I am looking for an E300D for my wife. She needs reliability and I am trying to convince her that a high-mileage Mercedes Diesel is nothing to worry about. I am no stranger to German Diesels, in fact I love them. I am runninga 1.6 VW Diesel in my Suzuki Samurai. http://dieselsammi.blogspot.com/

I am looking to buy the E300D with between 100k and 160k miles.
So I need your help to not look like a fool when buying one.

What Issus shoud l I be aware of when purchasing an E300D?
What questions should I ask the seller?
What one item should I be cautious about? I.E. Timing belt, transmission, etc.
Anything else that would benefit me when purchasing athe E300D.

Thank you

I bought the earlier vintage (95), to avoid electronics and the turbo, since I would prefer to maintain this thing myself ( and am a noob). The W210 series has more interior room and more safety features.

Do a search, I found the common problems with W126 by searching here.

These cars use timing chains, so stretch can be an issue depending on miles.

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RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

91 W124 300D Turbo replaced, Pressure W/G actuator installed. 210K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

Read about the spring perch failure. There's lots of info, but it shouldn't keep you from purchasing the car.

I just bought a W210 ('98 E300 Turbodiesel) about a month ago. I've driven it nearly 3000 miles, for a total of 175k on the odometer. It's a fun car, cheap to operate on B100 biodiesel, four airbags, etc. Not even too slow...for a diesel!

Cheers, John

I'd suggest sticking to the 98-99 Turbo and forgetting about the 96-97 N/A diesel. You get much more punch and it costs you no more fuel. The turbo will cost you more up front but will hold its value better and be easier to sell if you should decide it is not for you. I have had my '98 for over 2 years now and it is a pleasure to drive. In fact, we're presently planning a trip to NC in July and plan on taking the '98 rather than the '04 wagon to save a little on fuel since my '98 will get well 32-35MPG on the highway compared with 25 MPG tops for the '04.

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

Rust is the main issue. Check spring perches, tops of doors behind the rubber seals, wheelarches, engine bay, behind the headlamps, boot (trunk) lid, etc.

Engines are bombproof - seriously, they're very very reliable. Mine burns no oil whatsoever, although there is about 7 synthetic litres of it

Diesel leaks are common, but easily fixed.

Timing chains last forever.

ATF likely won't have been changed, but its not a difficult job to do, and should be done.

Engine mounts will be going at that age, again, not a difficult job.

ARB drop links go, but are very cheap to replace and require no specialist tools.

MAF sensors are a common fault, but not expensive to replace and take about 2 minutes to change.


They're good cars, but don't expect trouble free motoring. They're complicated and expensive cars, but they're pretty easy to work on, and the standard of engineering is generally very high. You would be well advised to buy a metric toolset though.

No they don't. On the 606 you should not even need to check chain stretch until 200k miles. Replacement is 300k-400k maybe, if ever. With synthetic oil the timing chain on a 606 should last almost forever.

I wouldn't consider anything other then a 1998-99. The 722.6 is the gearbox to get and the later the better. The last thing I'm worried about on a Mercedes diesel is the turbo. The extra power is very nice, and fuel mileage is a wash.

The MAF sensor is a problem area, they seem to blow every few years. You can get the guts for them pretty reasonable though.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I am about to purchase a 98 E300.
The body/interior look great.
Service records going back to nearly new.
Current on maintenance.
164K miles.
Everything works.
asking $9,000 (after a long talk with the owner of the dealership, I believe we might be able to drive off the lot for $7,000 by making a cash purchase)

2 items disclosed.
Moonroof slide action is slow (seller suggested worm drive replacement ?)
Driver seat forward/back function occasionally acts up. Although, the seat memory function always works. (possible switch assembly?)

2 of these cars, priced well, I recently went to look at locally, were sold before I got to see them. Of the 16 or so available for sale on the east coast right now, I have just put a deposit on the one described above. This seems to be the best value also considering distance. There are about 5 with lower mileage, 3 are significantly more money (10-14K), one is a turbo(12$K) and just sold as well.

Placing the greatest value on the 98-99, I think we have made the best choice.

Comments?

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83 300TD (need rear wiper assembly dead or alive)
84 300SD Daily driver
85 300TD almost 400k miles and driven daily.
98 E300D *sold
86 300SDL *sold and made flawless 10 hour journey to new home.

Have you been able to start the cars from dead cold? Or, at least as cold as it gets these days...

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-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

No.

Explain.

Service history shows new Glow plugs and valve adjustment not long ago.

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83 300TD (need rear wiper assembly dead or alive)
84 300SD Daily driver
85 300TD almost 400k miles and driven daily.
98 E300D *sold
86 300SDL *sold and made flawless 10 hour journey to new home.

One of my comments would be; what has been replaced at 164K miles, for what you are paying?

I would opt for a one-owner, with closer to 100K miles on it, with complete records, etc. but that's just me.

My '99 E300 with 121K miles I bought new and garaged it's entire life, has a full list of items replaced/records, for instance.

I would be wary of any car with incomplete/no records, unless it was close to perfect condition.

No such thing as a valve adjustment on a 606, if the dealer said that they don't know much about these cars.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Excellent input.

I would only buy this particular type of car from an individual - a one-owner, garaged, gently used one.

Friends of mine sold an identical car to mine without heated seats, and with a massive amount of door dings with none of the items I've replaced on mine for $12,500.00 cash in two days from putting it up for sale. It had 90K miles on it. My car has had $5K worth of MB dealer work done to it, with 30K more miles on it, and none of the hard useage - for a couple grand more. I'm not giving it away, though....