1997 Mercedes-Benz E-Class

E300 Sedan

3.0L Diesel

Automatic

WDBJF20F9VA343926

Clear

Diesel

*** Relisting due to Non Paying BIDDER!!!!!!!!. The original winner, of the auction told me he bought the car for his wife as a Christmas present. When she found out, she flipped out. She thought he was buying her a brand new Mercedes (not my problem, but apparently he made it mine) He was to pick it up on December 26, yesterday at noon. He wrote me a message on eBay's messages telling me a sob story about how his wife did not want it, and he was not coming to pick it up. So thank you ( you know who you are) for ruining my day and wasting my precious time for having to re list my car. So with that said. DO NOT BID ON THIS CAR IF YOU DO NOT PLAN ON PAYING OR PICKING UP THIS VECHICLE!!!!!!!!! Do not waste my time!!!!! I'm getting tired with losers in our society!!! And their lame and irrelevant excuses!!! I don't care! Being a responsible and honest citizen, is going by the way side! I have a copy of the message the last winning bidder sent me, if anyone does not believe me, that he didn't even show up to complete the deal. It wasn't like he came to my house and decide not to buy the car because he didn't like it. In no way did it go down like that! I just wanted to get that out of the way. If any interested person had that as a concern in their decision making, bidding on my car. I will not re list it anymore, this is it! I will just keep it and drive it into the ground. I really do not need to sell this car. PLEASE READ CAREFULLY! Up for auction is my daily driver beater car. A 1997 Mercedes Benz E300 Diesel. It currently has 159,310 miles on it. This is a non turbo model. I bought it off my best friend from Pennsylvania (that I have known since kindergarten) back in April 2012. It had 133,439 miles on it then. He bought it off an old man we both used to work for, after we graduated High School. The man was a big cheap skate, hence the frugal Mercedes Diesel. I bought it as temporary beater car. I never thought I would keep it for this long. I've used it as my drive to work car. I have taken my family on vacations in it. It really has been reliable for me. I had someone ask me last auction, why such low miles on it since it was my daily driver? The only reason I only put 25,871 miles since I bought it, is simple. It is 34 miles, one way to my work. I'm on an extra list, so sometimes I'm only called to work once a week sometimes. Occasionally I drive my truck to work, to dump stuff in the dumpster. And also when I put the new cylinder head on, (keep reading, I will explain below) the car was out of commission for about 3 months. I've spent some money to keep it up and running when I bought it at 133,439 miles. I replaced all four shocks. Brake rotors and pads. (just replaced front pads again in September 2015) Flushed and bled brake fluid. I have changed the fuel filters twice since I owned it. Replaced the fuel return lines on injectors and injector pump about 5,000 miles ago. New front wheel bearings. (still hums a little at 55mph, better than it was after I replaced them) Changed differential fluid, and transmission fluid and filter when I bought it. I have changed the motor oil every 10,000 miles,( 500 miles after I installed new cylinder head. Keep reading) always using synthetic diesel motor oil. (the next oil change is due @ 167,027 miles, so you have about 7,717 miles left) I replaced the battery with a new 1000 CCA battery from Advance Auto in the beginning of summer. Replaced the exhaust system (including muffler) from the exhaust manifold back when I bought it. New power window switch panel on center console. Replaced all 4 tires at about 135,000 miles with Michelin Primacy MXM4 tires. They have about 3 to 4/32 of tread left, will need to replaced in the next few months. I also replaced the spare tire with a new Michelin MXM4 as well. Glow plugs replaced at the time I bought the car. I also just replaced them again in February of this year (2015). I have replaced the air filter 3 times and the cabin filter once, when I bought it. It has a current VA Inspection and Emission sticker. It expires on 5/31/2016. I bought most of my parts at autohausaz.com. Their prices were reasonable and they have good customer service. When I bought the car from my friend, he was having problems with a bad glow plug. The check engine light was coming on. The code was for the glow plugs not all working. He warned me they were hard to replace. A bad design on Mercedes part. Carbon would build up around the shaft of the glow plug. Making them snap off in the cylinder head. I didn't listen, and tried to remove them thinking I could accomplish the feat. I snapped 3 of the six glow plugs. I tried to remove the broken off glow plugs. But I damaged the cylinder head. I therefore had to replace the cylinder head. So the car has a new cylinder head, valve springs, valve seal, timing chain tensioner, new head bolts, head gasket and valve cover gasket. While I did that, I replaced the water pump, serpentine belt and serpentine belt tensioner. And not to mention new Mercedes engine coolant. This was at 134,000 miles. The engine has run great ever since that blunder. It wasn't cheap either. A new cylinder head and parts cost me over $3,000 alone. This is why I have replaced the glow plugs twice in 25,854 miles. I didn't want this problem to ever arise again! I used anti seize on the glow plugs and when I replaced them in February, they came out with no problem! I have a folder with receipts since I have owned the car. The car only came with one key. Which is glued together, the transmitter part. I've checked at a Mercedes Dealer and they charge $350 for a transmitter with key cut for the car. And $150 for just a normal valet key. I thought they were nuts, so I never got a spare key. The driver's bottom leather seat was ripped when I bought it. I've seen replacement seat covers on eBay, It just didn't bother me enough to replace it. The other seats are just ok. (see photos) The driver side door, bottom has rust (see photo). Was like that when I bought it. There is rust on the some of the wheel wells. Rear door plastic door sills are missing on both sides since I bought the car. I think Mercedes wanted $50 each. I decided against getting new ones. Crack in bumper around driver side fog light (see photo). Crack in front air dam. Keyless entry doesn't work. Probably bad transmitter. It worked a little bit when I bought it, then it stopped. I replaced the battery, but it still didn't work. It leaks a little oil on the driveway now and then. The A/C works ok. When It's 85 degrees outside, it was blowing 52 degrees (shown in photo). Freon probably should be charged or deal with it like I did. All the power stuff works (windows, power door locks, etc.). The radio volume knob sometimes is tricky to get to work. The #6 preset button on radio sometimes you have to push hard. And some of the LCD numbers on the radio, such as 3 & 5, the top doesn't show up on the display. (see photo) The 6 disc CD changer in trunk works. Who knows if the cassette tape player works? I don't own any cassettes. The paint is just ok, by no way perfect. The pin stripping needs to be ripped off. Sometimes the check engine light comes on (it did for my friend as well). It runs fine when they come on. They go off on their own or I reset them with a code scanner. They can go months before they come back on. The one code is for an EGR fault. And the other is some Serial Comm Link fault? I tried to research it on the internet, some say a relay for the comm fault? The EGR fault, not sure. I have cleaned the EGR valve out. Emission's on a Diesel is just horrible idea! And if this car wasn't so computerized it wouldn't have Check Engine light issues. ( I owned a 1984 Mercedes diesel, it ran like a tank. Never a Check Engine Light) Like I said, I just dealt with it. It still ran just fine. And still runs good right now. I can't think of anything else of whats wrong or what bothers me about the car. It is an 18 year old car! It is by no means perfect. That is why I'm starting the bid at a penny!! I tried to describe and disclose everything I can. I'm not trying to hiding anything. Like I said, it is just an old beater car, I drive to work. I tried to keep up on the maintenance. I didn't care about the appearance. It fires right up in cold weather and hot weather. It does have a block heater from the factory and that works great in really cold weather. And I have used diesel additive with every fill up. (Power Plus Diesel Additive or Lubro Moly Additive) The winning bidder can either enter in a demolition derby, drive it into a brick wall, hit trash cans with it or just use it as a beater car for work, like I did. I don't have to sell this car. I'm just tired of driving the slowest car on earth. And being like that old man that use to own it. It gets great milage though. I can go 700 miles on the highway on 21 gals of diesel, if you baby it. I will miss that! In general, I will be sad to see it go. It has been good to us. Except for that glow plug issue, it really has been bullet proof. I have the clear title in hand. I will not stop the auction if somebody tries to give me an offer. I will let this auction run its course. And NO, I will not donate this car to a charity or a Vocational School ( I have had people try to get me to do this before on eBay selling a car) It will come with a full tank of Diesel. (that is worth $40 in itself, ha ha) Local pick up only. If somebody wants to ship it, I will try to assist the best I can. Or they can meet me at my work in Lorton, Virginia right off I-95. There is a DMV right around the corner. $200.00 deposit due via PayPal 48 hours after auction ends. Cash or Certified Check in person is fine. Vehicle is as-is. No returns. Like I stated before, it is an 18 year old car. It has 159,310 (currently) miles on it. It is by no means perfect. I can't stress this enough! It will not win Best in Show, at a car show! I tried to disclose everything I know about my car. I'll even point out that I took most of the pictures in September, (except the mileage photo. I took that today) that's why there are still leaves on the trees in the background. But I assure you, nothing has changed about the car, just the mileage. I'm too lazy to clean it up again to take the same pictures. I was planning on selling it then, but didn't get around to it. I vacuumed it out and washed the car last week. Please do not hesitate to ask any questions. I will gladly answer them in a timely manner. Thanks for looking and good luck bidding. And remember, DO NOT BID, IF YOU DON'T PLAN ON COMPLETING THE DEAL!!!!!!