A Greek taxi driver, Gregorios Sachinides, presented the Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart with his trusty cab - a 1976 Mercedes 240D diesel with 4.6 million kilometres on the clock. It took only three motors for it to get to that millage

http://www.worldcarfans.com/classics.cfm/classicID/5040929.001/country/gcf/mercedes/proverbial-longevity-in-4.6-million-kilometers

There is plenty more sources just do a search for the guys name

We all saw it coming
Benz sets new world record

Damn, now all those eBay sellers are going to exaggerate their W123s even more. But, damn, that is impressive. The original engine in my 240D only lasted 240k miles.

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'83 240D with 617.952 and 2.88
'01 VW Beetle TDI
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD
'89 Toyota 4x4, needs 2L-T
'78 280Z with L28ET - 12.86@110
Oil Burner Kartel #35

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b1...oD/bioclip.jpg

If you look at any diesel that runs a long time, they are not started up and shutdown a lot. If you look at the traveling this guy did in this world record setting Benz you can see that it did some long runs. These motors are very high compression and very tight even more than most diesels and upon startup when cold they go through a tremendous amount of damage through the expansion and increased friction of cold non-lubricated parts. So probably the reason your diesel gave out early was its lifestyle.

I have this paperback titled "How to make your car last a million miles" by this automotive engineer and he concurs with what you posted above, he stated" 85% of your engine wear occurs on start up--15% of wear after the engine is warm and running down the highway". I have always used those good oil filters with the anti-drainback valves to prevent these dry starts as much as possible. ANymore, if I have to go to a neighborhood store for something, I walk instead of firing up the diesel. Better for me and the motor.

I read somewhere on another site (which I cannot find) that the car had 4 engines used in rotation through 11 engine rebuilds which would help explain 2,852,000 miles and 259,300 miles per engine rebuild if my memory is correct It's even more amazing that the car seems to not have suffered severe accidents in that time!

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1974 240D 3.0L 4(M) - 250K -OM617.910 + 300D FW + Rajay turbo power!
1977 6.9 3(A) - 84k

It's even more amazing that the car seems to not have suffered severe accidents in that time![/QUOTE]

would you want to hit a 240d with a fiat uno or panda?

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currently
[1981 300 td tdidi 165500 dark brown/palamino-Brownie-mine-3k miles of ownership
1983 240d 162+++ Anthricite grey w/ henna red interior and hella lights-wifes car-Red

the above two cars are for sale
and can be seen on the cars for sale thread here. pix also available.


240d-144+ Manilla Yellow w/ palmino interior-greasecar kit-Blondie-the college kids car

23" gt 21 speed still on original tires-still got the nubs
21" khs tandem

What is really amazing is to consider the number of pot holes this car ran through on roads that aren't as good as those here in America. Body integrity is really something on these autos.

DS
87 300D
01 Dakota
Northern Iowa

I guess products like lucas are worth their weight in gold now aren't they.

Diesel Mercedes Benz cars can last an incredible number of miles, with proper maintenance, and repair.

260k miles for a taxi engine is extremely impressive, I'll bet 90% of those miles are 'in-town' driving... lugging around 4 fat american tourists w/ 12 suitcases, punctuated by extended idling and topped off w/ the cheapest fuel they can find.

"Mr. Sachinidis bought his car in Germany in 1981 with around 220,000 km on the clock, before driving it back to Thessalonica. Here it was in service as a taxi 24 hours a day until July 2004"

thats 23 years divided by 11 engines is approximately 2 years per engine. Figger 8000 hours per year and you get an astonishing 16000 hours per rebuild... that is an insane amount of hours.

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Cheers,
Robert

i got into an SD taxi in germany that had over 500000 k on the clock. it did have vacuum problems though as the driver had to let off the acc. pedal to shift.
i gave a knowing smile at that, lol.


from what i understand a lot of taxis in germany never get turned off.. when one driver's shift is finished the next driver just jumps in the running vehicle...

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1984 300D Turbo - 231k....totalled 11/30/07 RIP

I have 385K miles on mine. I wish I knew the total service history, but I don't even have one receipt from the PO.

These cars are the best. I don't know about the /8 but you can still get just about every part for the W123 not including trim so I can see many OM616/617 engines getting 1 mil. plus mileage.

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Doug

1987 300TD x 3
2005 E320CDI

If it was dealer maintained they will have all recpt. Register your vehicle maybe its even avail online? Us germans are always anal about our paperwork.

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http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42

That is probably why they can get so many kms out of them. No startup wear.

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

i personally was to the last day of the original MB museum in Untertuerkheim, and saw this car personally, and photographed it........

i will upload the photos.......

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-Justin

I believe in extreme automotive perfection whenever possible.......there is no such thing as "It doesn't matter" !!!

1985 300 CDT - 287k miles

1980 240 D - 340k miles

With extras !!

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