SmokeEm's 96 E320 Elegance - Heater bodge underway!

So. At the request of @mercdan here is my latest purchase. Bought for too many ££'s as I liked the wheels.

I'll start from the point that I decided to sell my Forester - I only ever put fuel in it twice and covered less than 500 miles in my 9 month ownership! The reality is, I only need a car maybe once or twice a month & having 6k+ tied up is a luxury that I personally didn't enjoy - but as my Wife says, at least you ticked a box. So I sold it - for 5k cash. Bye Bye Scooby

I paid off my credit cards & the Wifes too (1k between them roughly) and decided that I would budget myself to £1500 to buy, tax & insure something else. Now I may not be clare voyant or whatever but I'll wager you've all done the 'What if I had xxx to spend on car' search on fleabay? I know I do it weekly. So that week was no different. I wanted a Lexus LS400 but the one I had in my watch list had sold - gutted. Still, there was this lowly E class up for £1250 which I knew was too much but hey ho, the money was getting too hot for my pocket! The MOT history showed that it had never failed on much throughout it's life and with only 108k miles on it, surely it was still running in? - A qucik call to A Plan in Thatcham confirmed that they would allow me to insure it as a Classic - £130 per year = RESULT

So I paid £1050 in used notes for this.....

It had MOT until Nov 2017 and both myself & Wifey liked it - (I had a W210 Estate before and loved it before my Dad nicked it)

Typically, it has a bit of grot around the arches but its not bad. The alloys need a refurb but then I'd be scared the Wife would kerb them so they can stay scabby until I have finished SPENDING MONEY on the damn thing!

What's gone wrong you may ask? - Errr lots!

1st issue - 1 week after bringing it home I went to use it - battery flat. I jumped it with my jump pack and used it all day but the next it was flat again. Halfrauds - new battery £80

For the next month, everything was fine then my Daughters Fiancee's Grand Scenic went bang! I rely on Aaron to bring my daughter & my grandchildren up from Pompey on a regular basis as I struggle travelling distance. (Even 40 miles!) So I lent my son in law the Merc to get him home that night. He loved it. The following day we bought him a gorgeous Laguna estate for 1k. On a rather 'Spirited' drive home in my car, I parked it up and thought all was well.... It wasn't.

The following day, I went to use it and it was in Limp mode! I read on MercMedic.com how to reset it and carried on as normal assuming me caning it didn't help. Next day - Limp mode again!

At this point, I figured I would spend a bit on it and iron out a couple of niggles - namely the windscreen washer fluid warning was on the whole time despite being full - meaning you can't see the clock! Turn on the lights (Previous owner fitted xenon kit) and you get a bulkb out warning - side light. I dropped it off at Mercury car care in Aldershot as he is known locally as the Merc whisperer. The brief to him was fix the limp issue, fix the light bulb, sort the washer warning and put a new MOT on it for piece of mind. The problem? Lambda sensor failure. Fault codes cleared and no longer in limp mode. Simple yeah? Err no. MOT FAIL on beam pattern, emmissions, coil springs not in cups properly. The bill?? £450

After this, it has been faultless.. until today - flat battery again!!! Assume something draining it? God knows what I'll do.

Anyway, enough rambling - I'm no pistonpopper at telling my tales so pictures!

Nice 18" - Not sure if real or copy or even if they are splits?

Nice Alpine head unit with changer in boot & ipod connect too

I love the quirky blue cloth trim - nicer feel than leather

Get a body or two in here..

Air con in centre console!

Final shot before slamming doors, boot & going inside to sulk and figure out how to get a battery charger on it overnight.