I am looking at an 83 300sd as a 2nd car.
Going to look at one tomorrow. Owner says it ran fine, but will not start, thinks it is a battery. I thought I would jump it and see if that gets me anywhere.
For $1000. is it worth messing with if it does not start right away?
What else should I look for, if it does start. I have been real lucky on the one I have, it has not had many mechanical issues.

Thanks
Doug

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83 300SD Dark Silver Dark brown inside

Never believe the seller when they say it is "just" something. 99% of the time there turns out to be much more to the problem or something completely different than they think.

Make sure it is completely in park, get under the car and check that the linkage is all the way back. Take a jumper wire and manually jump the starter from the terminal box on the fender (bypass the key) if it is in park.

If you have someplace to put it the parts are worth more than $1000.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Take your multimeter too. You can check voltage before you try to start it and afterwards to confirm it is charging and also check GP's if it cranks but wont fire up.

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Terry Allison
N. Calif. & Boca Chica, Panama

09' E320 Bluetec 77k (USA)
09' Hyundai Santa Fe Diesel 48k (S.A.)

If it won't run.........it's a parts car..........worth $500.

Why go though the effort to get it to run while in the presence of the seller? If it's just "the battery"..........the seller would have replaced it already.

It's likely to be glow plugs...........but, you don't need to mention that.

See if you can buy it for $500.........not running. Then, try and get it running.

So,
I paid $800. figured I would just buy a parts car if nothing else. Did not even go look at it.
Went today amd paid for it. New GP's and controller already installed by PO, bat at 11VDC Jumped it, took about 35 min. to get it to start. Blew out some cobwebs, and this thing runs great! better than my 85. Needs lots of interior work, console and fabric near the doors is not too hot. But drove the 35 min back to work, and it ran well.
Just what I needed, another project.

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83 300SD Dark Silver Dark brown inside

Sounds like a good catch.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.