Hello all, I've been lurking for a while and finally decided to join up and contribute to this great community. I've been around many other car forums and you all really are the most civilized and considerate group of people I've seen in a long while. My recent past has been mostly in watercooled VWs and BMWs, I've always been very DIY oriented and am not afraid to get grease under my nails. This is my first venture into the diesel world, so far I love it!

Anyway, I've been half looking for a well kept local car for several months and the right one finally showed up. I ended up with an 82 300D with (get this) 99k miles! Yes the odometer works and the mileage progression was confirmed with the carfax. All of the original paperwork was included and the service history for the first 10 years of the car show that it was only driven maybe 1500 miles a year. The majority of the miles have been in the last 8 years. When I drove it initially there was very little power and the tranny was flaring heavily. I checked the blow by and there is very little smoke so figured the internals were ok, just a tune issue. I did some research and confirmed that most of the issues with the car are probably just a matter of tune and nothing serious to worry about.

Got it home, among the first things to check were the ALDA banjo fittings...totally clogged. I also noticed the bowden cable wasn't in the right place. Take her for a test drive and this thing hauls ass (relatively) now with firm clean shifts. I have a long list of little things I'd like to replace mostly for piece of mind as this will be my daily driver very soon.

So he was asking $6k on craigslist (not a bad deal I think) but due to the "failing transmission" and obvious "lack of power" I offered $4k, however we agreed on $5k. I think it was an outstanding deal, I've seen cars this clean go on eBay for $10k. I'll be keeping this car for a long time.

Being a 100% Arizona car, there is not a single spot of rust and the white paint has held up well. I'll let the photos show the condition, it's a total cream puff!

Nice buy. I thought I was going to read another thread where someone really stole one of these from a Grandma for $500 because a dumb mechanic told her the tranny was failing. Paying a bit more for a nice example for one of these cars is smart. Alot of people would not call it a steal, but I think anyone who bought a nice example for under 5k or under is stealing it, because these cars are soooooooo fantastic; they should be worth more!

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1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

Sounds like you did pretty good.

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daw_two
Germantown, TN

Links:
Sold last car --- 05/2012 1984 300D Light Ivory, Red interior
No longer selling Cluster Needles Paint
No longer selling New Old Stock (NOS) parts

Past:
3/2008 1986 300SDL "Coda"
04/2010 1965 190D(c) "Ben"
& many more

Just hope that transmission flaring doesn't return!
You may want to schedule a service and replace the B1 valve with the latest version. And I like Mobil 1 synthetic, at least until their recent formula change but there are alternatives. Synthetic trans lube is good stuff. Synthetic engine oil is however another story and please don't start another oil thread (some members get offended by lame oil related questions) use the search feature and you will find answers to almost every possible topic you can think of!

Looking close at your photo, it seems to me the windlace cording on the drivers door seems a little more worn than I would suspect for a car with that mileage, unless the miles were accrued from a lot of short trips.
That stuff on my '79 300TD (306K miles on her!) has finally decided to come apart, what I am speaking of goes along the trim inside from the A pillar along the top and down the B pillar to the door sill. It's made of a rubber cord wrapped with a velour. "Date" color (a shade paler than tan) is usually the factory color to match a Palomino interior like yours. You can get it at the dealer fairly cheap or I've been told World Upholstery may supply it.
I have a picture of what it should look like - when I find it I'll post it.
edit - see thumbnail below
Anyhow, welcome to the Shopforum. I am sure we will be seeing you here more often! you may want to use the "Subscribe" thread tool so you see when people comment here.

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'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

Don't scare him like that. If someone said that to me right after I purchased a new car I wouldn't sleep well for a couple days.

You do have an eagle eye, though. I can't tell what your talking about.

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1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

Sorry, I didn't mean to alarm the guy
What I am referring to is the cloth covered seal around the frame where the door closes against it. I posted a pic of what it looks like just after installing a new strip.
I can't get a file small enough using Photoshop to add an arrow pointing to it. I'm sure you'll see it if you click on the small photo, a large one will open up and you can see how tidy the edging is along the door pillar, that was my '83 with over 256K miles. Man I miss that car, (oh I hope my wife didn't hear me) :

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'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

OK, to offset my previous post, here's a point in favor of the car is truly a low miler!
The steering wheel looks typical of a under 100K mile car, it could have been changed out of course but this is the first thing I look for to verify a mileage claim. After about 175K (or less) they are usually worn smooth where the PO kept their hands to grip the wheel. Finding a steering wheel like what I see in his pics is very difficult these days!

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'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

It's a Arizona car and he's talking about something that's life is determined by exposure to the sun. This is why he has a bit of pinkamino going on and the window trim parts are "ageing" faster than other parts. Cars in different parts of the country age differently.

You didn't steal that car. Not at all. For 1500 bucks I got my car a month ago with 119 k on it, garaged all its life, original owner was a jet pilot, driven 500 miles a year last 15 years. Pristine condition, nothing wrong mechanically, except needed a power antenna. Perfect wood, dash carpet seats in great condition, and speaking of steering wheels, you dont know till youve seen this. It shows virtually no wear at all, infact nothing does. I got it, changed oil washed it waxed it cleaned the engine adjusted the valves brake pads ATF fluid and filter and diesel purge and fuel filters. Nothing else needed. 80 year old couple didnt want it and their family was pressuring them to sell it because its "too slow" and dangerous when pulling out! His wife had a v8 lexus and he has a new Buick so they didn't care. It was taking up garage space.



Heres a video of my cruisin in it, with a walkaround in the beginning.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOMdf43KsHQ

Three of the four 617 turbos I've owned had the overboost (switch over) valve by passed, no problems.
An MB mechanic mentioned don't worry about it, these things can take whatever the turbo can throw at it. But if you want a new one, we'll be happy to install.
This is from someone who gets paid to tell you to replace items at a ridiculous mark up.
Currently the SD's is hooked up.
Pic is of the CD.
Make up your own mind.

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83 SD

84 CD

Yep! 1500 smackers for that beauty is a REAL steal by anyone's standards. However, 5 K for the Arizona Car is a pretty fair deal and one to be proud of... value, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

It is soo encouraging to see the excitement of you new owners...

Good luck, enjoy and Motor on!

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Bama1


2008 SLK 280, Firemist Red - "Hurricane"
2001 F150 Lariat 4x4, Black on Black - "Badboy"
1982 240D 4 speed survivor -"Pearl" - Donated to Vietnam Veterans
1962 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 -"Gertrude"

1954 model original owner - ~2.5M
Gray softtop/solid exterior/modified chassis

I think you both got a decent deal for the respective cars. The price difference between $1500 and $5000 will disappear after a few years of routine maintenance/repair anyway. The cost of these things really depends on the area too, a friend of mine just sold a pretty decent one with about 130K miles for $12K (it was probably worth closer to $10K, it was similar condition to OlBrenner's car).

BTW, lose the silly dash cover, and it's hard to hear the engine over the radio (that sorta defeats the point of a test drive, doesn't it?).

Hah, forgot i even had the dash cover on. I put it on to see if I could live with it, so that I can have a perfect dash ten years from now. But it sucks, I love the clean dash. Ill just put a car cover on it, much better anyway.

I know they help preserve the dash, but I really hate the way those covers look. A car cover is better to keep the sun off everything, especially in AZ.

I'm with Hattie and a couple others. Fair price for a nice car, and like you said, "a nice find". And nice to have a verifiable chain of mileage as these odo's quite often slip at some point.
Oh, and SRJoe, you seem to be coming around. See, it ain't hard being nice to folks with similar interests..... Save the venom for the idiots. At least they deserve it.

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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