Yes, it's time to move the Mercedes on. I love this car, but going forward, I'd like to go back to something that drinks gas instead of diesel. Price? $4500 or best offer. I love to haggle. Trades? Hit me with your best shot, especially if it's a P71. I have a problem.
Anyway, the Mercedes:
It's covered 116,050 miles thus far and has always been a Florida car. It's driven daily and receives frequent washes. It's been to Tallahassee, Tampa and Ohio this summer without so much as a hiccup—well, aside from needing to change the inline fuel filter. It has received oil changes every 5000 miles with Liqui-Moly synthetic 15W40 and a proper Mann/Mahle filter.
It has Cocomats, European headlamps, and a custom, all-aluminum radiator, but other than those items, it's stock.
This is not an air/hydraulic suspension car, just good old fashioned shocks and springs. (Comes with new Sachs shocks, too!) I would not hesitate to drive this car to Alaska and back. Seriously. I always keep spare inline fuel filters on hand for insurance.
What works: The A/C. It's COLD and has no issues in the Florida heat.
The headlamp wipers. They operate when you clean the windshield with the headlamps on.
The sunroof opens and tilts for maximum '80s style.
All electric seat controls. (including headrests!)
Windows. All four go up and down at a speed befitting a Mercedes S Class.
The cassette deck. It's the stock Becker.
Cruise control. Up to set and accelerate, down to decelerate, away from you to cancel, and towards you to resume.
The clock. Though setting it can be finicky, once it's set, it keeps time well. It's lost about a minute in four months.
The ABS works. All gauges and warning lights illuminate.
Pretty much everything else, except for:
What doesn't work:
The electric antenna. The motor works, but the gear is stripped. Common problem. I have a spare if you absolutely must listen to local radio. You can help it up, but wait no you can't, I accidentally left it up through a car wash. Whoops. I have a replacement.
The passenger mirror control. No idea why it's inop. It could be dirty contacts.
The blend doors for the HVAC. This is a common foible with older Mercedes, but it's more of a nuisance than an issue. Instead of blowing air where you direct it, it blows out of all vents all the time. The nuisance? It can fog up (not completely, just spots) the front window when the A/C is running and it's a muggy night. I promise you it'll have zero issues cooling down the cabin. Heat works too if you're odd like that and prefer heat.
The rear door vacuum plungers. They'll unlock the doors maybe 10% of the time. Simple fix, you just have to remove the door cards and replace the plungers. The vacuum locks on the trunk and fuel door work just fine, as do the two front doors.
It has a slight clunk in the front end on the passenger side. I'm about 96.7% sure it's a sway bar end link. It does not affect the handling, I promise. How do I know? I've driven it at speed on the banks of Daytona. Seriously. It handled the bus stop with ease, too. (Photo proof!)
The driver's seat has some wear on the left bolster (surprise!) and the rear left speaker cover is cracked. Blame 32 years in the Florida sun for that.
Oddities:
The transmission shift points are set pretty firm at the moment. It's said to help prolong the life of the transmission (a lot of these Mercedes transmissions get misdiagnosed as bad when it's just an issue of adjusting the vacuum) but it can be readjusted via three different points on the vehicle.
Throttle pedals on older Mercedes (gas or diesel) are HEAVY. It takes some getting used to, and it doesn't help that the transmission starts off in second gear. If you tip in past a certain point it will downshift into first after starting off, but as a rule, you have to be pretty intentional with a Mercedes throttle pedal.
The ALDA cap has never been destroyed/altered.
It's had a repaint at some point in its life by its original owner. I'm the 3rd owner. Tom was the 2nd.
