[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I am concerned about rust that may have been "repaired" as it has had a > recent paint job. I intend to get it on a hoist and have a better look > underneath before I make any deal on it.
Absolutely. > The trunk looks good under the mat > but has been recently sprayed with a black undercoat type material. That is commonly done following accident repairs to the trunk area, where the floor has buckled. OTOH, if it was done to cover up surface rust repair, it was a dumb move as AFAIK no rust-stop undercoat exists, all it will be doing is covering the problem. > I will take a magnet with and check for plastic filler in the spots > suggested and will have a good look under the fenders. CAREFULLY run your fingers around the fender lips. Sharp edges or weld seams or permanent lumps (try flaking it off to make sure it isn't dried-on mud) indicate repair. > The headliner is stained a bit around the dome type lights both front and > back. Does that indicate leakage from the sunroof or is there another > possible explanation? Probably a bit of a leak, but on a car of that age I would not worry about it unless there are big watermarks on the headliner. Sunroof seals are one of those jobs that looks deceptively simple, until you have the 'pleasure' of doing them. > The driver's seat is a bit soft. There is a small hole in the middle of the > seat where a spring punched it. Normal complaint with older Benzes. Those seats are like an old-style armchair, with a pad over a spring box. The pads deteriorate over time, eventually allowing a spring to punch through to the seat cover. The spring box can be bought, or you can tie off the springs to align them, then buy a new pad and seat cover. If you are a cheap SOB like the rest of us, you can improvise some dense upholstery foam or carpet underpad for the pad, but you have to be careful or you end up with a lumpy seat that looks weird. > The air conditioning parts appear to be there but it does not work. You didn't REALLY think it would, did ya :-)? > I drove it to about 65 mph > on the bypass and then into the city and around a few blocks with stop signs > etc. It didn't miss a beat. Listen, I've read everything you had to say. Assuming the body is not bondoed up and it looks reasonably good underneath, I would be dancing a jig if I test drove any car that age with those complaints. > All in all, it appeared pretty decent for a 30 year old car. I'm told it had > a soft life but one never knows. You never really will. On older cars like that, you don't sweat it. > I wondered how robust the starter or battery might be as it did not really > sound powerful to me. That is a valid concern, as diesels have to turn quite fast on the starter -- more of an issue when the cars get older. But both are easily addressed, the first thing to check would be the integrity of the ground for the starter and the condition of the battery (including the cleanliness of the battery terminals). If the car has been sitting a long time, the battery is probably weak to indifferent at best anyway. Make sure the car is absolutely 'cold' when you go to start it next. If you need two glows to start it at this time of year, I would suspect that you either have weak glow plugs (common) or a compression issue, or a very slow starter in combination with one of the other issues. HOWEVER, if you found that the car performed well on the road, I would not worry about the compression. A quick and dirty (literally, don't wear a dress shirt when you do this) check is to remove the oil filler cap with the engine running and see how much smoke comes out (careful, as oil will spray out from the cam as well). If you get a cloud, then you have an issue. If it looks more like someone exhaling a polite drag from a cigarette, things are prolly ok. Hope this helps, Mac
