Bad idea: buying car that sat 18 years?

[Sam Thompson]

Hi all,
I am looking at getting a vehicle to drive daily. I found what appears to be a very good condition 1985 Mercedes 190e. The body looks very good, and the owner says it runs and drives well, but it sat for the last 18 years in his garage under a car cover. The story is he bought it when it was not very old, and because he had it paid-off, he kept it for his kids to drive down the road, and when that time came, they didn’t want it. What could be some problems to check for? The owner states he thinks it needs a tune-up. Let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Sam
Craigslist ad: http://dayton.craigslist.org/cto/4628633530.html

Topic

[Its me]

If you want this as a daily driver I would not recommend it. ..

If anything goes wrong you may face the issue of expensive and/or hard to get parts…

JMHO

Karl

[none]

I would never buy a car that sat 18 years and expect it to be a turn key driver. It’s fine to buy it if you’re expecting it to be a project car. Seals, belts, hoses are potentially going to be dried out, brittle, or cracked. The car could have more than its fair share of rodents nests even stored inside. Even if they’re not nesting in the car, they do sometimes like the taste of wire sheathing and can chew up wiring harnesses pretty badly. If the car sat for 18 years, who’s to say that the tires aren’t even a few years older yet? Rubber that old just isn’t going to live long back on the road. If you’re serious about keeping and driving this car, a decent set of tires installed is probably going to run you $600 before you even get a set of plates on it. Depending on whether brake material is bonded or riveted, pads and shoe material could have fallen off their backing. There’s potential for a lot of parts to seize from sitting that many years too. Seized parts are really good at showing up nickel and dime style too. You can solve one problem and another shows up right behind it. All the 18 year old fluids and filters would have to get dealt with right away too. Engine oil, brake fluid, and coolant can all become corrosive over time.

I have a great example for you. I just acquired a Chevy Blazer last week that only sat a year and a half. I was told it had a bad fuel pump so I priced one out for $40 online. I immediately set a parts budget for a thousand to get it road worthy again and I’m expecting to go over budget. Along with the fuel pump, it got a new lock ring, ftp sensor, ignition module, coil, cap, rotor, plugs wires, steering gear adjustment, plus it’s still slated for a radiator, blend door module, and now I just found out today the entire rear axle is trashed. Not to mention a slew of other miscellaneous parts and materials.

One thing that could make this Mercedes a viable driver is if the the car has at least been periodically driven. If the current owner got the car out and drove it once a month, it’s could reduce some of that potential cost you’re facing if you do buy it. I’d still treat it like a project car nonetheless.

[Bryan Carter]

I agree with everybody else here. A car that has sat many years can be a great candidate for a restoration/modification project, but not for a daily driver. The best daily driver you can purchase is a car that has been driven daily up until the day you buy it.

[Cameron]

[quote=”samtheman” post=113786]Hi all,
I am looking at getting a vehicle to drive daily. I found what appears to be a very good condition 1985 Mercedes 190e. The body looks very good, and the owner says it runs and drives well, but it sat for the last 18 years in his garage under a car cover. The story is he bought it when it was not very old, and because he had it paid-off, he kept it for his kids to drive down the road, and when that time came, they didn’t want it. What could be some problems to check for? The owner states he thinks it needs a tune-up. Let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Sam
Craigslist ad: http://dayton.craigslist.org/cto/4628633530.html%5B/quote%5D

Agree with others here.

You definitely do NOT buy a car like that Merc sitting for years as a daily driver. I can guarantee you that you will need to spend many thousands of dollars on the vehicle to make it roadworthy and reliable once again. As others have mentioned, parts may be an issue to obtain also. In the brake system alone there will be extensive corrosion because the brake fluid is so old and there will have been a great deal of corrosive moisture build up in the system over the years – and that is just one of numerous items needing attention.

If the car was run for a reasonable distance weekly and had all necessary maintenance and replacements properly carried out on it regularly that would be different. Even then it can be an expensive gamble buying a MERC like this. Many people can afford to buy used examples of Mercs because of substantial price depreciation but far fewer can afford to properly maintain these cars because of the considerable expense.

[Bluesnut]

Your decision has probably already been made but these cars use CIS fuel injection. That’s enough of a headache even when they haven’t been sitting for 18 years and “needing a tune up” will more than likely lead to some CIS migraines.

Fuel pump failure, A/C and PS leaks, along with brake system failures due to hydraulic problems are other things that you would have to contend with.

[Mandla Ngwenya]

What!!!! 18years!! l cant wait to here how it moves after some few weeks,l’ll keep checking,please update us.

[Lorrin Barth]

Back when I was a kid an uncle died and I was offered his car which had sat for 10 years. Well, imagine how badly a kid with a newly minted driver’s license wants a car. I turned the offer down.

[Jerry Gilles]

My brother-in-law has a ford truck all fixed up but sometime during fixing up the tranny wasn’t working right .Upon inspection he found a mouse nest was inside his transmission . He lives on a farm and the truck was in the extra garage for the winter. He had no idea how that mouse got in there but it did. Maybe the dip stick was out , maybe a line was off the transmission I don’t know , but I am saying like the reply above said about rodents , 18 yrs of sitting ,hummmm.

[Andrew Button]

my neighbors husband lives in a different city. She is in a disagreement with him, so she took his older Mercedes 450 Sel Convertible out of the garage and put it outside for sale. Its space is now taken up by a couple lawnmowers and broken shelving. She wants very little for it. She isn’t able to sell it for any amount of money because just of things mentioned above. Its actually pretty clean but still not worth a plugged nickel. European cars in particular are very expensive to get running.. for a hobby car it would be trouble enough. Daily driver, you would have to be a glutton for punishment to do this. The best thing that could happen to my neighbor’s Mercedes is for somebody to hit it roadside and total it and she could at least have some insurance money, which would save somebody a lot of wasted money repairing such a thing in the future.

[Jonathan Stiver]

I would pounce on that opportunity in a heart beat, but not for a daily driver. I would buy the vehicle either for parts or a project weekend car. Expect the entire fuel system to need extensive cleaning if not replacement. Anything rubber I wouldn’t trust as mentioned. The brakes, engine, and transmission could be a toss up. But really other than the fuel system, that is the case on any other car that old. For a cheap daily driver, don’t worry about mileage so much but stick to something less than 20, ideally less than 15 years old.

[Author]

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