saw a 300D for $800 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

greasybenz · #1 01-30-2006, 12:56 AM

My dads been wanting a diesel to run on bioD or wvo. And when we were driving through SF going to rent some tools when we saw a beige 300D at a dealer. We parked and took a look at it, it was a late 70's 300D the W123 had a 617 non turbo and was automatic. Had really nice vinyl interior no rust and had the high mileage award on the grill clock reading 400K.

What do you guys think? We are going to test drive it soon but what should we offer. Its clean and rust free they are asking $800.

JimmyL · #2 01-30-2006, 01:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greasybenz

My dads been wanting a diesel to run on bioD or wvo. And when we were driving through SF going to rent some tools when we saw a beige 300D at a dealer. We parked and took a look at it, it was a late 70's 300D the W123 had a 617 non turbo and was automatic. Had really nice vinyl interior no rust and had the high mileage award on the grill clock reading 400K.

What do you guys think? We are going to test drive it soon but what should we offer. Its clean and rust free they are asking $800.

I'd offer them a hundred or two under that, but if I had to pay the full $800 I'd still be very happy with the deal, based on your description. If it starts and drives, get it. Quick.....

RichC · #3 01-30-2006, 05:34 AM

I bought my 81 300D off eBay for $810. I have not regretted it a bit.
It did not have a windshield and had been wrecked in the passenger rear.
It has 126,000 original miles.

I consider the bent up passenger rear a bonus. I call it my anti theft device.

greasybenz · #4 01-30-2006, 10:30 PM

We had called up the dealer today. They said the car has been checked by a mechanic and any problems were fixed. They said its in perfect running shape no problems to report mechanically. So tomorrow we are going to take it for a test drive and see how it runs. since its a non-turbo how much of a difference in speed should i expect comparing to my 300SD. This is a 300D so its much lighter then my SD so i would assume it would be pretty much the same.

loserstench · #5 01-30-2006, 10:59 PM

god dam 400k, unless its 400km, then its not so bad. cool to see a father into wvo, ill go out on a limb here and say not many fathers and sons bond while collecting grease together.

Nate · #6 01-30-2006, 11:03 PM

BUY IT!!!
for that price, you could part it out if you REALLY wanted to (please dont though)

Make sure the trans doesnt flayre, heat/ac works, and it runs nice

~Nate

Austin85 · #7 01-30-2006, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loserstench

god dam 400k, unless its 400km, then its not so bad. cool to see a father into wvo, ill go out on a limb here and say not many fathers and sons bond while collecting grease together.

Nay sayer....my son has come with me to collect WVO a few times and many times helps with filtering......I'm planning on getting him a diesel pick up in a few months as his first car so he can run on WVO and put the $$ saved to other things like insurance, etc.

greasybenz · #8 01-30-2006, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loserstench

god dam 400k, unless its 400km, then its not so bad. cool to see a father into wvo, ill go out on a limb here and say not many fathers and sons bond while collecting grease together.

no you heard it right 400,000 miles FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND! but hey he wants it because he had been low on cash and the touareg gets a very jolly 15mpg and gas prices is killing him. So this will be his regular commuter and the touareg is for when we go on camping trips or need to carry something big.

veg_burner · #9 01-31-2006, 12:43 AM

400,000 - did you take off the air cleaner lid to see if it's full of oil from blowby? you could end up looking for an engine in the not to distant future...
i looked at a wagon once that was going for $1000. i took off the crankcase breather hose to the air cleaner and it was thick & heavy blue smoke.

greasybenz · #10 01-31-2006, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by veg_burner

400,000 - did you take off the air cleaner lid to see if it's full of oil from blowby? you could end up looking for an engine in the not to distant future...
i looked at a wagon once that was going for $1000. i took off the crankcase breather hose to the air cleaner and it was thick & heavy blue smoke.

No i havent taken a look at that, ill make sure to check it out. We just looked at the exterior for rust and looked through the windows to check the seats thats all. Tomorrow we are going to test drive it and ill check the air filter.

Anything i should be looking for being that its really old and has pretty high miles?

veg_burner · #11 01-31-2006, 01:49 AM

this is a quick & dirty way to determine the life left in an engine taught to me by a mercedes mechanic:
remove the breather hose from the top of the air cleaner with the engine running. be sure & have a rag with you, this can be a bit oily messy. block the opening of the hose with your thumb and start counting. how many seconds till it dies? the quicker it dies the more blowby there is that is backing up. more blowby=looser rings=lower compression=lower power/hard starting. if it dies in 1-3 seconds there's not much life left in that engine. i think 5-6 seconds is pretty average, and of course higher being exceptional. who knows, though it shows 400K on the clock it could have had a rebuild/transplant at some point in time. just my 2 cents...
good luck!

greasybenz · #12 01-31-2006, 02:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by veg_burner

this is a quick & dirty way to determine the life left in an engine taught to me by a mercedes mechanic:
remove the breather hose from the top of the air cleaner with the engine running. be sure & have a rag with you, this can be a bit oily messy. block the opening of the hose with your thumb and start counting. how many seconds till it dies? the quicker it dies the more blowby there is that is backing up. more blowby=looser rings=lower compression=lower power/hard starting. if it dies in 1-3 seconds there's not much life left in that engine. i think 5-6 seconds is pretty average, and of course higher being exceptional. who knows, though it shows 400K on the clock it could have had a rebuild/transplant at some point in time. just my 2 cents...
good luck!

thanks ill make sure to check that out when i test drive it tomorrow.

TheDon · #13 01-31-2006, 07:29 AM

someone said this before here " a cheaper benz isnt always a cheap benz" or something like that

tenknots · #14 01-31-2006, 01:48 PM

I paid about that for Strider, but he had a full maintenance history from day one and only one owner. A bit of rust, but mechanically great. See if the climate control works - it could be an expensive fix. Transmission and suspension are the other expensive parts of this car. If you have no history, you'll just have to check it over as best you can.

I drive Strider 130 miles a day and it seems like it's got many more miles left.

If you get it, welcome the the high-mileage world!