Buying an old (1987 W124) Mercedes and need advice!

[leninsaccountant]

I have always wanted a 1980s W124. I've saved for months, and I'm finally in a position to buy one.

I've found one that I have fell in love with. 90k miles. Great condition. But I wanted to get everyone's advice on some potential issues specific to the car.

I have looked up the car's MOT history. It has passed all of its MOTs, but in the advisories section it noted some corrosion

- Oil leak, but not excessive

- Brake hose has slight corrosion to ferrule all pipes front and rear

- Front Brake pipe corroded, covered in grease or other material both sides

- Rear Brake pipe corroded, covered in grease or other material both sides

- Vehicle structure is corroded but structural rigidity is not significantly reduced

- Front Suspension arm corroded but not seriously weakened both sides

- Rear Suspension arm corroded but not seriously weakened both sides

- Shock absorbers has a reduced damping effect all round

- Front Coil spring corroded both sides

- Nearside Front Outer Anti-roll bar pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement

- Central Prop shaft joint worn, but not excessively

Does anyone know how serious these problems are? Is some underside corrosion to be expected given the car was produced in 1987? I am guessing things like coil spring and brake pipe corrosion would not be that expensive to fix if they did develop into a problem, but 'vehicle structure corroded' and 'suspension arm corroded' scare me.

Any advice about all this would be hugely appreciated -- especially from mechanics, DIY mechanics, and W124 owners. Thank you!

[harrycovert]

Non of that sounds too serious The 124 is well regarded It's down to price

[trevalvole]

All the suspension stuff should be a reasonably easy fix - if Merc don't still make the parts, someone else will, quite possibly the people who made it for Merc in the first place. To assess prices, type the reg into the German website Autodoc.co.uk , though consider the reviews on here before actually ordering from them, and of course you'll need to either do the work yourself, or find someone who would fit the parts you provided, if you order from them (and others will often be significantly more expensive). Lemforder probably made the suspension arms and Sachs the dampers and springs.

Re-doing the brake lines may incur quite a bit of labour, depending on where they are routed.

Big one is probably corrosion on the underside - have a read through this thread by the no-longer-on-PH r129sl: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Edited by trevalvole on Sunday 26th November 10:49

Edited by trevalvole on Sunday 26th November 10:56

[0a]

I love w124s, and am on my third 1995 model.

My first was a 1991 example, second from 1988, so I have owned a car from each of the eras. The 1991 car was best, in my opinion, the seats were improved, and somehow all the little changes made the car feel less old to drive.

All the items on your list are common to these cars. It will benefit from a suspension refresh. If front wings have not been done, they will need doing.

I would say that these are old cars now. The car you are interested in is 37 years old. No matter the mileage, things will need to be replaced. Even on my fairly low mile 1995 model, I have had to go through it and sort it out, and there is still stuff I need to do. In my view it's worth it, and I have other cars so can take my time. But do not think that these can be treated like a care-free modern car!