Thanks - Actually the tranny symptoms are pretty much true of all I have read about what happens to these at about 160K, but this one was a city dweller till I bought it. No reverse, slipping between 2 and 3. Slightly burnt fluid. My Volvo experience has been that Parts are super cheap and basically falling out of the trees. I have had the equivelent of teh E320, a 960 and an 850 1997 and 1996 respectivly. Both are good cars, but was really ready for something else. The E320 is silent going down the road compared to the volvos of the same age. The E320 is smaller, fuel economy seems about the same, handleing is comperable as is comfort. Many things seem to be simpler in the E320. Parts prices seem to be much higher then the recent Volvo's I have had, but they are also far more sophisticated. A factor water pump for the 960 is about 60 bucks, and it seems to be about 250 bucks for the E 320. Does the timming chain need to be replaced as any kind of routine maintance? How about anything else for routine that needs to be done to ensure longevity?
Thanks, Peter On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 9:48 PM, Loren Faeth <lfa...@leadingchange.com>wrote: > My $.02: > > The E320 seems to be a great car. Needing a trans at that early age seems > weird. I would report the symptoms to this list. it may not need a trans > at all.250k to 500k is more normal , unless it was abused. Learn to trust > in rust: the Rusty man. He won't diagnose or fix your car, but he will save > you a bundle on parts. > > in general, vovlo parts are expensive and hard to find. Mercedes parts are > reasonable, except chrome and rubber, although those don't seem as > outrageous as years ago. Pistons are also expensive, but rarely needed. > You can buy parts for any Mercedes. Only Mercedes has a center in the US > (and in Germany) dedicated to vintage products (the Classic Center) The > E320 is more complex than a volvo 240 or a Mercedes 240D. If you want > simplicity, buy a 240D. If you want performance, the E320 won't disappoint. > A 1995 volvo is also more complex than a 240. you can't compare a new Mac > to a 5 yr old winders machine, and you can't compare a new winders machine > to a 7 or 10 year old mac. Taint fair. > > New vovlo are just glorified tauri. (tauruses) You may as well buy the > ford. Same with Jag; Just A Glorified (JAG) ford. > > Much as I love the MBs of the 60s, their age makes them expensive to keep > on the road. So I drive new Mercedes (New to me means under 25 years old.) > the newer cars are more complex, more expensive to maintain in some ways, > but overall, much better in the long haul than the cars of the 60s. ANY car > of the 60s or 70s. For the miles I put on them, I still believe the > cheapest car on the road is a Mercedes Diesel with Mechanical fuel > injection. The jury is still out on common rail and bluetec. > > I'd take the E320 in a flash! > > > At 07:23 PM 3/2/2009, you wrote: > >> Well - Since were on this subject I need o know a lile bit about the >> dependability of this car. Again - it is a 1995 mercedes E320. For the >> past 10 years, and about a million miles, really, I have been driving old >> Volvos. I neighbor offered me this E320 that is perfect, and had been to >> the dealer literally for every oil change. What do I have to lookforward >> to >> with this car??? It has 126000 miles. It is really perfect, I never >> expected to need a transmission, however. I have never replaced an engine >> or a tranny in any of the volvos that I drove for well over 300K. Is this >> the only weak link, or do I have more to lookfoward too? I have kept the >> Volvos on the road myself, and consider a head gasket a nice saturday >> afternoon to be completed with beer in hand. I apprecaite everyone's >> honest >> assesment. >> >> Peter >> >> On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 6:16 PM, John Robbins <je...@msstate.edu> wrote: >> >> > I believe Rusty has previously mentioned having less than five warranty >> > claims in the 25 years he's used that rebuilder... I think it was two >> or >> > something. >> > >> > I'm not trying to be a Rusty cheerleader or anything, but I've grilled >> him >> > on this before ;) >> > >> > John >> > >> > Peter Hertzing wrote: >> > >> >> Sorry- By no means did I mean to try to skip Rusty - just trying to >> >> establish the reputation of the rebuilder..... No offense intended. >> >> >> > >> > >> > _______________________________________ >> > http://www.okiebenz.com >> > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com >> > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >> > >> > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >> > http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >> > >> -------------- next part -------------- >> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... >> URL: < >> http://okiebenz.com/pipermail/mercedes_okiebenz.com/attachments/20090302/c36df023/attachment.html> >> >> _______________________________________ >> http://www.okiebenz.com >> For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com >> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >> >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >> http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >> > > Loren Faeth > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://okiebenz.com/pipermail/mercedes_okiebenz.com/attachments/20090303/afc92b82/attachment.html> _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
