annoyed at my w116's

[Maat1985]

i love these cars think they drive and look beautiful but i have a yellow one with a blown head and many other problems..... i bought a green one and am now finding problem after problem aswell..... p/s problem suspension problem and other little things and rust..... there is enough parts to build a good car however this cost thousnad i dont have however atm both cars are undriveable.... green one steers like a barge and yellow one has a blown head gasket..... i just cant afford to keep having problems...... and i would love to keep these cars as together i have spent $8000+ but still have tonnes and tonnes of problems... i could have bought an immaculate condition one for less..... how much more do i have to spend??? i cant afford to do this i have no spare money each week and owe $6000 on my credit card......

[Big_Richard]

I notice that youve updated your signature.

Well, ive got bad news for you - i *have* spent 50k plus on my 5 grand w116 and its still a heap of shit, 50k more and i might be satisfied with it, for a while.

they are 30 year old cars and will have problems regardless of how well they have been maintained.

they are an expensive hobby and unless you are prepared to get your hands dirty and do the work your self they arent ever going to be a sensible choice as a daily driver.

the most sensible choice any one strapped for cash could make, is to buy one of those wedge shaped econo shitboxes as a daily driver and keep the old merc for the weekend.

[Maat1985]

dont have a proble doing work my self but the problem is learning how to do shit and keeping the car on the road..... i dont wanna have to keep taking it off the road to do work on it..... its just very frustrating is my point....... i must say my cars did only cost me $500 and $900 respectively so i got a bargain in that case..... however the idea of having 2 was to have on that will get fixed and bee in good shape and then a spare so when one is off the road i have another however they are both currently off the road... i would drive the the one with a blown head gasket if when the other is off the road however it doesnt help when they both dont work.....

and who would wanna drive one of those crappy s**t boxes......

[TJ 450]

Having one drivable 116 as a project is not a very good idea IMHO. It will always be on and off the road. This is why it is wise to have at least one backup vehicle.

PB's example of the total cost of ownership is actually not at all unrealistic. You could still spend that amount of money on a 280SE. It's a matter of living with certain problems and carefully considering what you're doing to keep the budget under control.

At the moment I'm relying on my 450SEL as my only registered vehicle. Yes, it is reliable, but if something breaks there is no backup at the moment.

IMHO that is not a good position to be in, particularly if you are not in a comfortable financial position.

Tim

[Maat1985]

thats exactly my position hence the whole having 2 cars however both are currently stuffed and i have bugger all cash...... but now i cant even take my green (broken p/s) one (broken p/s) anywhere (to a mechanic) till i get someone to help me push the yellow one (blown head gasket & smoking alt) out of the way

[nathan]

i will be the voice of reason Maat as the other two sandgropers are spoil sports. i know the solution to your problem, buy another roadworthy 116!!!
best of luck getting your problems sorted.

[Maat1985]

i have seriously considered that however my $500 one is now broken as is my $900 one and i currently only have atmost $800 soif i could be fairly confident i would get something decent i would.......

[TJ 450]

I'm sure the P/S problem could be fixed in the driveway... along with the alternator. It's just a matter of doing some fault finding. Both systems are very robust and there is only a few failure points.

It's a shame I'm over the other side of the country, as I would otherwise offer to assist.

I used to get annoyed with cars. I soon found out that it is somewhat counter productive. Now I just accept that something breaks and fix it.

Tim

[Big_Richard]

You are not going to buy a reliable / aesthetically pleasing Mercedes for $1000. Save the money you have, fix the cars you have. If you carry on this path of distruction you'll end up with 20 old cars and being chased down by debit collectors.

[Maat1985]

if it looks like shit its ok..... i have enough interior / exterior parts to fix that....... but i wont do that..... i'm just very frustratd at the constant $$$$$$$$

[another sad 280s]

i agree it sounds like you've had a bad run, albeit i'm up to $8.000 not including the car and it still need structural work at the panelbeaters, having 2 would send me broke for years i think. from what i've read though, spend the small amount of money to fix the power steering.(it will be cheap) drive this car so you can get on with earning some money. spend enough to get this one comfortable and then in your leisure start on the head gasket. right now i think it's amazing you haven't grabbed a match with the stress.

[Maat1985]

well atm i am unsure what to do with the one with the blown head gasket however i will be taking some more parts from it for the other then it will probably sit around for a damn long time however i am gunna spend what i have to and what i can afford to get the other one good gunna try putting an o ring on the wing nut on the p/s to seal it (hopefully that works) otherwise fix it properly and then just do what needs to be done till i am in a little better finacial state to actually overhaul a few things... rear suspension has a few issues (leak near the motor on the pump, sphere may be dead, and a few other things) but most of the issues i can live with till i can fix them properly..... i am just trying to clear my head and see the potential not the problems.... i have considered putting one at one end of the street and the other at the other and driving them into each other.... lol..... but i could never seriously do that.......

[Maat1985]

i must say however overall the green one is in decent condition not really much needed to keep it driving..... just annoying that both have to not work at the same time..... the p/s is the only thing keeping off the road.....

[another sad 280s]

that idea doesn't sound half bad re crashing them into each other. sell tickets and use the money to buy the crayford. just don't forget my 10% cut. a new carbie at $3,000 has landed me broke.

[oscar]

a new carbie at $3,000 has landed me broke.

Get outta here.  I know they cost heaps I just didn't think anyone would buy one.  I've had one on my watchlist for months now on ebay, a perpetual listing for a new solex in Germany that's about $2.8k.  They do look good new.   Congrats by all means but go easy on tightening those nuts. 

Hey maat, I hear where you coming from.  I suppose it comes back to buying the best you can afford and all that jazz and knowing that sub $1k mercs will need attention.  But there's also no guarantee that a $5k or $10k W116 wont need similar amounts of money spent over time not to mention the occasional nasty surprise that pops up. 

I'd say think long and hard about what's going to be taking up space in your driveway in a few years time.  Will there still be a complete non runner w116 waiting attention and is that going to cause you angst? I was in a similar situation when I bought the red 280S as a project, good looking car that was a non runner.  It was a very good buy for $300.  Spent a few hundred getting it going then realised it had head gasket and ring issues.  It was hard to decide what to do but I decided to kill the project before I wasted anymore money.  That was after I bought the brown one for parts which was so crappy, it hasn't paid for itself at all.  Everything is worn out in it or broken.  The fact the motor runs is the only blessing but it also goes to show that buying new parts is best.  The 350 still needed some big ticket bits at the time and I'm nowhere near being completely content with it let alone try and restore two cars at the same time.  Could have gone either way but now the red car has provided a whole bunch of parts for the track car.  It's essentially saved me a few $ but three years on, it's still taking up space in the shed along with the brown one who's fate is sealed too and the track car is in the garage.   Meanwhile, my beloved 350 sits out in the weather.