King of the S-class- buying and restore an '93 Mercedes 400SE

Even 27 years after the first one that produced this is not an ordinairy all day car
When it was launched the w140 s-class was criticized as being oversized, overweight and unpleasing to the eye
You either hate it or love it, but in my opinion it's a beautiful modern classic that gets better looking with age
Also a well maintained one is still valueble at this day

Trough this blog i will share my experience in buying and restoring my '93 Mercedes 400SE

My story began a year ago, i bought an '95 Mercedes E250 diesel as an temporary car,
But i was amazed about the comfort and building quality of this car .
After a couple of months driving my 120hp diesel i wanted more! more power more comfort more options

So this is where my story began

My previous car the '95 E250 diesel

Buying an older mercedes isn't as easy as you will think.

Most people will say an older mercedes cannot go wrong, but my experience will prove them wrong

the biggest problem you want to check is RUST! rusted wheel arches is the most common one
but you also want to check the rear top mounting of the suspension and under the hood just behind the headlight

the mercedes diesel engines will speak for themselves some already prove themselves by reaching a million miles

However the gasoline one's are the one you will better check before buying.
Almost every benz produced between 91-97 have a common wiring harness issue
in this time Mercedes used a biological harness for the engine wiring, but after all those years the harness will get dry, get cracked and even let loose of the wiring.
negative effects are power loss and a rough idling of the engine and at the worst it will destroy some sensors and ecu's.
if you can fix this yourself it shouldn't be a problem , get it repaired by a garage will probably cost you a lot of money

The V8 and V12 engines are magnificent, however there are some valueble maintenance points you should consider at first.

The timing chain is a thing that has to be replaced between 150-200k miles

Ignition system(spark plugs, wires, distributor caps and rotors) should be checked and replaced when necessary every 10k miles and it should be replaced by original(expensive) ones otherwise the engine will not run as it should be

After getting this info myself i went looking for a V8 or V12 S-class
because i am a mechanic so i can do most things myself, it shouldn't be that hard to fix a thing or two without spending lots of money

After a little searching i went to take a look at the 400se that i own right now

it was love at first sight, however it wasn't in perfect condition

got some dents all around the car, it wasn't been driven in 10years ,the engine wasn't runnin that well and some other minor things
but on the other side it was still owned by the man who bought it new, it had no rust and never had an lpg system like the most and the price wasn't that high

with all this in mind i thought is was a good basic to restore, even in the worst scenario.

My Mercedes the day that i bought it

this will be the end of this blog, i hope this will help people when buying an older mercedes
in the next blog i will talk about fixing the engine(spoiler alert! wasn't that easy as i thought it will be)