Just purchased my first Diesel MB!!

***Updated w/Pics 08-02-06***

Hello all, I have been browsing this messageboard for a little over a week now and I have to tell you that WOW, there is a wealth of great information here! I used a lot of what I learned in this forum when I decided to buy my new Pride and Joy - a 1975 Mercedes Benz 300D (W115).

I drove the car home Friday night. She starts very easily, runs smooth (though there is a knocking when she's cold), and actually has quite a bit more "get up and go" than I expected - got her up to 80mph on the freeway with no problem!.

The very next morning, three of my friends and I brewed our first experimental batches of BioDiesel (you can visit us at http://www.boisebiodiesel.org/) and two out of three batches seem to have come out just fine

BUT - back to the car. I'm planning on making her real pretty, but I need some advice on how to determine if she's worth it. There are three places where the paint is bubbling due to rust -
behind the passenger rear wheel
behind the driver front wheel
behind the driver headlight
The worst one is behind the passenger wheel, where the rust is about the size of a baseball. I have found a body panel I can order for that one, however. I found no major rust in the frame/floorboards/suspenstion. They do not use salt on the roads here in Boise, Idaho so that helps a lot.

Other than the rust, there's not much wrong with the exterior. All of the chrome is in good shape (though the rubber trim needs to be replaced). The upholstery on the seats is completely shot, but I've found a few kits online and there's an upholstery shop in town I used to get a motorcycle seat redone and they do a fantastic job. The dashboard has two minor cracks. The glowplug light never comes on, and the A/C does not even power up. I've read here that the blower motor is a bear to fix, but when I turn the defrost on I get plenty of airflow.

The automatic transmission shifts FAR too late, but I've read that they tranny can be pretty finnicky. I'm taking the car to either a Benz dealership or an import specialty shop to get all fluids changed/flushed, valves adjusted, compression tested, etc.

What else should I look for to be certain the vehicle is worth restoring? I love the car - the styling and the reliability of these models are fantastic. I really hope I found a jewel in this $1,300 vehicle. Any info is appreciated!!!

Thanks, Ben

P.S. - I'll try to post some pics of the car and the rust here soon.


***Edit starts here ***

[dieseldiehard]

Well, rust is the enemy of a restorer, you should either cut it out and reweld a new piece in unless its just surface rust. For surface rust there is one touch up "paint" called POR15. (Paint Over Rust 15). Do a search for POR15 and you will find a lot of great info on that product.
I have owned two 115 chassis 300D's. One was actually purchased as a parts car. This model will run nicely when in good condition and it will handle well and should be easy to drive with a nice balance of weight and power. Oil changes are a big PITA unless you like oil spills Hint! Buy rubber gloves by the gross. Now that I remember you are brewing Bio so you probably alrady have rubber gloves, you should use them anyhow around messy stuff.

The automatic trans can be a problem, I had mine fail and most of them are pretty worn at this stage in time, unless you get lucky and find one that was rebuilt. To rebuild a trans is worth more than the car, so that becomes a major decision when and if the need comes.
Good luck with your "new MB"!
And by all means find an Indy. Stay away from the Dealer unless you have money to burn. They may be a good source fo small items you need asap, but even hoses and so on can be bought for less - see the Buy Parts "button" on the heading.
BTW If you ask gsxr (I believe he still lives in Boise) for a local shop recommendation he may have one although he is pretty much a DIYer, with more experience on the 6 cyl diesels.

[dunl]

By thinking of taking it to a dealer, I am assuming that you are doing so because you aren't confident of your own mechanic abilities, like I was last September.

Yes, last September. I learned about diesels having glow plugs and not a spark plug, and all the basic stuff last September. However, in that short time period I learned a LOT on this forum just by looking and knowing that if I screwed something up, the members on here would help m with it. No real screw ups so far, and my 300sd is running well.

Running so well, in fact, that I just bought the same vehicle as you on Saturday in not running condition, and I'm working on getting it going today.

a challenge for veterans....where to start?

My advice: start doing some of the fluid changes yourself, and then start with the more difficult stuff. It's running okay, right now - or at least, compared to mine, it's running. So no hurry to run off to the stealership and spend $$$ that you could put into the car yourself, right?

Sounds like you got a good deal on it.

[winmutt]

Why would anyone buy a car older than 10years and not expect to work on it themselves? Baffling! EYNTKIOH (everything you need to know is on here).

The reason I want to take it in to a shop is to know right off the bat what it needs and what I have. I don't want to invest a ton of time and money if the car is not going to be restored. I figure if I dump $300-500 into basic maintenance and checkups I should know immediately what my plans for her will be.

This will be the first time I've ever taken a car in to have it checked - I've always done all of the mechanical work myself so this is making me go crazy!!! But with starting a family (baby due Sept. 30th), starting to produce some biodiesel, as well as all of the other headaches life brings, I'm not sure if I'm patient enough to wait to check it all out myself.

However - I may still be convinced if I get enough info on what to look for. To those who have worked on these a lot, are there any time savers on looking for major problems?

One major endeavor I'll be undertaking will be replacing all of the ball joints/bushings in the front end. That's something I'll definitely be doing on my own, as well as any future fluid changes, changing the timing chain (pointers?). I'll also be removing all of the trim and windows before I get it painted to save some money.

I really would like this car to become my daily driver soon, but I need to know what kind of task I'll be looking at. If I do most of the stuff myself, what are the best things to have looked at by a mechanic? I'm thinking tranny and compression; maybe valves. I'll try to put together a list of DIY vs Mechanic, so any help there would be appreciated as well.

Dieseldiehard - thanks for the tranny info. I really hope there's no major mechanical work needed right away, but I don't know the history of the vehicle. I think there's a place around here that will do a tranny check for free.

BTW, my wife knows the manager at the MB repair station, so I'm crossing my fingers for a favor

[Lostyankee]

Don't spend $ now!
Look at posts from the Diesel Giant site and other DIYers. Your trany problem may be vacuum related.
As for the body, decide if she is worth the $ and grief vs all the $ in the world babies can consume. You may decide to do a good fix on the headlights and patch everything under the line that would be the trim line on a 126 and cover with textured road guard. I know MB Gods are now pissing in my beer, but some MB's are best if driven and some babies need new shoes. Also it is a good sucker punch with the old lady ... "Darling, I wanted that new MB panel from Germany but I knew my priorities". You are in for sleep loss, grumpy wife who may say "I'll cut that thing off if you ever touch me again". Buy a nighty and bondo. My daily driver has salt weight loss issues. She still is a great car but will never get points in a car meet. She's not ugly but a George Carlin type MB ("I'll take two 5's over a 10 any day!")
So you have an old MB and a kid on the way. Start repeating "I love to work on cars" and "I won't kill the baby tonight".

I really think that the body is worth repairing. I found a rear body panel for under $50 (not MB, but should work) and the other two spots can probably be fixed with a grinder and some body filler. I'll find out when I get my new power drill and wire brush bit

Mechanically, I'm a little concerned with my new darlin'. I'm not that familiar with automatic transmission diagnostics/repair and have no experience with diesel engines. As far as gas engines go, I've torn three down to nothing (with each I discovered they were not worth putting back together, at least not right away)

I really want to completely repaint the body and redo the interior. But if I'm going to put $4,000 or more into the car, I need to know that the mechanical parts will hold up well enough to justify the investment.

[biobenz240d]

hi,i have an 83' 240, that I have been running on 100% biodiesel for the last 3 months. I have logged over 3000 miles on straight bio and never had a problem. First I would check all your rubber fuel lines for cracks or spongy feeling, because the bio will make these break down fast. Second , I put in a fram inline filter before the mb inline filter , my reasoning is that if I will plug a filter , it will be the fram. Which can be popped off and the connection remade, a little prime pumping and your rolling again. use the clear filter so you can see any crud building up in the filter. I am using unwashed bio , so it will clean the fuel system faster than washed bio.

[Orkrist2]

The fact that you want to know about the car and what to do is even more reason to find an indie mechanic. If you take it to the dealer, they don't see you as an enthusiast, they see you as someone who will pay some money and maybe be gone forever. I'm generalizing, but I'm sure you know what I'm saying. Find an indie who's good and take it to him instead, he'll see you as someone to build trust with who may be back again and again, so he can work on your car over time and you become a "customer", something the dealership isn't really looking for in my experience. I'm being sarcastic, but seriously, I hate the MB dealers near me.

[Biodiesel300TD]

I just sent you a message. I am in your area and am part of BoiseBiodiesel as well. Welcome to the forum and the MB world. Watch out it may become an obsession.

[dunl]

If you have worked on gasoline engines, then you can handle a diesel.

Thanks for all of the information, everyone! I actually did find an independent mechanic here in Boise - EuroSport. Apparently the main mechanic worked in the Mercedes Service/Repair Center for ten years and he sounded pretty excited to check out the car

Anyway, I'm dropping it off after work today to get the $150 "pre-buy checkup", tranny flushed, brake lines flushed and engine oil changed. Of course, I'll be taking over 99% of these responsibilities after this, I just want to start clean.

Just added a few links to some pictures I added

I edited them all into my first post, so scroll up if you haven't seen them and let me know what you think! I don't know what to do about the rust behind the headlight though - I could definitely use some pointers there.

[brightbus]

that model is almost the same as mine, except mines a 76, but it is almost that same color. as far as mechanical stuff goes, i know vacuum needs to be repaired somewhere, and i need a new a/c compressor belt, still trying to find a good mb local mechanic (lexington, ky) but did get mechanic to change shifter busings for $20. i paid 700 for mine w/107,000 miles

Originally Posted by brightbus

that model is almost the same as mine, except mines a 76, but it is almost that same color. as far as mechanical stuff goes, i know vacuum needs to be repaired somewhere, and i need a new a/c compressor belt, still trying to find a good mb local mechanic (lexington, ky) but did get mechanic to change shifter busings for $20. i paid 700 for mine w/107,000 miles

Wow, you got a great deal! I don't know how many miles mine has, the odometer reads 27,700 something. I'm guessing there should be a "2" in front of that though. The seats are pretty beat up so it might have a "3" instead. I should hear from the mechanic (getting her all checked up to find out what's wrong) this evening so maybe that will tell me.


So does anyone have a suggestion on how to deal with the rust behind the headlight? I'm hoping the cancer has not gone all the way through but I'm not starting the body work until I do some more mechanical work.