Hi All,

I took the plunge and purchased a 1998 E300 DT from a private seller which had been listed on ebay but didn't make reserve. The seller was in Delaware and drove the car to the Philadelphia airport yesterday to meet me and I drove it home to New Hampshire with no troubles at all other than a strange noise which I located to be a loose fan guard that was vibrating in the wind. That should cost no more than $1 to fix with a replacement push-in fastener

The car sat out last night where the temp fell to -6F and when I went out this morning it was -2F. It fired up as though it had just shut down - no block heater needed. Just a little clatter when I drove off which I am used to from my days of owning a '74 240D (new in '74). The car has 116K on it now and was impeccibly maintained by its prior owner who owned it for nearly 3 years. In that time he spent about $4K having everything done which needed doing and done at the MB dealer. Prior to that it's history is not really known and the service records are incomplete, but I would say based upon my impressions of it the engine is perfectly fine, and the synthetic oil seems to really aid in the cold starting. He's only driven it 25K in the time he owned it so all maintenance was up to date and it should not need any major work for the foreseeable future. It passed state safety inspection this morning with flying colors.

I'm glad to re-join the brotherhood of oil burners, and add this to my stable of MB autos which presently includes a 1988 560SL and 2004 C240 4Matic Wagon. I'm sure I'll have questions in the future and am glad this forum exists to help me out when I do!

The car is from the south originally and in both states where it was registered they did not have front license plates required so it has no bracket for the front plate. Does anyone know if the MB bracket requires drilling into the bumper or does it attach in some nondestructive way? If it doesn't need holes then I will get one from the dealer, but if it does I might as well buy a generic one from Pep Boys for $2.99 and install it myself. I need to put a front plate on it before the state will pass inspection.

-Marty

Yes and no.

I have a 99 model and the way I see it, it has 4 attachment points. 2 on top and 2 below. The below ones seem to slip into a slot in the bumper. The ones on top require a screw.

I had mine removed and patched up the holes. Nice clean lines now. Originally, I removed it and drilled a hole in the center so I could put the MB licence plate. Since I foun I could cheaply fix the holes, I decided to put the plate and the frame away and close the holes in the bumper cover.

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