up here, but we do have a lot of snowbirds here. I'd wager the majority of the miles where put on it going from VA to FL. Oh, the original owners name was Cassius Peacock, I found that in the warranty book. I'm still laughing at that name.

 

Just thought I'd update this, put 580 miles on the car since I got it, so far so great, averaging about 24MPG, and I tend to drive a bit spirited, even though people have often told me that may make me a spirit.

Found a few more things wrong, front strut upper bushings will soon need to be replaced, valve cover gasket leaks a little, I will replace that when I change the oil in about 2-3k miles, still clean for now. Transmission fluid needs to be changed, could use a serpentine belt but it's fine for now. Has a small transmission leak at the cooler line under the alternator. I will replace the line or gasket or whatever is causing the leak when my friend changes the fluid. I hope the fluid bath hasn't damaged the alternator, it's not cheap. Belt tensioner thing composing of pistons is bad, makes it idle like a diesel, when it gets really bad I'll replace it. Oil pressure sending unit and wiring is bad, will need to fix both. Uh... I think that's it apart from the blower motor going out on me, and the regulator being bad. I bought another, but cannot afford the resistor now so I'm going to wire it when the switch is on, it's on until I can afford the blower at a later date.

Put some highway and some town miles on it, smooth and docile in town unless you romp on it, great out on the highway, fun on the twisty back roads, could use tires, great sound now that I cut the resonator off. All in all, I don't miss the Dodge, not at all.

Oh, stink bugs where plugging the drain tube in the fuel filler compartment, about ten of 'em, I blasted 'em out with a pressure washer and saw 'em coming out from under the quarter trim, I think they where all previously fumed to death. Those damned things are VERY annoying, can't buy air filters without the mesh on it or they'll nest in the damn filter. Does anyone else despise those invasive abominations more than me? I mean, they're interesting creatures, but they crawl into everything!

 

Welcome Back!
Looks like you are n another tax bracket with that beauty.
Good luck.:2_thumbs_up_-_anima