Guide price on E320 coupe AMG please

[KLP 92]

My apologies. I thought you were saying it was only worth £4k, not at least £4k.

PJ

I didn't make myself clear! Fellow forum member Bolide only values it at £3k though!

 

[imadoofus]

I didn't make myself clear! Fellow forum member Bolide only values it at £3k though!

That's only because you can't get a wardrobe in the back of it.

 

[KLP 92]

That's only because you can't get a wardrobe in the back of it.

 

[bolide]

That's only because you can't get a wardrobe in the back of it.

Where are my tinsnips? I'll get a wardrobe in the back!

To be fair to everyone the spec & condition of the car wasn't in the original post. But I think condition is more important than spec and the "Buy me" factor is sometimes more important than condition. I didn't value the car, I was playing Devil's advocate, as I said

I'll be interested to see how Coupe values move. I can see Cabrios continuing to hold value but don't know about the Coupes - perhaps it's too early to tell

All I know is that with Mercedes there is a big price gap between a good car and a clunker. Which is exactly as it should be

Does anyone have any figures as to production volumes for W124s? It'd be interesting to know how many saloons, coupes, cabs and estates were produced


Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[imadoofus]

Only approximate figures, I'm afraid. I've not ratified them.

Saloons 2,060,000
Estates 340,000
Coupes 15,000 I don't know if this includes convertibles, but I expect it does.

I saw a 260E coupe outside my hotel the other day (I'm not in the UK - again!)

PJ

 

[Howard]

Didn't know they made a 260 coupe ?

 

[imadoofus]

Me neither.

I wondered if it was just a badge, or a replacement bootlid. The car was on steels with check trim, filthy dirty and otherwise unmodified, so I can't see that the owner would have changed the badge.

From what I could see through the grime, the paint seemed to match too, discounting the new bootlid theory.....

 

[janner]

The coupes will always be worth more than saloons and estates because they're beautiful.
What is the spec from the vin checker?

 

[Pringles]

That is a great looking coupe, very smart.
I thought the look of my 4 door W124 ( which looks like 4 door brother of yours )was the dogs doodahs but the Coupes look fantastic. The wheels are right for the year as well.

 

[Apial]

As all W124 owners know, they do rust around the wheel arches. I doubt you'd find one without rust at a sensible figure. .

My 300CE-24 has not got any rust anywhere- and its a 91. Its still original paintwork and has spent most of its life sat in a dry garage going no where and definately not if the roads are even slightly damp. But you are right KLP92, £3-4K wouldn't tempt me to sell it either.

I would say though that I'd be very keen to see if the head gasket has been replaced, the wiring loom checked for cracked insulation, the back window has not delaminated, the a/c is working, and the auto box operating smoothly. The rust is the least of the potentially expensive worries that might be found.

 

[fnkhan68]

there seems to be quite a bit of discussion on head gaskets of the w124 series. does this apply to certain engines or is it a generic problem, i always thought the w124 engines were bomb proof and provided regular coolant and oil change was done, they would run forever.

forgot to mention, akash's motor is a real stunner and definately does not have the barryish looks. nice one!

 

[Pringles]

The head gaskets tend to need replacing at 100K on the 6 cylinder M104 engines - E280, E320 and E36. This is not cheap but tolerable. The wiring loom also bio degrades around this mileage and needs replacing . In my case the faulty wiring loom damaged the ECU which also needed replacing and unfortunately this was very expensive.

Apart from the above they are fairly bomb proof !

I didn't sell it so it can't have been that bad.

 

[Vlad]

As I understand the replacement head gaskets have a slight re-design that gives them a longer life span than the originals.

Other faults/characteristics of the M104 engine are as follows;

There is another oil leak issue on the M104 engine, albeit a small one, they often leak from the front left hand side of the engine. This is normally the timing cover seal thats a complicated seal that never worked very well from the outset. To replace it costs about £70....thats labour + seal, but its best done by an Indi who has done loads of them as they know exactly how to get a tight fit on the seal.

Another common problem on the M104 engine is the infamous engine surge they can suffer from....especially noticable when the engine is fully warmed up with the car in gear but stationary....the engine starts surging and the car rocks back and forth against the brakes. This is caused by a dirty throttle body, which is rarely cleaned during servicing. The resulting crud that builds up on the butterfly flap in the throttle body creates an air leak which then causes over fuelling/confusion at the ECU.

Lastly, if the engine just dies on you, especially as you decelerate its likely to be the OVP relay, that again had a design fault from new. The internal soldering fails intermittently causing this problem. Another clue to its failure is if you try to start the car before the engine has fully warmed up....it can take ages to get the car to fire. Replacement is a 10 minute job and a new OVP costs @ £60........if your car is still on its original relay it only a matter of time before it fails...gauaranteed. The originals were made in Austria the replacements have made in Hungary on them.

The wiring harness has already been mentioned....to clarify this is effects 93 model year cars through to 95.

Personally the M104 is one of my favourite Mercedes engines...great sound once you pass 4000rpm and far for characterful than the later V6's in my opinion....my favourite Mercedes engine being the M119 5.0 V8

 

[janner]

Also, the headgasket is a common problem. Many W124s have the original gaskets and have never failed. When most people hear headgasket failure they think of oil/water mixing but on the W124s it is normally just a small oil leak from the rear of the engine. An oilway on the gasket runs very close to the edge and this was improved on later gaskets.

That AMG kit looks stunning

 

[30something]

The headgasket on my car was replaced at 50k (by mercedes) so they can go early,.
agreed on the comments for the M104 engine, it really is a lovely powerplant (a supercharger would be nice though!)

I do get the surging problem on mine, but only for a very short 'window' as the car is almost warmed up, cold it's fine, once fully warmed it's fine - any ideas?

 

[fnkhan68]

by the response on this thread it seems like the facelift w124's with the m104 engines had quite a few flaws. if mercedes revised the range logically isnt this supposed to be improved over the old range. me thinks that the m103's were a more durable bet but im sure our colleague bollide is more knowledgable with w124 mechanics.

 

[KLP 92]

Agree the old straight six engine rocked. Bullet proof. The gaskets been changed on aka$h's car, and there i no sign of any oil leakage.

 

[esox]

The M104 engine is the multi-valve right?
Is it only this engine that has the head gasket issue?
Was the older 6-cyl (12v ?) ever fitted to a face lift or are all face lifts fitted with the M104....?

 

[fnkhan68]

the m103's were not fitted to the face lift versions as they were replaced by the m104.

 

[Vlad]

The M103 can also blow its head gasket....mainly from the front of the engine...again down to a design flaw.

The flaws with the M104 engine was down to Mercedes rushing it into production, as they were getting a pasting from BMW at the time who had had the benefit of multivalve 6 cylinders for a much greater period than Mercedes.