9/2/2012 3:55:27 PM
vanir Victoria Australia 45, joined Mar. 2008	I just bought one of these with low kms Anybody had any experience with them? Any general tips? I've heard from one mechanic at the Benz forums it's a strong engine. Might warm it over a bit eventually but for now just looking for any general experience people have had with this model. Meet singles at DateHookup.dating, we're 100% free! Join now!
10/6/2012 10:05:24 PM
amber1011 Camp Hill, PA 32, joined Aug. 2009	190E is a very solid car - you'll run into a couple typical top end oil leaks, but nothing major. Front end is pretty solid, will eventually need a sway bar and control arms if it doesn't already have them replaced. Typical German electrical crap - to know it is to love it. Overall, you should see 200,000+ miles out of it. I've been looking for an old 190 for years to add to my collection. congrats!!
10/6/2012 11:01:34 PM
wildkard9 Junction City, KS 33, joined Aug. 2009	Quote from amber1011: 190E is a very solid car - you'll run into a couple typical top end oil leaks, but nothing major. Front end is pretty solid, will eventually need a sway bar and control arms if it doesn't already have them replaced. Typical German electrical crap - to know it is to love it. Overall, you should see 200,000+ miles out of it. I've been looking for an old 190 for years to add to my collection. congrats!! Should've seen the one I built for my ex. Black inside and out. Redid the entire leather interior. Replaced the entire exhaust. New tires, even took the time to replace all lines vacuum and fluid. Sold it for 500 bucks when I caught her cheating haha.
10/7/2012 10:04:47 AM
amber1011 Camp Hill, PA 32, joined Aug. 2009	Damn, another great deal I missed out on. If you'd wanna build another one, I know this cool chick that would help you...
10/7/2012 10:13:14 AM
wildkard9 Junction City, KS 33, joined Aug. 2009	If I build another one. It's likely to get a heart transplant. Around here, they are easy to come by, but Im picky!
10/7/2012 10:28:32 AM
cupocheer Assumption, IL 66, joined May. 2010	(this post has been flagged as inappropriate, sorry.)
10/7/2012 2:33:29 PM
peter_pan1968 Adrian, MI 28, joined Dec. 2011	Quote from amber1011: 190E is a very solid car - you'll run into a couple typical top end oil leaks, but nothing major. Front end is pretty solid, will eventually need a sway bar and control arms if it doesn't already have them replaced. Typical German electrical crap - to know it is to love it. Overall, you should see 200,000+ miles out of it. I've been looking for an old 190 for years to add to my collection. congrats!! you're not joking about German electrical... My merkurs are a f**king headache to fix when the electrical starts playing games. 1 headlights and both foglights are on 1 circuit, then the other headlights and the running lights are on another... Fml
10/7/2012 3:25:42 PM
cupocheer Assumption, IL 66, joined May. 2010	(this post has been flagged as inappropriate, sorry.)
11/22/2012 7:39:33 AM
vanir Victoria Australia 45, joined Mar. 2008	Didn't know I had any replies, been flat out with work and stopped checking the thread after a couple of weeks. Cheers for the replies Well it's a couple of months on now and I've been learning by doing with the Merc. Lady was right about the control arms, well tie rod ends, there was a bit of play in the steering but new ends fixed it up...can't believe how well this little thing can be tossed around to be honest, I drive it like a track car half the time (it's not the Sportline but I think it's had that suspension/wheel package fitted aftermarket, I got the 15" alloys/205-60s, bit lowered, nice and tight). It's only done about 110,000 miles so that part is lucky, mostly it's just been left out in the sun and not garaged, so the clear coat has peeled off the bonnet and bootlid...excuse me americans call them the hood and trunk. That and a slight damage on one door will cost just over a grand to fix up all nice. I've been learning about the electricals too...indeedy some Mercs can be a real pain there. Thankfully I've got the KE-Jetronic (mechanical injection with only spark and sensors controlled electrically, induction is all done vacuum/diaphram). So at least that cuts some big costs on the later Mercs like the C-class if I have injection problems...which I do. Leaky damn fuel-distributor (the controller for the injector flow). If it was electronic-injection that'd cost me 2-3 grand, but being mechanical a new unit will set me back a little over 450 bucks. That's nice. Been looking over the AMG version of this car, using the same M103 base engine but AMG took the 3.0 litre and stroked it for 3.2 litres, popped a cam in, bigger exhaust system and pumps 250hp. Well that's an expensive build since what I'm doing here is trying to get the best I can for the least amount of money. Don't want to go spending oodles more than the value of the car, or I'd just buy a newer car. Thankfully Mercedes AG said they over-engineered the 190, the M103 engine has the same bulletproof internals in the 2.6 litre that AMG uses (if you could get this much power through it, the bottom end will take 600hp stock they say). I talked to some people who tried the bolt in changeover to the 3.0 litre in the 300 series Mercs (300E, TE, SE), one feller had a warmed over 2.6 first then swapped it out to a 3.0 in his 190E and said the 2.6 was actually a bit quicker on the highway, the bigger bore just felt nicer on launches. Stock the 2.6 is 160hp and the 3.0 180hp, but what I've got planned is a nice cam grind from a German tune shop for the M103 that should punch it out with the bigger exhaust I've put on, to more like 200/220hp depending which engine. That's not too bad, I can save myself about 1300 bucks stick with the 2.6 and I'll be pretty happy with about 200 reliable hp on that. It's not exactly slow with 160-odd (bigger exhaust and K&N filter, not sure how much that's getting me but it seems to spin real nice from 3000-6000). So far I've got new brakes in, new tyres, a 2-1/4" system, new fuel pumps/filter. On going project. Gotta get this fuel-distributor fitted, wait for money, looking forward to getting the cam in for a bit of lopey idle, and the new paint.
12/4/2012 5:27:03 PM
uriahrose FPO, AP 96, joined Sep. 2012	That was a real Mercedes, just smaller. Back when they built them then priced them instead of building them to a price. Easy to work on and parts ain't super expensive. The main problem Ive had is the stupid vacuum locks. I had a 190D for years, was good on fuel (although for some reason I never got the 50 plus mpg that some people claim...) and comfortable for a small car. My last one was a 190E 2.3 automatic which was decent, did mid to high 20s and was a good little work beater.
12/18/2012 11:19:15 PM
rcrmike Souderton, PA 56, joined Apr. 2009	I am surprised to see this car here. Didn't know there was any interest in them. I can't help you with the present mechanical issues. But I can give you some first hand impressions and what we did when they were new. I worked for the Mercedes importer when these were first introduced. I did the "Ride and Drive" new car introductions at the race tracks for the dealers and customers. What a fun time that was. Five days a week at the racetrack. We allowed the dealers to drive them all day on the big track and on an autocross course. We were doing drifting long before it became popular. They abused the crap outta them and thought they were the next Michael Schumacher. Then myself and my racing collegues gave them a thrill ride at the end of the day. Let's just say, it was an emotional experience. These things would just keep going. They got rolled off a truck with zero miles on them and we drove them at speed on road courses around the country all year. And they lasted ALL year. Hardly driven on the street, all track miles. Keep in mind they were new, but they didn't break. We had other competitors models too. We were not permitted to drive them as hard, as they just didn't hold up mechanically. The quality wasn't the same. Many of our professional drivers eventually bought their own Mercedes after being sold on the handling and build quality. That program lasted about a dozen years before someone else took it over. Gee that was a wild time! We did an experiment on the catalytic converters. Two of our drivers had identical 190e 16v cars they used for track day events. One guy thought he'd get an advantage by gutting the converter. It was a little throatier sounding, but no performance gain. They were dead even as usual. I just remembered our tire budget. The first year we exceeded the $250,000.00 budget. The second year we "permitted" a tire company to be the sole supplier for our program. They got to talk about tires to the dealers, and WE got free tires and a couple fulltime tire guys at the track. They were not prepared for what we dished out. One of the tire guys was VP of Sales, and he actually mounted and balanced tires all day long. He was German, so we taught him how to do "American" pit stops. We lifted the entire car, balancing on two jacks simultaneously, as HIS guys swapped the tires. Oh my, that was dangerous! It took him a while to catch on that our NASCAR boys only had ONE jack. Just as well. I didn't enjoy teetering behind the wheel for the short time they had all four wheels removed. Couldn't believe we didn't drop the entire car and crack all four rotors! I'm still keeping an eye out for both the 190e 2.3 16valve and also the 190e 2.6 with five speed manuals. They're hard to find with a manual and priced right. They're either low mileage expensive garage queens or well abused and never maintained junk. I'm still inclined to eventually resurrect one of the junky ones for a fulltime track car, because I'm still a kid inside and haven't given up playing with my cars. Anybody ever strip one completely bare? I wonder what they'd weigh.
12/19/2012 9:58:07 PM
uriahrose FPO, AP 96, joined Sep. 2012	I don't know anybody that ran them on the truck, like BMW E30s, but not the 190s. I've always wanted a 3.2 AMG but never even seen one, the 16s while not common can still be found, good luck with the 3.2s. Even the 2.5 turbos aint around much these days, but I still see the NA ones quite a bit.
12/21/2012 10:22:27 PM
uriahrose FPO, AP 96, joined Sep. 2012	They have a 190E 2.6 5 speed Sport in the Ktown Craigslist I think for 2K that looks decent.

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