W140/C140 500C?
Discussion
What age is it?
Pre-1996 (badged S500) suffered badly from degraded wiring looms and galvanic corrosion in the air conditioning condenser.
Post-1996 (badged CL500) models suffered from increased risk of corrosion on the bodywork.
Leaking oil guide valves can cause a ticking noise. Not urgent to deal with, but needs doing eventually.
Other things to watch out for are the normal wear and tear on a very heavy 20 year old car - suspension, steering, bushes, noisy diffs etc.
However, on the whole, they are pretty solid, very well built, and should give you years of reliable service.
Pre-1996 (badged S500) suffered badly from degraded wiring looms and galvanic corrosion in the air conditioning condenser.
Post-1996 (badged CL500) models suffered from increased risk of corrosion on the bodywork.
Leaking oil guide valves can cause a ticking noise. Not urgent to deal with, but needs doing eventually.
Other things to watch out for are the normal wear and tear on a very heavy 20 year old car - suspension, steering, bushes, noisy diffs etc.
However, on the whole, they are pretty solid, very well built, and should give you years of reliable service.
Dominicc01 said:
What age is it?
Pre-1996 (badged S500) suffered badly from degraded wiring looms and galvanic corrosion in the air conditioning condenser.
Post-1996 (badged CL500) models suffered from increased risk of corrosion on the bodywork.
Leaking oil guide valves can cause a ticking noise. Not urgent to deal with, but needs doing eventually.
Other things to watch out for are the normal wear and tear on a very heavy 20 year old car - suspension, steering, bushes, noisy diffs etc.
However, on the whole, they are pretty solid, very well built, and should give you years of reliable service.
Believe its a 94 LPre-1996 (badged S500) suffered badly from degraded wiring looms and galvanic corrosion in the air conditioning condenser.
Post-1996 (badged CL500) models suffered from increased risk of corrosion on the bodywork.
Leaking oil guide valves can cause a ticking noise. Not urgent to deal with, but needs doing eventually.
Other things to watch out for are the normal wear and tear on a very heavy 20 year old car - suspension, steering, bushes, noisy diffs etc.
However, on the whole, they are pretty solid, very well built, and should give you years of reliable service.
Funnily enough, the air con doesnt work..
I take it that the wiring loom issues mean that there could be many issues/odd running problems?
Thanks for the info!
320touring said:
Believe its a 94 L
Funnily enough, the air con doesnt work..
I take it that the wiring loom issues mean that there could be many issues/odd running problems?
Thanks for the info!
Wiring loom may well have been sorted by now - if everything works OK, then there should be no problem.Funnily enough, the air con doesnt work..
I take it that the wiring loom issues mean that there could be many issues/odd running problems?
Thanks for the info!
Fixing the air con condenser is a £3k job.
The condenser shouldn't be that expensive: it's just a radiator at the front. £500 if you use an aftermarket part. The evaporator is another matter: that requires the dash out. But it is not at all common in our climate. It's the 124 which has more common evaporator problems.
These things are a bargain but they also suffer gross neglect. If everything or most things work then it should be OK for peanuts money. But fixing a long list of stuff will costs much more than the initial outlay.
These things are a bargain but they also suffer gross neglect. If everything or most things work then it should be OK for peanuts money. But fixing a long list of stuff will costs much more than the initial outlay.
Sorry - I was getting confused between the condenser and the evaporator. The evaporator issue is a major and very common problem on earlier 140s. It requires taking all the dash out, and is a hugely laborious and time consuming job even if done by someone familiar with the problem (which, given the relative rarity of these cars, isn't everyone).
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