Cars and Bikes

This topic will cover mercedes a140 for year 1998 - 2002, manual transmission. For the the Indonesian this A140 type called "pre-face lift"



Body and exterior.

• Check the body, paint and outside rubber quality, as 5 more years old car its normal to a little scratch and dent.
• Check the headlight, tail light, do not accept the car with broken light, its costly to get a new one.
• Check the fog light place cover, a140 didn't come with additional fog light, however the place for the additional fog light are available in oval shape and covered by black plastic. Also check the hole cover for placing a rear hook, its only coin size plastic cover but difficult to find the replacement.
• Go under the body, on both side check the black rubber for placing a jack. And also check the scratch on the lower part of the front and rear bumpers. A140 ground clearance is limited, so the lower part of the bumper is easy to scratch and torn.
  

Engine.

Mercedes A140 have a tiny four cylinders 1400 cc engine, actually is enough to bring its tiny body with 2 or 3 passengers inside. From the outside, the engine sound little bit rough compare to its competitors, however the cabin soundproofing quality is good.

• Check for oil leaks in engine compartment, A140 engine with good maintenance always dry from oil.
• Check the ticking noise from the top of the engine, its coming from the tapped. Normally used A140 have no ticking noise.
• Check the oil gauge, inspect the quality of oil, make sure there is no white or milkshake colour fluid in the oil stick.
• Inspect the coolant quality in reservoir, make sure there is no oil mix with the coolant. Never buy a car if you find a mixture of coolant and oil in the reservoir
• Run the engine, and check the exhaust, a healthy engine will produce very little smoke, and the smoke are colorless. In the morning a healthy engine will also produce a little bit water.
• And where is the battery?

Interior.

A140 interior is neat, build with medium quality material, however some plastic handle is easy to torn.

• Check the plastic handle on the outer side of the front seats, this handle were easy to broke
• Inspect the dashboard, might be loosen and squeaking in some part due to loosen plastic clip/screw
• Check the spare tire, jack up and emergency tool, all these stuff are located in the back compartment
• Check the battery which is located in the driver seat floor.

Electrical, suspension and test drive.

• Turn the key to position 1, all light on dashboard panel should be on and within 2-3 seconds will off except some likes: parking brake, engine check and abs. Turn the key and start the engine, all light should be off except parking brake light.
• Turn on and check all lights, i.e: head light, turn light, fog light etc.
• The ABS light on the dashboard panel can be triggered by low battery supply.
• Check the AC and the climate control panel, check the sound system.
• Asked the seller for permission for test drive, drive slowly with maximum turn to the both side, if you feel something strange in the steering wheel, probably needs tie rod inspection. A140 tie rod is not to strong, its easily damage on poor road condition. In normal road use, this tie rod still good after 40.000km.
• Feel the steering wheel respond, if there is any "miss" or excessive vibration on the steering wheel at low speed, steering column inspection is needed especially for the RHD type.

In my experienced having this A140, this tiny car is though as long as maintain regularly. The engine is really low maintenance type, however the suspension was not to strong as the engine.