I am such a meanie (used car buying anecdote).
 

I made a little trip (a little bit over an hour one way) yesterday with a cashier's check in my wallet, ready to drive an '84 300SD back home. I had looked the car over and taken a test drive earlier in the week, then negotiated a price with the seller by telephone a day later.

When arranging the deal, I specified very plainly that the purchase was contingent upon me having the chance to see how the car handled a cold start the day I picked it up - and being satisfied with what I saw. I did not want it warmed up beforehand. As weather patterns would have it, Saturday was going to be a reasonably cold morning for this time of year (low 30's Fahrenheit). Super!

I showed up Saturday morning, right on time. First thing, I popped the hood... then pulled out ye olde Raytek IR thermometer and shot the engine block. It was >100 degrees Fahrenheit! I asked the seller why the engine was so warm already, when we had specifically discussed the importance of seeing a cold start. He told me that he had only brought it around to the front of the house.

What a meanie I am, eh?

(That's not the only thing that helped to sour the deal for me - further inspection and discussion contributed - but hey, it was a start.)

I`m not sure I understand your point. Didn`t you check it out before you went through all this trouble for you and the seller?

Sooooo, I'm guessing you did not get it.

The first time I looked at the car, the engine was already warm. I didn't consider that to be suspicious, as I hadn't made any special arrangements with the seller to see the car "cold". He might very well have been using the car for errands he had been running earlier that (nice, warm) afternoon.

I looked the car over and took a short test drive. I made the guy an offer, and he made me a counter offer which I declined.

After a little research (parts prices & Carfax), consideration, and discussion with my better half, I called him back the next day to tell him that I was willing to accept his counter offer, but with one condition: when I came to pick it up, I wanted to start the car up from cold, and I had to be satisfied with the result. He told me that was fine. In a later phone call to schedule the day and time for pick-up, he acknowledged my request to see a cold start.

When I arrived to pick up the car, surprise! The engine was already as warm as if it had been the middle of the day in August. No cold start for me!

See the problem?

You are correct, sir!

The car might have the potential to be a solid daily driver, too. It just wasn't yummy enough for me to either (1) gamble by buying it with no further evaluation or (2) invest in a real-deal PPI - not necessarily that simple to arrange.

An hour's drive is nothing really, for a good MB diesel.

People are forgetful and some have a lot to deal with in other areas, like family, job, etc.

Maybe you should give the seller another opportunity for a cold start.

But I commend you on your purchase strategy - cold start tells a lot about engine condition on these cars.

Ken300D

Yet another use for an IR Temperature Detector....
 

There was/is another thread around here regarding the purchase of a couple of different pyrometers......and I advised the Fluke IR, and listed a buncha possible other uses for it......here's yet another one!!

SB

Florida is not going to give you a real test. I propose a new business opportunity for owners of refrigerated warehouses. Let potential Benz diesel purchasers put the vehicle in the sub-zero section for a few hours and then try to start it.

Definitely a good reason to mistrust the seller.

I see it as him trying to hide something.

Though, if it's just nailing a little on cold start, maybe he thinks it's rod-knock and you'll get a screaming deal...

I agree completely. I like these cars, and I consider it to be well within my "striking distance" for a car described as this one was. That's why I made the trip - cheerfully - twice.

The pickup was arranged to be at a date and time agreeable to the seller. If there had appeared to be some sort of genuine misunderstanding about my requirement of seeing a cold start, and if he had offered to reschedule the transaction so that it could be done as planned, I might have taken him up on it. No such misunderstanding was apparent, and he made no such offer.

The lack of a cold start didn't kill the deal immediately. I had come intending to drive it home, and there was still some momentum. However, it turned out that the guy had neglected to get the title from his deposit box at the bank (had a bill of sale ready, but no title). His wife headed off to town to get the title, so I was left with more time on my hands. What was a poor eskimo to do except continue to go over the car to see if he'd missed anything?

More things came to light that caused me to question just how forthcoming the seller was being with me about the condition and historical care of the car. The last straw was a little discussion about engine oil. He claimed to have been taking care of the oil changes himself, and that the car never required any top-up between changes (212k miles on the clock). What oil? 20W-50. The notion of a diesel-rated oil seemed to be completely outside his experience. Why was there a quart of house-brand 10W-40 in the trunk? Oh, yeah, that's just something he used in his lawn mower...

It might be a dandy car; the deal just progressively wandered further outside of my personal comfort zone.

Sounds like the more you talked to him, the more uglier it turned.

It's kind of funny. I had a dodge motorhome with a 360. With a trailer it burned a quart of oil every 100 miles. Without trailer no oil. I kept the oil under the seats in front. i had like 15 empties that I forgot was under there when I put it up for sale. I accepted an offer from someone for it and was showing them the ropes when they noticed the oil empties. I never recovered from his questions and lost the sale. It took me 6 months to sell.

Thicker oil is used to hide noise in the engine. Besides, if he can't even follow a simple instruction after being told why twice, you really trust such a seller? I don't

My 1980 300SD sure would not start the other morning when it sat overnight at 5 degrees above zero. Plugged in the block heater for a couple of hours and it started right up.