In moving up the food chain of diesels (Chevette 84 with Isusu diesel, Volvo 84, 244dl), I think I've landed near the top. Just nabbed a 84 300TD MB from Ebay. My question to the experienced brotherhood is "did I get lucky?" or "are most of them this good?". The odometer works about 1/2 time and shows near 200k and yet the compression must be strong as it has not used a drop of oil in 3k miles. This is inconceivable to me. Prior to purchase I liked the maintainence records and highway miles, but my Volvo had a similar history and she "likes her oil" at 267k. Trying to nurse her to 300k is very stretching. Not so the Benz, she runs strong, fast & doesn't drink. What can I expect by way of a cold Michigan winter with such apparent (good) compression?

diesel don
84 volvo @ 267k
84 300TD @ 200k

Hello Diesel Don, I hope you are enjoying my old MB! I really miss it! I hope it is treating you well!

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Current stable......
17' Rogue SV 70k
11’ Saab 9-5 NG 94k
10’ e550 4matic 185k

sold
02' e320 210k
00' e430 167k
01' e320 171k (regret sale)
91' 300d 2.5t 300k (sold to ecoofidaho)
79' 240d 177k (old yellow my avatar)
87' 300d 169k (junk but fast)
85' 300tdt 261k (RBM parts delivery)
85' 300dt 68k (one owner cream puff)
82' 240d 250k
84' 300dt 198k (sold to diesel don)
91' 190e 2.3 61k
88' 260e 140k

I guess it depends on how bad your winters get in Michigan. In eastern Pennsylvania, I try to remember to plug in the block heater when it gets into the teens, but many times I've forgotten, and had no trouble starting on a 12 or 14 degree day, after switching to Agway Super Diesel 10W30 for winter. Once when it was 8, I had to crank it a while, perhaps 20 seconds, before she turned over, but this was with Shell Rotella 15W40. 10W30 seems to help with cold cranking, and warmup. Just be sure to change back to the 15W40 before it gets to be much over 50 deg.

I had the chance to test drive an 84 TD wagon last year. It was almost mint, under 100K miles, but the dealer wanted $8K for it!! It did drive awfully nice however. He let me take it out without a salesman for a couple hours, and I had some fun with it. Awesome handling for a wagon, fun to drive, and it made my SD seem like a tank by comparison. It had a few problems, like the cruise and air didn't work.

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Bob Roe
Lehigh Valley PA USA
1973 Olds 88, 1972 MB 280SE, 1978 Datsun 280Z, 1971 Ford T-Bird, 1972 Olds 88, 1983 Nissan Sentra, 1985 Sentra, 1973 230.6, 1990 Acura Integra, 1991 Volvo 940GLE wagon, 1983 300SD, 1984 300SD, 1995 Subaru Legacy L wagon, 2002 Mountaineer, 1991 300TE wagon, 2008 Murano, 2007 R320CDI 4Matic 52K, some Hyundai, 2008 BMW 535xi wagon, all gone... currently
2007 Honda Odyssey Touring, 2014 E350 4matic