I Bought a CHEAP W140 Mercedes S-Class! Walkaround & Misfire Repair

[@19Spec3]

The juxtaposition of soft close doors and that buzzer is hilarious.

[@OutMotorsports]

"The Best or Nothing" 🙃 EEEEEEEEEEEE

[@althethirdgv6797]

I can’t believe that I’m just now discovering your channel. Great video. The W140 is also a great car. I have a ‘98 S600 that I would let sit for months until the battery dies. The car fires up with no problems when using a portable battery pack and it brings a smile to my face every time I drive it. I have Grom Audio installed in mine for Bluetooth compatibility which works great. Loving the channel and checking out your website.

[@OutMotorsports]

Glad you found us! I've been looking for a used Grom unit just to avoid paying new prices but want one regardless. It's off at the shop for a few things (that video is coming) and then I can get the Bluetooth installed, shift segment fixed, and really start enjoying it.

[@kopshopper]

You can send the Radio to Becker in NJ who is the original manufacturer send they can add Bluetooth to the radio and its not expensive!

[@OutMotorsports]

Oh that would be amazing! Was wondering if I could easily add Bluetooth to the car and keep everything otherwise factory.

[@garrettdodson6110]

No way!!! For real????

[@BomberFletch31]

KZbin's algorithm directed me here. This is one of my dream cars. I just haven't had the time, space or money to take on a project as yet, but I'm keen to watch how your S320 turns out. Subscribed.

[@OutMotorsports]

Glad you found us! There will be more videos coming - the car is off at my detailer having the paint corrected right now.

[@A124Lover]

Love this I want a W140 so bad. Not sure if you know or not but you can put the hood in a service position so it's basically fully upright so you don't have to worry about hitting your head on the grill. You made me nervous working under there so close to hitting your head lol. There are 2 tabs, one on each hinge that release the hood so you can push it up in the full upright "service" position. Then you have free easy access to the entire engine bay! Great vid, some day I just might try working on my red A124, you made it look so easy!

[@OutMotorsports]

Hah, I completely forgot about service position! Ooops. Will remember it next time!

[@crs290]

Mercedes don’t have a “smell”, they have an aroma. Nice video.

[@OutMotorsports]

Very valid! And yes, it's a little intoxicating!

[@NLDMesa06]

I've been on an old S-class kick lately and this thumbnail grabbed my eye. LOVE this channel and everything you're about. You've hooked me. Subscribed!

[@OutMotorsports]

Thanks! There's one more video published and a few more coming on this ol' gal. Stay tuned! kzbin.info/www/bejne/kHrOdXeeesxkopY

[@jtfberryfarm9592]

Congrats on this classic! with patience it will be great again. I have a few w140s, never a dull moment. Little tip: wiper blades are no longer available from the dealer, But you can get bosch ar65n for left and bosch ar26u for the right. enjoy your new toy.

[@SouthsideKidd550]

Seeing that Acura Legend and the Mercedes S320 in the driveway look very nostalgic. Back in '93-'96, those were the cars to see in a doctor's or lawyer's driveway. Wife drove the Acura and the Husband drove the Mercedes.

[@OutMotorsports]

The 2nd-gen Legend was (and still is) such a well-done car. The teal one you see here needs some brake work and maybe valve stem seals but otherwise runs and drives. Hopefully we can collectively get it going!

[@Wasabi9111]

@@OutMotorsports I loved the 2nd gen legend. Still think it is one of Acura’s best cars! I especially miss the low dash.

[@fireplays_official]

A word of advice about the wiring harness, i didn't know that they had a better version for the engine harnass in '96 BUT, The biodegradable harnass was used starting from 1992! Which is also the reason why every W124 starting from '92 has it as well!

[@tombaker501]

Great video, looks like a fun project

[@clay282]

I'm really enjoying this. A new direction for the channel?

[@OutMotorsports]

An additional direction more than anything! Figured documenting the repair journey would be part of the fun - did it a few years ago with an Infiniti G35 as well when the channel was a lot smaller: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2jaop2JoLeVgM0 kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3q3fYiLmJmEl9E kzbin.info/www/bejne/fofXnKWMfa6LnaM kzbin.info/www/bejne/apXYd5ardtxjjtk

[@TrevorS38]

Great video, really like the style and direction of the video. Tinkering with awesome but cheap cars is always the best. W140s are increasingly appealing as cars age.

[@ab7_92]

Best car ever built ❤

[@mattpipes5106]

I’ve heard the black paint on Mercedes was single stage up until pretty recently and it seems to have held up nicely… you are always rolling the dice with an older car but this Mercedes seems stout and looks fantastic. I drive an ‘82 300td and I have a soft spot for old Mercedes… or maybe daddy issues, or perhaps both, but anyway great to see this car get a new lease on life!

[@detonater1348]

Its the W140 here, everything was over engineered on this including the paint.

[@OutMotorsports]

This is 040 Black and allegedly (per my detailer) has clear coat on it!

[@brianrudolph4064]

Awww yea love to see some work on a classic german big sedan, looks like a great find.

[@OutMotorsports]

Things I wasn't looking to buy: this. Things I'm surprisingly excited about: this.

[@pipolebnene]

My dream is a deep black outside with creme inside w140 but they keep on getting more expensive and rare to find clean ones

[@OutMotorsports]

They are definitely tough to find! I got really lucky with this one falling into my lap.

[@OscarGarcia-sk8px]

The OBD2 port is no help for diagnosing problems. You have to use the diagnostic port under the hood. The round thing. I have a '97 SL600 and found out that you need Star Diagnostic equipment or an aftermarket alternative.

[@OutMotorsports]

Yeah, same as early OBD-II BMWs... but thankfully it worked to figure out the misfire. More complicated items would require the Star setup!

[@seanscott685]

Cool video! Thanks man 👨

[@blackericdenice]

I've been loving Mercedes for over 30 years but I never bought one because I thought they were rich people cars. I'm not rich but I own 2 cars one suv one pickup and one sport bike. I should own one Mercedes. So I bought a 2007 c350 6 weeks ago for $800. It run great and only has 73k miles. It's like a 4 door v6 Corvette.

[@OutMotorsports]

If you pick the right model they can be pretty sturdy and easy enough to keep going! That generation of C-Class seems to be a good one - enjoy!

[@blackericdenice]

@@OutMotorsports Your car is sweet. I would love to drive a 500.

[@caddyzig]

Cool find! Looking forward to following your progress. Totally unrelated, but I really like your shoes! What are they?

[@OutMotorsports]

Thanks! Let's hope the rest of the repairs go as smoothly as this first round did. Shoes are from UnderArmour's Pride collection in 2023, I think.

[@caddyzig]

@ I’ll be curious to see what you find with the degrading wiring, that’s for sure! Thanks for the tip on the shoes. They’re nice!

[@bestpilot98]

Nice looking Merc., but I'd love to hear more about that Legend sedan!!!

[@OutMotorsports]

Thanks! We'll see about doing a video on the Legend... it needs some love but has good bones.

[@craigroosa9321]

Great video and you made it interesting , not all do ! Lol A little bit of swearing sounds just like me ! Helps too !

[@OutMotorsports]

Heh thanks! Got the next one coming up later today!

[@Wasabi9111]

I didn’t realize this was “only” 4.4k lbs, which seems like nothing compared to modern cars. How were they able to make it seems so solid/bank vault back then? I was at the white plains Mercedes dealer last weekend and was surprised how modern Mercedes didn’t seem to have the bank vault feeling anymore and the large amount of cheap hollow plastic everywhere. Keep us posted on your progress.

[@OutMotorsports]

I thought it would weigh more as well, but apparently the six-cylinder cars are relatively light. Keep in mind the V8 and especially V12s will weigh a good bit more.

[@detonater1348]

U must be joking...tell me any regular modern car (sedan) thats heavier than 4500lbs...i'll wait...

[@detonater1348]

FYI the shifter leaning on 4th gear dont mean that its only driving on 4 gears...mine does that as well but shifts to 5th gear without any issues...u can check it urself and i guarantee that it will shift to 5th gear without a fuss

[@OutMotorsports]

So you're right - if you look at the shifter in the dark with lights on, it engages Drive still despite sitting in the middle of the gate. A more firm push to the left gives a click and it lights up 4 instead. But, I have the shift segment to replace and it was only $65 so will tackle it soon enough. I'd like the shifter to sit properly if I can help it.

[@njw1840]

For Bluetooth you can just go to the store and buy one of those plug-in to the lighter Bluetooth plugs also that cannot be a 1996 it has to be at 95 and older because the 96 had the same body tone in color at the top end at the bottom also that buzzer that you hear would not be found in the 96 or newer which is the facelift model also your misfire could be just your mass air flow sensor because I was having the same issue with my 1999 w 140 m 104 engine 3.2 l inline 6 Mercedes-Benz

[@OutMotorsports]

Hey there, this is 100% a MY1996 according to the VIN, build date, and other updates it has (digital odometer, for one) that indicate it is a '96 facelift car. They did a second facelift for MY1997 that removed the two-tone paint and changed the taillights' amber to clear. This is all for US-market cars so other markets may be different. The misfire was cured with plugs, coils and wires. I've got a Grom BT3 on the way as that uses the CD changer plug instead of low-quality FM radio. The FM and cassette in this car sound remarkably bad but the CD player is excellent.

[@kkal1183]

Gay and Cars.. Gars..who could ask for more 👍

[@youtoobe169]

I'd never heard that parts of the '96 still used the degradable wiring harness

[@OutMotorsports]

Yeah - the engine harness changed for MY1996+ but the door mirrors still degrade, despite receiving small changes themselves for 1996. Thankfully found a good mirror assembly to swap on, the next video will show just how bad this mirror is and it's not worth fixing myself!

[@turnne]

Wow...great condition for that year and mileage. Clearly a car that was garaged . I had a 1992 W140( turbo diesel) that I bought in 1999, Great car and frankly the best road car I have ever driven. Could be VERY expensive to repair. One of the big issues on these is the AC Evap core...a common failure that requires the entire dash to be disassembled to get to the part.

[@mannine99]

nothing special about evap core, pretty much every car its dash out job. this is very nice W140, want one

[@turnne]

@@mannine99 Well..these cars had a high failure rate of Evap cores. Shop time is 28 hours of labor to do the job on this. Check the rate times on this for yourself As I said before I had one of the W140s years ago and the job had been done once under warranty with the original owner and once under my ownership with an extended warranty This a nice W140 and they are very nice cars But the complexity of these make them very expensive to fix

[@detonater1348]

​@@turnnewrong, my W140 is by far the most reliable and cheapest car to maintain from all the cars ive had. Except the wiring harness, everything else is fairly cheap.

[@turnne]

@@detonater1348 Glad to your that your W140 is very reliable. But I am telling you historically when I owned one and patronized Crown Mercedes Benz in Dublin Ohio and they did many evap cores on W140s and the shop time is 28 hours to fix it...There were also doing a lot of strut replacements on early W220's at the time Do you have the capability to look at a shop time manual? Here is an example kzbin.info/www/bejne/bZ26p3ekpLiKp8U

[@mannine99]

@@turnne id buy this car even with leaking core if price is right.

[@pamed76]

If you want, contact the Mercedes Benz classic center. They can provide you with history of the car.

[@fireplays_official]

I can't believe your neighbours traded that thing in for a freaking volvo wagon lol.

[@OutMotorsports]

Oh no they kept it! They just added the Volvo as a kid hauler so the Mercedes would stay nice.

[@fireplays_official]

@@OutMotorsports even better lol

[@arthurdardalis]

Nice video, what happened to the E21??????

[@OutMotorsports]

The E21 wasn't mine (Jake) - it belonged to my friend Taylor who ultimately sold it after enjoying it for maybe two years. He was trying to consolidate his fleet and I know he misses it but it was time.

[@redriver15262]

momma, the hood goes VERTICAL so u can have space to work on it lol

[@OutMotorsports]

*Completely* forgot about the service position until the next day, hah! Can you tell I'm new to the brand??

[@downerhouseproductions7267]

How much did you pay for this cool old classic?

[@OutMotorsports]

The car was a steal but I've put a good bit into it since...

[@TheAcemaster25]

W140 project car? RIP your finances.

[@OutMotorsports]

I mean... it could be an S600 😂

[@b4804514]

I drove MB for 22 years before the Soy wiring NIGHTMARE. 1994 MB Soy wiring was the last straw. I HATE MB for making such a mistake and would not stand behind there failures. You will spend a lot of money as the soy wiring fails and implodes.

[@detonater1348]

They actually fixed many of the cars with bad harnesses for free...if the owner during the late 90s was attentive enough, there is a chance that it got replaced by Mercedes. Meaning mercedes stood by their product and fixed it for those who really cared enough.

[@OutMotorsports]

Thankfully the 96+ got an updated engine harness, and it sounds like they did repair many of the pre-96 cars at the time. The door mirrors never got a fix though and that's what I'm dealing with now...

[@julianlord2697]

From when a Merc was well made.

[@OutMotorsports]

Everything so far seems really thought out and high quality as I'm taking it apart!