Mainly seals and gaskets that dry-rotted. Cost a fortune to fix. At 85,000 miles (and 10 years old). New transmission gasket $18, but it's $480 to install it.
Oil pump gasket, $300 at 80,000 miles.
A/C never blew very cold, even after repairs at 90,000 miles, which were $500.
Water pump at 110,000, $500.
Head gasket at 88,000 miles, $500.
Would never buy one again. Nice riding car, but too expensive when repairs come. Spent $4,000 in 2 years on this car. That's a nice trip to Europe!
Might consider a diesel MB, though.
Shame your car didn't work out. Usually, the W124 are totally reliable.
Cheers, Wolfram (300CE)
Hi,
Iam happy to hear about some positive information on w124
300ce 1988 model. Iam about to buy one of them, but at the same time trying to get more information to knowing what Iam getting myself into.
If anyone have a precise infomation about the reliability of
the above mentioned car, I will be delighted to hear it.
Iam interested in the good and bad aspect of it.
Hear from you soon,
Warm regards,
Henry.
Canada.
These cars are very reliable, but they DO need maintenance once in a while!! If you buy one with a maintenance backlog (and the one above probably was), you'll pay for it sooner or later (and most of the time sooner). So you either realize this and bargain the price of the car down, or you just leave it behind and focus on a better maintained 124, which might be a bit more expensive, but you save lot of money in the end.
Hey!
I bought an 88 mbz 300ce a couple weeks ago. Its in really good condition and drives great. The guy that sold it was asking 4500 but I talked him down to 3300. It has almost 200k miles on it, but had the engine and trans rebuilt a couple years ago. Its fun to drive and I love the jealous looks I get from old people that think they couldn't afford it. Your car is what you put into it. I've already put about 1000 bucks into it, but I love the car. I used to have a 190e with 65k orig. miles, but I recked it about a year ago, the ce is way faster.
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