Hi,
I paid £3500 for this car, but is the 500SE, NOT the SEC. These command much higher prices. On reflection, and considering the amount of rust I have found on it since, it was too much. I wuld say £3000 would have been more like it, as I would have had a greater margin to attend to the bodywork. I'm still happy with it.
Buy absolutely the best one you can even if it means paying more and pay particular attention to the bodywork. They DO rust!
Al
Al;
>
> I am looking for a 1990 or 1991 500 SEC in excellent condition with > 70K-100K mile.
>
> Since, you just purchased. I thought, I might ask what reasonable > purchase
> price?
>
> Thanks,
> Bill
>
> Al Bolt> >
> > Well, I have managed to rectify some of the problems with this car, and
> > thought I'd post what I did for general interest:
> >
> > 1) Steering play has been reduced significantly by the fitting of a new
> > idler arm and adjusting the steering box. A new steering damper was also
> > fitted as the old one had lost its oil-total cost was only £90 ($130)
> > including labour. Result - a MUCH better ride with a responsive car and no
> > more unpleasant feeling that the car was going to veer off the road! > >
> > 2) Partially resolved the misfire. Last night, the car was only firing on 6
> > or 7 cylinders after I had checked the distributor cap and ignition leads. I
> > assume that one of the leads had an internal break which was open until the
> > lead had warmed up when it started to conduct again and my examination had
> > permanently broken the lead. I replaced the leads this morning (a LONG job!)
> > and the car has stopped misfiring and is running nicely. However, the
> > distributor cap screws are seized solid, so I cannot remove it to replace
> > the cap and rotor. It looks like the cap may be the original, the ignition
> > leads certainly were! I'm sure it will run better with a new cap and rotor.
> >
> > 3) Cruise control is working again but the switch is faulty. If you know
> > just where to press it, it works. I have ordered a new one.
> >
> > I notice that the interior is rather ratlly, far more so than my 124, and I
> > will be spending some time sorting this out as t really detracts from the
> > otherrwise sm,ooth and silent progress of the car.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Al Bolton, G4VSQ
> > 1990 Mercedes 500SE 127, 000 miles
> >
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>
> > > Well it had to happen...the Mercedes bug has bitten deep again and I have
> > > bought another car here in the UK, so my 1988 260E is up for sale. > > >
> > > The new car is a 1990 W126 500SE, in smoke silver with a mushroom leather
> > > interior and it looks great. It has 127, 000 miles but only a partial
> > > service history (which normally would put me off but the price was good
> > and
> > > the car drove quite well.) It has an electric rear blind (working),
> > > orthopaedic seats (they seem to work but make only very, very slight
> > > difference), air con (working, quite cold and it was hot today!), electric
> > > seats (all working), and lots of other gadgets which all work. > > >
> > > Problems with the car are:
> > >
> > > 1) Play in the steering. Over 1 inch with the wheel straight ahead, just
> > > outside spec I believe. The car is fine in a straight line but feels odd
> > > when moving quickly to the right (especially). This is almost worrying at
> > > times since it feels as if it is going to go where it wants and not where
> > I
> > > need it to go! I will have the steering box checked and maybe adjusted > > next
> > > week but suspect something else is worn as these are heavy cars and > > steering
> > > parts certainly will wear.
> > >
> > > 2) Misfire. A new fault. The car seemed to run well during the 120 mile
> > > journey home from where I bought it. But on restarting this evening (on a
> > > very hot day - 95F in England!) it missed for about 1 mile before > > smoothing
> > > out. I had a similar problem with my 260E and replacing all the injectors
> > > cured the fault. However, I think this car is in dire need of some > > extensive
> > > TLC rather than the normal "services" it has been subjected to, so I will
> > > replace the distributor cap, rotor arm and ignition leads as a starter and
> > > will go from there. This should eliminate a simple ignition problem. Any
> > > further misfire will require some deeper investigation. I noticed that the
> > > car achieved an idle CO reading of just 0.20 % for its safety/emission > > test.
> > > This seems very low - I don't have any service manuals yet, so can someone
> > > confirm this is not the cause of my problem - what should the idle CO be?
> > >
> > > 3) Cruise control. Sometimes it works (like it did for 50 miles earlier
> > > today) and then it doesn't work at all. My cruise in my 124 works > > perfectly,
> > > so I was hoping this would too although I know they can be
problematic. I
> > expect that this could be a bad switch/bad connector/oxidation problem
> > > (well, always best to start optimistic and easy!) I have repaired a cruise
> > > control module by simply resoldering a couple of bad joints in the past
> > and
> > > I was surprised by the poor quality soldering in the MB control unit. > > >
> > > Any comments, words of encouragement, advice gratefully received. I'm
> > > interested in hooking up with any W126 owners as well.
> > >
> > > Al Bolton, G4VSQ
> > >
> > > 1990 Mercedes 500SE 127,000 miles
> > >
> > > 1988 Mercedes 260E 160,000 miles (FOR SALE!)
> > >
> > >
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> >
> > >