Dave2302

/\ /\ /\ and properly looked after it will do another 100k miles. That C Class i have had 120k on it when I got it 13 months ago, now has 160k due to all the trips south for the Ill rellies. When I got it I did Brakes all round, 2 Tyres, Full Service, Aux Belt and fixed the Turbo Actuator. It passed MOT with flying colours. Last month, 1 year on, Brakes are still like new, (cos I fit em properly and don't skimp, don't bash new Pads into Carriers with a hammer, Coppaslip etc etc). So, I gave it a thorough checking over, fitted a new Sidelight Bulb to a dull one, Oil and all Filters and it again passed MOT with no advises........... Sorry, not "Advises", "Minor Faults" now

PMSL, I just spat my coffee over the Monitor, still it needed a clean

Honestly, we don't get Screamers, much more laid back up here, I actually have to ring and ask folks to come and pick up their Cars when ready.............. I moved up here from Sth London / Kent 11 years ago to semi retire outta the "Rat Race", better Health Care, better Schools, almost Zero Crime etc etc. I only started the business a couple of years ago because I saw an opportunity in the community, and wanted something to do !! I generally do around 5 hrs actual work 4- 5 days a week, and the rest of my time is doing exactly what myself or Mel want to do. I only gave up Water-skiing and sold the Boat 2 years ago because I'm getting too old now for Barefootin' and also we had a couple of family terminal illnesses on Mel's side which were taking a lot of our spare time up and down to Kent England.

If your near me bring 'em in, if not get a good local Indie with SDS, but buy 'em for buttons, then spend a few $$ and sell for top dollar That's how I got into Selling again up here, you gotta be brutal, but can make a good buck for a little effort Oh, BTW, 2017 and above E Class, (and C & S), in a couple of years these will be going for pennies, because when all the Audio / Telematics / Cloud systems go wrong they will be un fixable to the majority When fixed good return I can't wait

They are a brilliant Engine, just an absolute b@st*rd to correctly diagnose when they go wrong, but I have SDS old and new plus i actually know how they work Like any MB, don't guess and chuck parts at it, well same goes for anything modern really lol, but more so on the 'Hermans' One of my Fleet owners has one, in his personal E250 Wagon, that has 220k miles on it, had a major melt down last year, sensors solenoids and blocked DPF, but part of that was because he kept driving it with EML on and it blocked DPF, buggered a load of expensive sensors, like £400 Lambda, EGT etc etc. Causal Part was a £80 Actuator Solenoid My advice, if EML comes on, don't drive it, get it fixed, because like most modern Diesels, a simple Fault Code can and will prevent the DPF from Re-Generating. Good thing about MB's is, unlike VAG, they will allow you to do a successful forced Re-Gen once you have got the original Fault fixed Our own personal Diesel MB's have OM646 in them, not quite as powerful, but even I get 48mpg outta the C Class with "lead foot", my Petrol V8 Supercharged MB, I've had that down to 8mpg

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Yeah, the sort of folk who buy these are a PITA, and also because there is so many of them out there they can, I suppose, afford to be fussy .................... Thing that really saddens me is when I know it is a sound solid Car, and they walk away and end up buying a shed for £100 less, which usually ends up in my Workshop lol My uniqueness in the area is good though, a lot of folks who buy cars from me know from word of mouth that it will be a good one, and if it does come back for whatever in the first 3 months, I'll just fix it and give it back. I've sold many a Car over the phone and been paid before they've even seen it !!

Thank You, that is what a Forum is all about............... helping. This stuff is the core of my Business, whether it is recommendations from local Garages who don't have the Dealer Level machines and knowledge, word of mouth from locals, and also increasingly, I buy cars with these sort of problems for rock bottom, then fix 'em and retail 'em I have never advertised up here, a good and thorough job and word of mouth works fine I am fortunate, I'm in the enviable position that the only other option my Customer base have is a 120 to 260 mile round trip to Inverness Main Stealers, and then they've got to leave the Car and get home, then go back when it's done, then have hassle when it isn't actually fixed, but they've been fleeced for a load of parts they didn't need etc etc Believe it or not, I now get Mercedes Main Dealer Workshops who I buy from phoning for advice on some problems, usually OM651 Engines Cheers Dave

Brown Bros, now there's a blast from the past, we all showing our age to remember them LOL

Sad thing is that if it's got to 100k then it's probably had the Chain done

Hi, Service history is a waste of time to me personally, unless I actually know who's been looking after it and approve lol, because as we all know, so many Garage Mechanics / Main Dealers etc are rip off, don't do Spark Plugs when they should, awkward Fuel Filters, remove Wheels to check Brakes etc etc. Especially in the £1k car bracket Colour, being a guy not too important but he'd probably wanna avoid Pink etc Verifiable Mileage, preferably below 120k on a Jap but a well looked after Car at 150k is better than an 80k that's never been touched !! 05 upwards, anyone with a 18 plate for a grand call me, I'll buy it and come get it I'll leave today

Well, some interesting replies there Thanks, I've passed on your details and told him to visit. We can even leave the keys in Diggers, Quad Bikes and Cars, Cash, Wallet and Phone on the Bar !! Let a punter walk away without paying, knowing fine well he'll come back with the dosh when he says Mel is my wife /missus / g/f / significant other, etc etc etc lol, suppose you could say mate, but I say partner cos we never did the wedding thing Re Buying, you're kidding me, I never buy anything more that 3 years old from North Scotland, for 2 reasons 1) It will be really really really really rotten underneath, (+2 more really's if it came from Skye), 2) Most of the 'jocks' think a £2000 Car full of sheep ming is worth £4k I buy most of my Cars either Sales or Personal from south of the wall Mel's C Class, I drove a Recovery Truck to Kent to buy it, nicked it off the guy, due to a Turbo Actuator Fault, car was mint inside and out, and underneath !! Cost me £120 and a couple of hours to fix it, hire of the Wagon off a mate, plus the 30hr trip down and back, and still a couple of bags under "trade". Our family bussie, a Viano Ambiente came from Derbyshire, clean with usual electronic faults, got a train down and drove it back, had it 2 years now and would still be quids in if I retailed it, etc etc etc. I'm really sorry, I just don't get any of that whole conversation, obviously been NW for too long now ............ When I say reasonably reliable, I mean like a Yaris, Getz, Micra etc, rather than a Vauxhall or VW which will surely bite his ass etc and the rest of it ??????????????????????? Anyways, thanks for the replies guys and gals Cheers Dave

Anyone on here selling in Medway towns, nr Rainham Kent ?? My partner Mel's son, (34 years old Chef, just doing driving test), is looking for a first Car, so something you may want to trade out, have to be reasonably reliable, as he's 670 miles from my Garage LOL, budget around £1k and not too steep Ins Gp Cheers Dave

What machine did you use to read the Codes ?? I find it difficult to believe that there is nothing there, when all those Sub Systems have put lights on on the dash. What I said earlier, this sort of Fault needs to go on ISTA, even a decent Generic will likely not see this problem, and OBD2 readers forget it Also record a Data Log of Voltages when driving, A new Battery is a good first call, but I think that is unlikely in this case, more likely to be Alternator related

Chinglish

+1 /\ /\ /\ I read and clear all Vehicles when they come into my possession, long before they go out in service or get sold, that way, whatever comes back is a genuine fault

LOL, /\ /\ /\ +1

Get that a lot with MB bits, EBay used Number Plate Lamps for my S Class £20 each, take 4 days to get to me, Dealer £12.06 each less my Discount, same day or next day delivery !! Always check the Dealer or your factors first Cheers Dave

Hi, Agree with what is said here, luckily this is an older Car, so not quite as complicated as the newer stuff. I think that there is 2 separate issues here, but you never know, might get lucky and find a green Fuse that provides a ref voltage The one thing I always tell everyone is that 99.9% of the time if any Fault light has been on there Will be Codes Stored. If you are using a Generic Machine and it comes back "no codes" don't assume there are none, get it on a Dealer Level Kit !! I have, over the last 2 years invested in "Dealer Level" Diagnostic and Programming Kit for all popular Cars, because the Generic Machines like Snap On, Delphi, Launch etc simply do not access all models / all areas, and are weak when it comes to programming new and used modules. Also we are increasingly finding that a lot of used modules are "One Time Only" Programming from new, so can't be swapped from Car to Car, for example Pug / Citroen BSI's. My ageing eyesight does not allow me to un solder Chips etc for Eepromming / Virginising work, but I use a guy who is really good with that, postal service He can Virginise used modules so that with the Dealer Kit you can re program them to the vehicle you are fitting them too BMW and MINI I have just got fully loaded ISTA / INPA your techie will have heard of that, very good machine If you should need to get any Eepromming done, give me a shout and I'll put you in touch with the guy I use he's in Englandshire Oh, BTW if anyone want's a really good Generic, then look at the top end AUTEL Maxisys (around £1500), this is a great Generic and does actually do a lot of Actuations and On Line Programming work. I'll not be bothering with Snap On any more, and will only update Delphi if needed As we all know, no one machine will do all, HTH, Cheers Dave

Trouble with EBay parts is there is too much Chinesium rubbish, even the factor are at it these days with that "Green Box" rubbish, we tried that stuff in our workshops on high monthly mileage fleet vehicles, soon went back to OE or OEM like febi bilstein, lemfoerder etc

LOL, it's more of "Trade sale" that age

/\ /\ /\ +1 W210 is one of the best E Classes ever, then w211, Wagons are a great tool, as long as you can find one without spaceship mileage, they'll sell all day long. The very latest E Class has too much "big brother" for my liking, we bought an ex MD Demonstrator last year off the Dealer i have account with, an "AMG line" 220 CDI, with OM651 motor and 9 speed Auto, I only kept it 8 months then sold it for a profit What i didn't like was all the info and data the Car was uploading to "the cloud", all and sundry can get hold of that info !! If it wasn't for that we'd still have it very accomplished and sorted Car, but we now have a W211 Wagon, which is great for general Family use. E55 AMG is the one to have if you don't have SCameras on long roads where you live

It won't be unroadworthy, it isn't unroadworthy right now, in fact it is all fully assembled atm, just small primered areas here and there It will have a fresh MOT as of 17th July, and I won't be stripping the Lights etc out until it gets to Dunvegan, then I'll put them back before the return trip

Yeah, I hear what you are saying, but up here "Old Jock" would want a tidy bit more than a shilling, and the big Benz won't fit on my Rally Car trailer It wouldn't hurt really to just Tax it for 12 months, after it's test next week................... However, realistically it'll be in Dunvegan for a month, as it's a 'mates rates' favour job, then back at mine for god knows how long while I find some spare time to fit it all back together, bumpers, door and bumper trims, window trims, mirror covers, grille, weather strips, door handles, full valet etc etc, so TBH I just plain begrudge paying for at least a couple of months VED for it to stand around off road for all but a couple of hours !! Wife and I have 5 other Cars on our own personal fleet that are all taxed, plus my Workshop Van and as there are only 2 of us, we can only drive 2 at any one time LOL, but that's a whole other debate................... Also, yeah yeah, I know, I'll be the first one to whinge if I did get nicked So really I just gotta decide to take a punt or tax it

You'd be surprised, since a couple of years ago, when Skye Bridge wind speed monitoring was transferred to Edinburgh, and some tw@t was closing the Skye Bridge on a regular basis, because they thought the Kmph readings were MPH, some old law says that because the A87 is a Trunk Road and because it has been closed so many times in a year, now we have to have Area Cars patrolling it They are from Dingwall or Inverness, and don't want to be here, so they just nick everyone they can Our local Cops however wouldn't pull us if we had a Wheel missing That's how my mate, local MOT Garage ended up getting a Customers car impounded on a road test for a rattle !! I think i am the only guy round here who has Trade Plates, but more will follow now Hell yeah, be talked about for years LOL, might be a cheap bit of advertising tho Cheers Dave