I'm thinking about buying a non-running w126 300sd for a second car. The car has 240k miles, good repainted exterior and good interior, maint. records, but had an oil cooler line episode. A pulley wore through the cooler line because one of the motor mounts was bad, the owner was at a stoplight and the car started to run funny, he opened the hood and was sprayed with oil, he shut off the car and had it towed. I don't know how much oil was lost because of this I'll have to ask again, but he replaced the oil cooler lines oil cooler afterwards.

Then he took it to a pressure wash to wash the oil off the engine, now the car cranks, has a new battery but doesn't start, the seller just wants it gone now. The owner is a old chevy guy and doesn't know much about diesels.

If the motor is trashed because of low oil, would it just crank and not start? Or would it be seized and not crank at all? It lost compression and won't start now?

Do 300d's engines that lose oil by the oil cooler lines cut just lose compression and only crank, or seize and not budge?

If the motor is still usable with glow or fuel issues, I'll buy the car. I don't really have the time or space to replace an engine, though. The car is in good enough condition to warrant an engine swap.

I could test the glow plugs with a multimeter or loosen the injector nuts to see if the engine is getting fuel while cranking.

So, your thoughts? This might be one of those cars that has a fuel or glow problem and the owner wants it gone, or maybe not. I'll find out how much oil was lost when the cooler lines wore through, but that's one way to kill a MB diesel engine. Should I go for it? I do like 300sd's too.

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1980 240d
1999 SL500