I'm ready to get rid of my wagon! Wow I liked that little 190D! It was an '87 with the 2.5 liter turbo 5 cyl, and was a little rocket ship. Ummm, well, it would have been a rocket ship had the tranny not been slipping so badly after first gear. That is a whole lotta motor in those little 190's, but I really really liked the way the car drove. Very comfortable car. It was navy blue, and of course the clear coat is peeling, as is some of the paint, but it's presentable enough. AC was ice cold. And wow did that tranny slip...
From first to second the engine would rev up all the way, and it would also rev/slip like that when up in the gears and punching it. 237K or 273K. Not even a hint of blowby when removing the oil cap while running. Zip, zero, nadda......
Not what you would call allotta room under the hood, which fell down on my head as I was looking at the motor mounts. Asking price is $2500 with slipping tranny. Don't have the $, but really really like that car.
ALSO, they had a '91 300D with the 2.5 turbo. Brand new Garrett turbo in it BTW (Garrett sticker on it). Asking price for this one is $2000. But wait, yes we have motor issues..... I believe they said that after you drive it, or during the driving of it, it just pours oil out from underneath it. And yes, there was a 12' trail where you could tell they had stopped it and then backed it into place. They thought it was coming from near the front (where I saw oil cooler lines), but we didn't fire it up. I may go take a gander at it Saturday.
They had a nice '89 300D (could be wrong on year), 2.5 turbo that I believe a guy was buying. He makes biodiesel and gave me his card. I told him of this website. He was selling a VW TDI and getting the 300D. His son has an '84 190 5sp with 300K plus miles. Good dude.
Yes, another slow day at work.....

__________________
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'd like to have/try out a 190 2.5, but I would never be able to have a car that small as my daily driver, I much prefer my "beast" yaht. It'd be great to have as a second car though, if I actually had money.... My yaht uses all my money. Whenever I save enough up to look into something like a 190 or 240, it quickly makes sure I have to spend it all on it instead. oh well.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

in 90-94 i was in business with the son of the owner of the mb dealership..
and he would give his son a 50% discount on maintence... and my partner was spending 500 bucks a month on maintenance on his 190 back in 90...

I drove it a few times... but I am a big guy and it was sheer torture....

i would love to have a 190D 2.5 turbo. Thats a diesel hot rod right there, i like the size of it too, my gpa has a 190E the gasser sucks major ass though.

__________________
Current:
05 E320 CDI
07 GL320 CDI
08 Sprinter
05 Dodge Cummins
01 Dodge Cummins

Previous
2004 E55 AMG
2002 C32 AMG (#2)
1995 E300
1978 300D
1987 300D
2002 C32 AMG(blown motor :[
1981 300SD
1983 300SD
1987 300SDL
2002 Jetta TDI
1996 S420
1995 S500
1993 190E 2.6
1992 190E 2.3
1985 190E 2.3 5-Speed

Don't sell the wagon, keep it and add the 190.

__________________
I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

This is a little car with a lot of engine in it. Too much "stuff" on them for my taste. I like to keep it simple.

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1981 300D 147k
1998 VW Jetta Tdi 320k
2001 Dodge Ram 2500 141k
1979 300D 234k (sold)
1984 300D "Astor" 262k(sold)
Mercedes How-To and Repair Pictorials
I love the smell of diesel smoke in my hair

I have a 1992 190D with the 2.5turbo engine and a 5sp manual. I love it . It's a very rewarding car, handles very good, not very fast, but enough torque to go on mountains with 4 people aboard and a/c runing.

They're not very expensive to maintain. I've had my car for 1 year, and I've changed 1 of those small belt tensioners (that look like small shock absorber, don't know what it's called ), the cold/hot in car air blower and a leaking water pump. And also the ususal once in 4 months oil and filter changes.

The car is very good and very comfy, though not for big people. I'm a rather small person so it does just fine for me. Last september I did a long jurney, 22hrs, of the 3 hrs resting in the car, and when I arrived I wasn't tired (just wanted to sleep )

My advice is, if you have the oportunity of getting one of these little babies with the 2.5turbo, just do it! They're well worth it, and they use almost the same parts from the 124 car.

Edit: This is the car I'm talking about:

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/487/dscf20946lx.jpg

The wife wants to get rid of her minivan, so I have been trying to drum up support for a newer diesel Benz than my 123 wagon. Well, so far she has swatted that idea into the 3rd row like Dikembe Mutombo.....
I'm still hopeful, as we really can't afford much more than her '99 Toyota Sienna van will bring. Too bad, that van is the best running car I've ever owned....
I need to drive the 190 again, just to make sure exactly where the tranny is slipping, or if it is just a "slipping everywhere" type of thing. Also was weird to look up under the car and see all these panels covering everything under there.
Wouldn't it be nice to be able to tell just where the 300D is leaking. Oil line fitting, or hole in block....

__________________
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

Those panels add some sort of stability at high speeds. I've done ~125mph with my 190D, and it was very "civilized" (as civilized as a car that is doing 125mph ).

I had myself some troubles with those panels. Coz when my pump was leaking my car was using around 1liter of water every 100km(~62miles) and I couldn't understand where was the water going. When I went to the mechanic he went under the car and saw the water pump leaking, jus it was leaking on the panels so there wasn't any sign of leaking on the ground under the car.

So I'm saying it again, if you have the chance to get a 190D 2.5turbo just do it. The difference with the 123 is like night and day.

To small for my taste, but they are nice little cars. The 602(I think) looks just like a 603 with one cylinder cut off. Make sure to check the vac pump, they did use the kind with exposed bearings like the early 603's.

Offer to split the cost of the trans rebuild with the seller. No one is going to buy a car with a shot trans.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I keep thinking this is true too, but as I try to find one, I'm finding that the ones with shot trannies all go for around $2k on fleabay.

- Jeff Miller
190DT

Well figure $1k for the rebuild so $3k for a running example with a fresh trans. In my area you coulod probably flip it at a profit.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Doesn't sound bad. I'd expected higher for a good trans rebuild, it'd be worth that just to freshen one.

I saw a decent one that sold yesterday on fleabay, $3500 with a freshly rebuilt trans., the same one sold a week or so ago with a badly slipping trans for $1950. I guess the guy made his trans rebuild money and another $500 (says he did the rebuild). I could live with that. Rust-belt car with some body damage though, most of the ones I'm seeing are.

An excellent looking example (Georgia car) went this week on fleabay for $4250. I wanted that car, but just a little more than I can justify paying when I see later 300Ds go for under $4k. I feel like I'd trade mine for a similar-condition 300D in a heartbeat just for the headroom. Almost every 190DT I've seen for sale has been in the east with rust near the jack holes, often body damage also, maybe a clean one really is worth that much.

- Jeff Miller
190DT

Adsitco, who I wouldn't buy a trans from probably lists the trans for about $1,200. Figure another $300 for a rebuilt TC, and you are up to $1,500. I'd bring those numbers to the seller and offer a 50/50 split. This is assuming their is no labor. Never pulled a trans on a W201, on the W126 it takes a couple of hours. With some practice and a lift I bet you could swap trans in a W126 in well under 2 hours.

So $750-$2500=$1750. So $3250 with a rebuilt trans, budget $4k total for the usual old car stuff. Still a fair price. Better value in my book then one with a working yet original trans. It is going to need rebuilding at some point if you keep the car long enough.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Thanks Hat.

Mine was replaced by the original owner / dealer, slipping. Hopefully it will last forever now with proper car. Odd to me though that out of 9 (including mine) 190D 2.5 cars (na and T) 8 of them either need or have had rebuilds. Must be the weak point of this powertrain? Is it this common in the late '80s diesel trannies? Maybe from vacuum problems causing premature wear?

- Jeff Miller
190DT