1985 Mercedes-Benz 300CD... 214k miles

Okay guys, I recently asked about a gorgeous 300SD I found and as much as I love it, many of you persuaded me to:

A. Go for something cheaper, that way I have some extra money for any fixes

B. Not buy a "perfect" car, cuz then I'll feel guilty actually using it

I agreed with this, so the search continued. I then came across the 300CD and fell in love. Firstly, I don't have a family so a 4D family sedan is not needed and while the sedans are still nice, the coupe is a cool car. The pillar-less design has me hooked.

Now, I was warned that it can be hard to get parts for them because they are rare and... well that's okay I think. I just love this car.

So anyways, I found this guy. It is by no means perfect, but that's kinda the point, while still being nice and having a good paint color and interior. Plus, it's $5k instead of $10k and I think I could talk him down...

In the last two photos, there was some rust he "repaired" under some of the floorboards (I will finish repairing them myself... it looks like he just didn't weld it completely) but he says there is otherwise no rust and really no issues.

Rather than explain it all, I'll just copy the description:

• Every oil change is either Rotella T6 5W-40 Turbo or Mobil-1 5W-30 Full Synthetic for Winter with Mann PF 1055 oil filter.
• Every year fuel system is treated with a Liqui-Moly Diesel Flush hot purge and that's like a tuneup in itself. Look it up!
• Replaced the battery with AGM H8
• Serviced glow plugs Repaired block heater plug
• Replaced belts
• Replaced water pump
• Replaced coolant expansions tank and cap
• Replaced tires (cracked now and ready to replace)
• Replaced front speakers
• Replaced fader switch
• Upgraded stereo to modern mp3 compatible deck as original Becker stereo was damaged.
• Replaced vacuum pump
• Replaced heater control valve with modern upgraded one to allow for superior heating control.
• Rebuilt heater control switch
• Flushed power steering system
• Replaced steering damper
• Replaced injector drain lines
• Replaced suction side fuel lines
• Replaced "cigar" hose
• Replaced valve cover gasket every two valve adjustments
• Replaced oil pan gasket
• Replaced turbo-drain seals
• Replaced wastegate vacuum line
• Replaced brake master cylinder
• Replaced brake pads and rotors all around (ATE)
• Replaced rubber brake hoses Flushed entire brake fluid system
• Replaced Rear stabilizer/swaybar links
• Replaced front shocks with HD Bilstein Flushed fuel tank
• Replaced pickup screen in fuel tank
• Replaced primary and secondary fuel filters yearly
• Replaced fuel primer/lift pump
• Flushed and filled rear diff
• Serviced transmission filter and fluid
• Replaced transmission shifter bushings Replaced Air filter housing supports Upgraded headlights to European E4 specs and Hella 65W bulbs

He said he drove it as his daily for 5 years, up until the last 3 months after his work got him a rig. I also asked about long drives, as I will use it for road trips a lot and he said he has done multiple 600 mile (round trip) drives with no issues.

What are y'all's thoughts? I feel like if I can get him down to $4k or even $4.5k it wouldn't be a bad buy. Even if there's stuff to fix, I'll have some extra cash and the ability to fix anything I find.

Thanks!... again lol

As promised here is the update of the post I published a few days ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/w123/s/21pMOpqXgW

The gearbox is working perfectly fine (except reverse, sometimes I need to move the car 1cm forward to get it to engage), so I can confirm that the 717.400 (diesel 5 speed gearbox) and the 717.401 (petrol 5 speed gearbox) are both the same inside (previous post has more detailed information).

This might be usefull as there are very few 717.400's but there are many 717.401's lying around here in Europe, which might make 5 speed conversions easier.

Today I had the day off, so I took the opportunity to install lower ball joints, wheel bearings, and a used steering box. Took me like 2 hours to do everything. I got spindles from the junkyard and cleaned them up. New bearings, the originals will be rebuilt with new joints and bearings, and I will be selling them and exchange core .. Replaced the steering box, original has more than 200k and steering play was loose, used one is unknown mileage and seems a little less loose, for 80 bucks. Before buying a rebuild one, also replaced the steering coupler.

EDIT: I'm going to pass on this car... to anyone interested here is the link.

Good day to you my fellow Mercedes addicts...

This car came into my life earlier this afternoon and I instantly fell in love. To keep this simple, I'll put this into two sections, car description first, then my questions about it.

• 1984 300SD
• One family since it was bought in Germany (and imported) thru Mercedes' Factory Delivery Program
• 270k miles
• Service done in the last 2 years:

Head gasket service completed

Valve adjustment performed

Compression verified

New glow plugs installed

Steering system refreshed

Tie rods

Center link

Idler arm

Steering damper

Front and rear flex discs (guibos) replaced
Driveshaft center support bearing replaced

Transmission service completed

Differential service completed

New engine mounts

New transmission mount

Suspension refreshed with new shocks

Brake service performed, including fluid flush

New battery

New tires

• Garage kept
• Cali. car
• Free of rust
• Full ownership and service history

Asking $10,000

Okay, here are my questions:

I currently have a 2014 Jetta TDI, 6spd manual. It's a great car, literally zero issues, and I do like it. But it's not cool lol. It's my second vehicle, so I do have another reliable vehicle and am not dependent on this one... so I'd like something that is cool and that I'd enjoy driving and showing off.

That being said, I do drive the Jetta a lot cuz its a lot better on fuel than my 5.9 Cummins pickup, so this will be a daily driver... or at least a frequent driver. I also use the Jetta for long drives/road trips, so that would be a good to use this for that too...

So, not specifically to this car, are they at the age now where it is too old to be a reliable daily or something I can trust on a long drive? Everything I've read says they're basically indestructible and will go forever if cared for, which this one seems like it has been.

Does this car seem like a good buy?

Is $10k crazy? It seems like a lot for me, given I'd sell my Jetta for around that... but also I would pay it if that's what it takes. I love this car, especially the blue, its the only good color I've seen while browsing... a nice change from the white, banana yellow, and cream... or the occasional bronzey-brown.

Thanks!

I’ve never owned a Benz or a diesel before. 140k miles on the clock. Runs drives and stops. The power windows and roof still work. The antenna even goes up and down!!! Just needs tires to be properly roadworthy.

Replacing my starter on my 300D while working on a manual swap. I got a bosche reman part from FCP Euro. On first startup the car made a lot of screeching noises so I pulled the starter to inspect.

This black collar was grinding against the flywheel while the engine was running. Looking back at the old (original) starter, this collar is much thinner and a different shape. Did I just get a bad part?

Video is from cold start this morning.

I‘ve always liked classic cars WITHOUT a right rear view mirror. Might sounds strange to some of you…
My first car was a W201 without one… my second car a W124 without a mirror on the right. My third car was a W115, again no right mirror. Now I got this 240D from their first owners (!!)
When ordering it in 1982 they ordered a sunroof, headrests on the back seats but they didn‘t waste any money on the rear view mirror on the right.
I love this understatement, especially when the car was rather on the expensive side and the absence of that mirror was one reason to buy exactly this very car.
Can you relate or would you install one asap?

Anybody in here has installed a backup camera?

1. What did you use?

2. Did you have to drill in back trunk to pass the wire to install it?

Just want to know anybody that has done this.

I do find on my coupe I need the backup camera as the visibility on the back is a bit more challenging than the sedan. (due to the sitting position), and I park often in NYC?

Any help on how you installed it, would be great. (I'd like to install one, but without having to drill into anything to pass the wires). What are you using to show it in the dash (aftermarket carplay, or dedicated screen, etc)?

Thanks

Ps. I found this old thread on this by one of you guys, but I'd prefer to retain the mirror. Any other solutions?
https://www.reddit.com/r/w123/comments/1gjp859/smart_rear_view_mirror/

My throttle bushing has always been like this but it seems awfully loose to me, does this look ok to you guys or is something broken?

Hi guys,
Recently the oil pressure of my om617.912 seems to be a little to low. The gauge reads 3bar right after starting but when the engine is properly warmed up it drops to around 0.5-0.8bar. Also it seems like i have too low oil pressure when i increase the rpm.
It isnt caused by worn main and conrod bearing cuz i checked them when replacing my rear crankshaft seal. Also i am runnijg this engine without a oil cooler but it might not be the issue cuz it was run like that for a long time and i have a feeling that it started to have the low oil press like overnight. The oil filter is new and it is not a cheap aftermarket one.

On the first video is a showcase of the gauge when the engine is warmed up and in the comments i will put a video of the gauge when it is semi warmed up

Should I put these on my w123? What problems will I have (if any) if I do?

They are staggered 225/40/18 front and 265/35/18 rear. Thoughts?

Hello, yesterday my w123 200 (carburated) got out of the MB shop. I replaced my engine head and a bunch of bits and pieces of the engine for 4k €. They told me that the chain tensioner was not replaced as the part takes a very long time to arrive and gave me a bill for 500€ to replace it once it arrived. The chain tensioner part in the bill was 240€ wich seemed expwnsive so I researched it online and I found many places that sell it for 70€. Should I just order the 70€ one and tell them to mount it? Has anyone had experience with this brand?

Bonjour, je souhaite savoir si les w123 240d et 300d ont des courroie ou des chaînes de distribution ?

Y'a t il différents modèles qui on une chaîne ou une courroie ?

Merci d'avance !

I found a 300D turbo diesel for sale at 12,000 (I think i can talk down) with 127,000 miles. No damage seen interior good only thing is leather doors are starting to sag but that can be re upholstered. What are ideas / comments. I would be going from my Prius to this. But I am used to cars as a friend commonly works on E30s.

Saw this hanging down in the front near the engine any idea what it is/should I be concerned about it?

1983 240d

I bought my W123 from a private seller a few days ago and was checking under the hood today but when I went to close the hood, I noticed the driver side hinge was messed up and making some clunky noises. Come to find out, the whole hinge with both the long (attached to the hood) and short arms (attached to the engine bay) have been totally dislodged from the bracket that the bottom arm is supposed to be attached to. There’s just a hole now where the pivot point used to be!

I was struggling to close the hood because of this issue but after 30 minutes of messing around and using WD40 on the hinge and moving the spring coil out of the way, I was finally able to pop the end of the arm into the hole and get the hood closed. Temporary fix!

As you can see from the first image, that’s the hole where the bottom arm is supposed to be attached!
I was not able to get a clear picture of the passenger side hinge because the battery is blocking the way, but it looks like there’s a fixed pivot stud with a retaining clip and washer, probably the original factory one. I lubed that up to make sure it doesn’t fall off or have any issues.

Not sure if this hinge attachment point is a DIY fix, may need to go to the shop to get this done.

Hello!

I am currently working on fixing a huge electrical issue and I am running out of ideas.

My left front headlights ground is done inside the left front fender mudguard, on the right side, is is tightened on the plastic nut that holds the blinker. Is this normal? Or should the right side be hidden inside the mudguard as well?

I have a really "interesting" issue: if I turn on my low beams, they're not bright, and it lights up my high beams as well, also not as strong.

If I remove one of the low beam fuses, from both sides, just one, only one headlight light up, as it should, and high beam does not turn on.

Where could it come from? I don‘t see a leak in the window seal or something… could this even be the reason?

hello, I'm interested in where is the most cost-effective place to buy seat fabric in this color. (EU or Turkey)

1985 300D

Let me preface by saying I’m not a car guy. I specifically bought this car because I wanted to get into all the mechanical stuff working on cars while at the same time owning a classic that I can drive on the weekends. I’m not a complete beginner when it comes to knowledge of vehicle mechanics and I hope you can gauge my knowledge from this post itself. I’m learning as I go.

Transmission shifts well, a bit jumpy going from 1st to 2nd though. Car comfortably cruises at 80mph no problem. Engine temperature 80 Celsius. There’s no forward creep when the car is in drive, I have to depress the accelerator pedal significantly to get it going. Reverse works fine without accelerator. Not sure if that’s normal (I’m assuming it’s because the engine rpm is lower)?

Here are the current issues with the vehicle, in no particular order:

- AC blows hot air only. Not sure if the compressor is working properly or the original R12 refrigerant needs to be refilled. People say that’s it worth it to convert to R134, how much work is that and how much is that going to set me back.

- driver side rear window doesn’t roll up/down. Tried with both the door panel window switch and the center console switch.

- previous owner added an aftermarket Kenwood radio (with the faceplate). It doesn’t turn on at all, not sure why. The antenna also doesn’t work.

- the hood and trunk make some noise when opening and closing on the hinges. May need to lube them up.

- odometer does not work. Stuck at 200k.

- There’s a small rust hole on the front fender and also near the rear wheel well passenger side (idk if you see from the image) but that’s an issue I’m going to push a little further down the road, as there’s no underbody or floor pan rust from what I can see and the jack points have very little rust. Car will be garaged.

Maintenance wise, what is the first thing I should be doing? I know oil change and refilling all the fluids (brake fluid, wiper, transmission) is a good place to start. What are the essential tools do I need? Right now I’m fine doing simple fixes on my own. The advantage is that it saves money and I also learn stuff. At some point I want to be able to do all the work in my garage and not have to go to the shop for 90% of things. Obviously the rust work I’m going to need to go in the shop to fix.