1992 Mercedes-Benz 500SEL

Sedan

5.0L 4973CC V8 GAS DOHC Naturally Aspirated

Automatic

wdbga51e9na024834

Clear

GAS

This 1992 500SEL has been known and driven by me since it was purchased 7/15/93 with 14,814 miles from Team Motorsports in Springfield, MO, by a very good friend of the family. Over the years, we have serviced it properly and it was done on a corporate account for essentially its entire life. I'm including every service receipt from July 1993 to date. No expense was spared in keeping it in solid working order. The car is in excellent cosmetic condition - the pictures do not do it justice. The leather is soft, not punctured. Mechanically, the car runs and drives better than any W140 I have driven. The power is still there and the car performs as it has for the past 20 years for us. Everything works. The car has power seats, heated seats, lumbar, cold air, warm air, incredible power steering, a built in Escort SR1 radar that is a phenomenal unit. I know technology has improved over the years, but for the average highway patrol, this unit seeks out the cops well in advance. The Becker radio was just serviced by Becker Auto Sound, and has an auxiliary input jack (pictured). The transmission was rebuilt in 2005 at around 205,000 miles. The same shop rebuilt it again, under warranty, at around 275,000 miles in 2011, as a courtesy to me, because there was a jerking shift between 1 and 2. The new transmission operates flawlessly. The car is incredibly clean, as indicated in the pictures. The car has been detailed constantly, most recently about three months ago. It was repainted by a shop in Indianapolis about six years ago, and I'd call it above average overall. There are some marks on the rear bumper courtesy of a hit and run a few weeks ago. Additionally, some of the paint is peeling on the exterior mirrors. Other than that, the body is quite nice and it is a solid, clean car. It doesn't look like it has anywhere near the mileage it does. It appears to have a fraction of the actual mileage. The bad part: the engine is leaking or blowing out oil. This surfaced over the past two years, indicated by abnormal oil consumption and smoke blowing. At speeds of 75mph and greater, when the car is cresting a hill, an excessive amount of white smoke comes out of the back end. It's not clear as to exactly how the oil is leaving the car. In my experience, the oil comes out of the back end uniformly, and not the exhaust - so it's not contained to just the left side of the car - it's almost as if oil is leaking from the engine onto the exhaust and getting burned off that way. I say this, but I am absolutely no mechanic and don't know what is going on. In the city, consumption is about a quart every 700 miles. On the highway, with high speeds, the consumption or leakage increases to a quart every 250-300 miles. My reason for selling is the oil problem. In the past six months, I have spent $4000 on maintenance items: new catalytic converter, new power steering pump, oil leakage corrected, valve cover gaskets resealed, and a host of other items. Immediately prior to the expenditure, I was concerned about compression and had a test. All cylinders were at least 195, and many were over 200. My mechanic told me he was convinced that the car would not have good compression, but not surprisingly, the engine is in great shape. He repeated the test to verify and found that indeed, the engine has excellent compression. It makes sense because the power is always there. I never intended to sell the car, but at the prospect of another $3000 plus (I am fearing it is a leaking head gasket, but won't know unless we tear the engine apart), that may or may not fix the oil leakage problem (it took nearly a year for my mechanic to replicate the issue while driving the car himself as it is not a constant occurrence). At this point also, I am exhausted from the back and forth to my mechanic. I've been chasing a problem for two years, while still driving the car, pouring money into it, and I still have issues. This is the perfect car for someone who is a DIYer, or someone who has more than one vehicle at their disposal. I am not one of those people. The situation kills me, as I could be out of the woods for three years if I fix the car, or I may not. In the end, my frustration has gotten the best of me. If you are willing to put up with or fix this oil problem, this is one of the nicest W140s out there. The body and interior are really very nice. The mechanicals have been well maintained and everything works. Compression is excellent and you will be hard-pressed to find a car with better service history - you would be hard pressed to find a W140 with a service history, and even if you get a complete service history, I guarantee you that no car has been attended to better than this one. The records show consistent maintenance since 15,000 miles. I truly hope the new owner takes care of this car and enjoys it like we have. For now, despite all the attachment I have to this car, it is time to move on.