Picking up a W210 this evening, is this anything to worry about?

[mj2k]

I'm picking up a nice, rusty-but-still-MOT'd W210 300dt this evening, on 172k. I'll be driving it back about 200 miles so I should get a good idea if there's anything serious wrong mechanically, but I just got the below info from the seller:

"1 - oil weep from oil filler cap on rocker cover - I think the cork gasket underneath the cap wants replacing

2 - slight 'drone' noise from rear offside indicating a rear wheel bearing on the way out."

I'm not too bothered about No 2 (unless the wheel falls off) - that sounds easy enough, if a little time-consuming; I've got a 1 ton press at home.

No 1 concerns me a bit more though; could that be the gasket like the seller says, a blocked EGR, or excessive blowby? I wouldn't have expected too much blowby on an OM606 with just 172k unless it was seriously neglected or damaged, so I hope it's not that.

 

[BlackC55]

1. Replace teh cap. They are common to leak. Its a rubber seal.
2. Wheel bearings are great fun on a 210. The last one we did was a nighmare. The drive shaft seized in and we could not budge it. Ended up having a new hub and shaft....

Check for rust where the spare wheel sits. They often rust very badly there. Check for fuel leaks. Check suspension bushes and front crossmember. Make sure its had gearbox oil and filter changes too.

 

[mj2k]

Thanks, v useful advice

I'm relieved the filler cap's nothing to worry about, and I'll make sure I check the spare wheel well asap. With a bit of luck the good well out of the W124 I'm just about to dispose of may fit, so may only need to do a little light welding to fix that

 

[David404]

Hope the drive went well and you enjoyed it.

 

[mj2k]

Hope the drive went well and you enjoyed it.

Yeah, it was excellent, I did 260 miles on the way back (arrived home at 4AM!) and another 40 today and it hasn't missed a beat

I'm starting to love it already - it has that W124 'feel' unlike later Mercs, but has more power and nice, precise steering, so it doesn't seem quite so ponderous. Also I love the effortless way it changes gear, it sort of 'wafts' when it accelerates, without any noticeable gear changes. Which in a way makes it kindof dangerous - I quite often found myself exceeding the speed limit without even realizing, so made lots of use of the cruise control down the M4 and round the M25.

And of course I really like the looks, the MBTex interior is great, and there are some nice modern electronic touches which will be fantastic if I can get all of them working.

But of course it's cosmetically a mess as expected - the n/s/f wing and door have lacquer peel and dead paint besides the rust patches, and there are numerous other areas of failing paintwork. Oh, and it needs new bumpers front and rear, and I need to try and panel beat out a dent on the o/s/r wheelarch. However it's never failed an MOT on rust or had any advisories, which is a good sign