Any major problems youve had that were expensive? Are you sorry for your purchase of the car?

My 190D 2.5 has been a great little car. No problems or failures over the year I have owned it. Its coming up for its yearly roadworthyness inspection soon, and I can see no reason why it shouldn't pass with nothing needed

Apart from usual servicing, I have spent nothing on it,

I had a pretty good deal when I got it. I swapped a Mitsubishi Pajero 4x4 with a rotten chassis for it

--Like everything else, I guess you get good ones and bad ones....

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http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...0TDnoplate.jpg

Alastair AKA H.C.II South Wales, U.K. based member

W123, 1985 300TD Wagon, 256K,
-Most recent M.B. purchase, Cost-a-plenty, Gulps BioDiesel extravagantly, and I love it like an old dog.

W114, 1975 280E Custard Yellow,
-Great above decks needs chassis welding--Really will do it this year....

I'm "into" 190D's. (check my sig line) The only issue's I've had have been with the automatic transmissions. In my limited experience, the auto tranny's don't like to last more than about 200K miles. The engines can go much longer.

My solution has been that I've successfully converted 2 auto tranny 190D's into 5-speed manual tranny cars. Both of these cars has "blown" auto transmission issues. Both ran great and got better mileage to boot after the manual trans installations.

Other than that, they are great little cars. I say "little" because in particular the rear seats do not have much legroom. Fine for kids, lousy for adults.

SteveM.

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'93 190E/D 2.5 Turbodiesel 5-speed (daily driver)
'87 190D 2.5 Turbo rustbucket - parts car
'84 Dodge Rampage diesel - Land Speed Record Holder
'13 Ram 2500 Diesel
'05 Toyota 4Runner

Any 25-year old car needs regular maintenance and the occasional repair, but I haven't had any major problems that were expensive. This is mainly because I do all of the repairs/maintenance myself. Thanks to the helpful advice from the people on this forum, many jobs that would cost $500+ at the dealer can be done at home for $50-$100.

Costs have worked out to $74 per month over the past 5 years. This figure includes:

• preventative maintenance (timing chain, vacuum pump, radiator)
• oil changes (Mobil 1) & filters
• tires
• repairs (suspension bushings, ball joints, springs, tie rods, wheel bearings, brake pads, etc.)
• special tools (spring compressor, special sockets, etc.)
• cosmetic things (european headlamps, touch-up paint)

However, I also was fortunate enough to come across a well-maintained 1-owner 190D. The previous owner took very good care of the car, and did some major (expensive) work before I purchased the car (new manual transmission $2600, new A/C system $2800, etc...). Buying a fixer-upper with a lot of deferred maintenance could get costly.

My only regret is not buying one of these cars earlier! Even though it is the oldest car I've ever had (and the one that requires the most attention), it is the best car I've owned!

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1989 250TD Wagon 5-speed, 160,000mi ::: Dark gray metallic / black cloth
1984 190D-2.2 5-speed, 287,000mi ::: Silver-blue metallic / black MB-tex ::: SOLD

Folks,

I have 2 W201 cars, an '84 190D w/5speed and a '85 190E w/automatic. I have $750 invested in the purchase of both cars. Both cars previous owners had been college students, and both had decided to "improve" the stereo system, thus both cars had the dash and console in pieces. Both cars had been sitting for many years the "E" was in a barn for 8 years and the "D" was sitting outdoors for 4 years. I trailered both cars home, have never attempted to start the "E", but I robbed the battery from my tractor and the "D" fired right up. I tagged the "D" which was the car that I wanted to use, and began to swap parts from the "E"......
Both Headlight Buckets
a taillight assembly
Numerous switches and parts from the console
Dash parts, i.e. vent grills and such
1 window regulator (so far) need to do both rears

As the '84 has 14" alloy wheels, I used 2 tires that had been on the 300D and the snow tires from that car also......

As you can see the resurrection of the "D" would have already been cost prohibitive.....only 190 parts that I have gotten from Phil are....
Wheel Bearing Kit
Wheel seal
Ball Joints x 2
Thermostat
Filters

Parts that will be swapped soon.....
Struts, the "E" has a new set
Rear Axel Shaft Flanges (both)...the "D" has some broken lug issues
Front Axle hub...another broken lug
Miscellaneous sunroof parts....I think it will be the cable mainly....
Vent/AC Blower

The "D" is an Alabama & Florida car....little to no rust
The "E" has mega rust issues.....will scrap after removing all useful parts like half shafts......and recover more than my original cost, just in scrap prices

I am getting around 40 MPG with the "D" which has become my "Back Road Benz" (lots of gravel roads around here) and the main College commuting vehicle......it's a fun car to drive, and knocked off 5 minutes of travel time (as opposed to the 300D) on my college commute on all paved roads....am still gathering info on my use of a gravel road that knocks off 6 miles from the commute.....

Bottom line:
I could never have afforded to run the "D" without a good parts car...
The 190D gets 1.5x the fuel mileage than the 300D
The 190D is a blast to drive.....especially on gravel.....kinda like "World Rallye"

SB

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Diesels:
'85 300D, "Max, Blue Benz", 155K, 27.0 MPG
'84 190D 2.2, "Eva, Brown Benz", 142K, 40.2 MPG
'77 240D (parts car)
'67 Eicher ES 202 Tractor "Otto" (2cyl, Air Cooled, 30HP)
Gassers:
'94 Ford F-150, "Henry", 170K (300 Six) 17.5 MPG
'85 190E 2.3, 148K....Parts Car
'58 Dodge W300M Powerwagon (Flat Fenders) Less than 10 MPG

The lightness of the 84 190d is probably the biggest advantage in your commute ,I know that a heavy 300d would slide right into a ditch if you tried to road rally that beast.The most recent 84 2.2 5spd I layed my eyes on was 2 years ago ,these cars are becoming a real rarity item.

I have one of the turbo 1987s bought from the original owner, and I love it. It's quick and fun to drive. Plus the thing is really rock solid, even after 20 years. I guess that's Mercedes for ya. I have the usual odometer and climate control issues and rust at the jack points. But it's a great car.

George

Rust at the jack points ,ahh yes ,it really makes for excitement when your under the car for repairs.Im one to make a point of it to use a jack stand and wheel blocks but those who live on the wild side must really get a rush .Im looking at adding a 5"x 8" 1/4 inch plate to make things tidy around the areas ,welded in place should steady things a bit.

My 300D never sees gravel roads (excepting the 0.1 mile to the house), it has become a "go to town" car for groceries and the like. I have redone nearly every bushing and joint in it's suspension tho.....and it handles surprisingly well on the 1 & 2 lane winding paved roads around here.....

The 190D will see about 25% of it's use on gravel and dirt roads......initially I hated the color, sort of like human flesh, but it matches the dirt around here extremely well, so I don't have to wash it as often......LOL

SB

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Diesels:
'85 300D, "Max, Blue Benz", 155K, 27.0 MPG
'84 190D 2.2, "Eva, Brown Benz", 142K, 40.2 MPG
'77 240D (parts car)
'67 Eicher ES 202 Tractor "Otto" (2cyl, Air Cooled, 30HP)
Gassers:
'94 Ford F-150, "Henry", 170K (300 Six) 17.5 MPG
'85 190E 2.3, 148K....Parts Car
'58 Dodge W300M Powerwagon (Flat Fenders) Less than 10 MPG

I've had a lot of 25 year old cars. All of them needed a lot of work to keep them on the road. Most of them died from electrical failures so numerous it took longer to fix them than to walk to where I wanted to go.

But my 190D gives me back more than I put in it. It rides the best, starts the best, and I like that it sounds like a German submarine idling on the surface.

It has all the problems listed over and over on this forum-- windows that dont go up all the time, sticky sunroof, no speedo.

I've replaced the transmission, the head gasket, various struts, ignition lock cylinder.

I've thrown out the egr, ac condenser, cruise control module, and a few other modular looking things that the car doesnt seem to notice anymore.

I love my 190d. Burning #2 it gets about 36mpg but on ULSD not so good.
Sometimes I throw some cetane booster the way you might buy a good dog a chew toy. What a great car!

And the rest of the story: without this forum hardly anyone could keep their cars on the road. This is a GREAT FORUM.

Mine has been trouble free except for that little event when the engine threw a rod at 165K miles. don't know the cause, don't know if the coolant in the oil came before or after. Walked back and found the punched out piece of block at the beginning of the oil trail. It had the Mercedes star on it. Anyway, put in a junkyard motor that was "said" to have 100K on it, still going strong with another 125K on it. Would buy again!

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Hanno
'79 6.9 Sold (after 27 years)
'83 280SL, 5 spd.
'94 E320 Sdn. 5 spd conversion
'02 E320 Sdn.(on loan to mom!)
'87 300E (5 spd. conversion) Sold
'05 E500 Wagon