I'm in the process of looking for a 190E. I've seen one that I think is a good one, but am a little concerned about a few things.
On startup from (very) cold the tappets make a noise, but eventually disappears, certainly after getting warm. When warm the tickover is about
700rpm and the oil pressure gauge reads just below 3 (about 1/8" below the 3 marking). The car has done 124,000miles, has a MB service history for half of that, but then serviced by the last owner. He clearly loved the car as it's pristine inside and out with no rust anywhere (I've looked all along the door bottoms, sills, the foldover on the wings, sills etc.). All the electrics work. No accident damage, very straight. A friend who is familiar with driving a W124 says it sounds and feels like a Mercedes and is similar to the 124 but smaller. I'm just a tad concerned about the tappet noise and oil pressure though. Should I be?Also about 5 years back there is a bill from a MB dealer who had the head off and replaced the head gasket (no other work on the head noted, so presumably just a leaking head gasket - why???). Looking in the Oil filler in the cam cover shows a lovely clean engine (duplex chain), with no emulsion of any sort.
On the same bill there was something about the auto box coming out and going back again. No other info, but all this was 5 years ago and the car run beautifully. You'd never know if the paperwork wasn't there. My friend thought the very first change it made on the test drive (it was in Sport mode and very cold outside temp) was a tad slow, but other than that seemed absolutely fine. No clonks from box or rear axle.
Any thoughts?
Thanks very much