I have come across a 79 300D for sale. It is a one owner with 120K miles. On a scale from 1-10, I give it a 9. Body is yellow with tan MBtex. Garaged all it's life in Atlanta. Only thing wrong is the AC doesn't work. All maintenence records since new. The owner is an Army buddy of my late father. He knew that I may be interested in the car and he wants me to make an offer on it. I have no idea what to offer. I want to be fair though. Any suggestions?
Tom

I would be comfortable in the $1200 to $1500 range for a non-turbo with non-working AC. Of course that is easy for me to say since I don't have to worry about offending the buddy of my late father. Anything under $2000 should be fine really. who knows, maybe it just needs freon.......
Bullit points for 1 owner with records, though.
Less if it smokes......

**whoops, I forgot that it will have the 'evil climate control servo'. AC work could get costly in a hurry.....

__________________
Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

Good car !

ditto. A reseller would charge up to $3200 due to low miles and owner history and greta condition.

Market value is between $1500 and $2000 if they sold in classifieds.

The ac may come alive if the climate control amplifier (behind glove box) is burnt and you replace it. (get one from junk yard) That happened to me after years w/o ac.

basically, plan on investing another $1000 ontop of whatever you pay.

You need to service thr trans, rear end, etc. etc. even if you have records. I would. A trans rebuild will set you back abut $2000.

The klima control is expensive also. do a search. That will go bad at some point.

Good car tho.

Pics?

__________________
1979 300D 220 K miles
1995 C280 109 K miles
1992 Cadillac Eldorado Touring Coupe 57K miles SOLD
********************
1979 240D 140Kmiles (bought for parents) *SOLD.
SAN FRANCISCO/(*San Diego)
1989 300SE 148 K miles *SOLD

THat has the Evil Vacuum servo ACC......plan on $1,000 to fix that , assuming the A/C actually works and holds a charge...costs to fix can go up dramaticly from there.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Hi,

I bought a 79 300td a few months ago with a little smoke that would come and go. turns out I have low compression associated with rings on #1 cyl.
Make sure it doesn't smoke or pop for a compression test.

My 79 has that lousey AC system that is so FUBAR (leaks + bad controller) that I just run it full cold or full hot. If I knew it was going to be so much worse than my 82 240D I would never have bought it.

Second, my wagon (don't know about all sedans) has a non-turbo engine with a level control pump. This combo is hard to find so I cannot just grab a junker engine and drop it in easily.

Food for thought. I take it this is a good car but you need to make sure it is.

Cheers,
Yoko

One owner is awesome. The issue with those 116s is the climate control. My indy says he has replaced many of them in his years and you're looking at about $1000. That said, if you can get it for under $2000 I think you have to do it...IMHO

__________________
Tom in AZ

1985 300SD, smoke silver, blue interior, 146K
1973 280, 85K (sold)

He's talking about a 1979 300D, thats a W123, but does have the same evil climate control system.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Several places sell an electronic replacement kit for these that are around $600 bucks. Truly the way to go.
And who knows, maybe he is just low on freon, or has a compressor issue. Still, the 'evil climte control servo' can cause night sweats....

__________________
Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

I agree about the price range, but I don't agree about the "just needs freon" part..... There's no such thing. Freon doesn't just "disappear".....If a car needs freon, then that means there is a LEAK, which will inevitably get worse, which will eventually need to be fixed.



Unless you do it yourself!.....

Rebuilt servos with an aluminum casing (instead of the plastic one that is prone to break) can be bought for less than $500, and they come with a warranty.

That car also has the GM-type R4 compressor, which is not the most durable design in the world, but it's relatively inexpensive to replace, if needed.

The climate control system on those cars is not the nightmare many folks think it is, IF you do your homework, and do most of the labor yourself.

Mike

__________________
_____
1979 300 SD
350,000 miles
_____
1982 300D-gone---sold to a buddy
_____
1985 300TD
270,000 miles
_____
1994 E320
not my favorite, but the wife wanted it

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