What challenges have you faced when bringing home an old diesel Mercedes? - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

t walgamuth · #16 03-08-2009, 10:01 AM

Before I had my trailer I used ropes and tow bars to bring home my project cars or broken down cars.

Roping home a car for an hour drive can be pretty tense....but I've done it more than once.

cmbdiesel · #17 03-08-2009, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

Before I had my trailer I used ropes and tow bars to bring home my project cars or broken down cars.

Roping home a car for an hour drive can be pretty tense....but I've done it more than once.

Keep in mind that if the wheels are touching the road, you need registration and insurance. Doesn't matter if it runs.

strelnik · #18 03-08-2009, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Actros617

Our first mercedes it a pita, it was a china blue bought it from a car lot, for $675 it was a 1977 300D, and it was an @$$ to bring it back home. So this is how the nightmare begins, after leaving the lot the tire started to vibrate IDK what speed it was cuz speedo broken, so we ignore it and proceed to the highway, about 10 min later the tire go BANG! Went to the trunk and the tire is flat, so we use our trusty toyota camry sport rim 1 inch bigger but it worked,...

What other brands of rims fit the Benz 112 MM 5 bolt pattern?

This can be helpful in emergencies.

KAdams4458 · #19 03-08-2009, 01:27 PM

Boy, some of you guys are paranoid. Maybe rightly so.

I'm not too worried about driving this one home, as it runs very well, and was a daily driver prior to the attempted theft. Mechanically, it's probably better than 90% of the diesel w123's out there. Even the oil cooler hoses have been replaced.

On the other hand, AAA is tempting. Not for the Mercedes so much as for my wife's Kia with the failing transmission, but, well... According to Google Maps, the new Mercedes is 94.6 miles away from home. Hmmm...

fruitcakesa · #20 03-08-2009, 01:38 PM

I have a "what could have happened " car pickup
Last May,after I had arranged to have the 82 240d flatbedded to Vermont from Florida, my wife decided she could not wait till the end of June for the delivery, so along with our daughter she arranged to have it put on the Amtrak car train from Orlando Fl to Virginia and then driving it the rest of the way home.
In Virginia the car was off loaded and the two intrepid travellers piloted the bue beauty 480 miles home in one day with zero, zilch, nada problems.
Keep in mind this was our first foray into the world of Benz so there was minimal practical MB knowledge to fall back on and all that was in my head not the girls so the "what ifs" were not even in my head.
While the car was mechanically relatively sound, they made the trip with absolutely no spare anything but a tire
When they got home, I pulled it into the shop and crawled underneath.
All the rubber boots on the front end parts were either torn or non -existent and the axle boots were dried out and cracked but only beghinning to weep oil.
I guess in this case ignorance was bliss.

The 81 was driven home from 1 mile away with no problems.

IndianaJo · #21 03-10-2009, 01:48 AM

I bought a 300sd 95 miles away, very cheap but the fuel hose was leaking at the tank and the back driveshaft donut was broken. No car trailers over 14' long are for rent here, so U-haul is not an option, and wreckers are quoting $3 a mile off peak. Made two trips up there in 20 deg weather, fixed the hose pretty easily, the donut took 6 hours because I coudn't use a torch in his garage. I cleaned out the garage first time, the second time I went up his wife had stacked more stuff around the car I had to move out. Went up third time with my wife to drive home, 10 deg, plugged in block heater for 2 hours, car wouldn't start. Car also had no brakes, seller hadn't told me, and filling up the empty master cylinder didn't help. Stopped at junk yard on the way home, junkyard owner promised to pick up monday with his dodge P/U and trailer for $100. Monday was snowing and 15 deg, junkyard owner couldn't get his dodge diesel to start. Car seller had plugged block heater in for 3 hours, took junkyard owner with me for $60 and the car started right up. Seller had told me brakes would pump up if engine was running, they did but only on one circuit. Trip planned was very rural, took off with one brake circuit working. Had booked liability insurance on the car, you're fined in this state if a car is hit in a driveway and it doen't have insurance, $90 for 6 months. No license plate. Car started right up, junkyard owner drove it home for me, no heat (valve under hood was turned off, seller later told me.) No heat in my car either, rust had plugged up the heater core. When passed by junkyard, police were waiting for junkyard owner to give him a long talk about a stolen car that he had given to a relative. Made rest of trip successfully, car bulled up the hill at the property on 6" of snow, although I had a porta-pull and 30' of chain in the trunk if it needed help I had checked front wheel bearings, car ran pretty good once we got it started, but gee it was cold, and would have been nice to have a defroster. Seller had told me how to jumper the control block to make the heater blower work, but forgot to tell me about the hand valve he had intalled and turned off under the hood.

pawoSD · #22 03-10-2009, 02:06 AM

My 300SD was bought sight unseen through ebay....drove it home 750 miles from Harrisburg, PA back to MI...no issues.....until we ran out of fuel due to a lying fuel gauge! A friendly MI trooper brought us to a gas station and we got some fuel....and were back on our way.

Made it 512.4 miles when it died.

That was way way back in July 2003....

My dad's '83SD was driven home from Royal Oak/Detroit....no issues.

My dad's '82SD was brought home on a flat bed...though the engine did run...horribly....drooled/burned/spewed oil in every direction when running, and had about 10-15 hp available. I have yet to tear it down to see what happened in there....we'll see in the spring. Its back on the road fully gone through....a beautiful car....and the only one that didn't come home under its own power...

My dad's (sister's) caravan was bought new back in late '98....dealer delivered it to us...it had like 73 miles on it. Wow.

My brother's 300D was driven home from Eastern MI (in the thumb), no issues aside from no heat. (monovalve was dead)....and hard starts due to ORIGINAL glow plugs....amazingly the glow lamp STILL came on!

My wife's 300E was driven home from about 8-9 miles away. Closest MB I've bought by long shot.

The Rav4 was given to us by her parents....it still lurks.....haven't sold it yet.

TylerH860 · #23 03-10-2009, 03:50 AM

I drove all 4 of my purchases home:

I picked up Ol' Turbo August 2007 and drove more than 1000 miles the first week I had it. It was about a 400 mile ride home, and I got amazing fuel economy I have not seen since. Probably because I was going exactly the speed limit, because the AC was inop and the wind noise deafening. I had to crouch forward with my head nearly touching the steering wheel to listen to the Star Trek book on tape I had brought for the 8 hour journey home. The worst part was when my ice cream melted, and I thought it would be a good idea to chuck out the window. At 70MPH, the entire cup blew back into my face and all over the car.

My goodness that car has come a long way.

The day before I left with Ol' Turbo, visiting friends in Denver, Co.

Angeles Crest, January 2009

Norm, the 1980 300TD came from a barn about 45 minutes East of here. It had not moved in months, but all it took was a jump to bring it back to life. Drove home without a hitch. One heck of a transformation with that wagon too, alot of body work, and I'm looking forward to seeing it again in a few weeks.

After hosing it off from the barn, purchase day.

Shortly before I sold it.

The Excelsior I drove 3 hours home from Kansas City. The photographer was a little wacky, and lived in a house suspended off a cliff similar to a hammock.

The Defiant was driven out of a downtown junkyard... Another great transformation.

The day I came upon it in the Junkyard:

Last week:

I've been very lucky, I guess.

LUVMBDiesels · #24 03-10-2009, 05:59 AM

First of all I would never drive a car without a valid reg and insurance, I guess I am paranoid, but I really don't need my house taken away when I drive a POS into somebody's new BMW!

That being said, when we bought the '81 300SD, it was from a used car dealer in Pa about two hours from home. We bought the car then they held it in a corner of the lot until we came back the next day with plates. The drive home was fun with my wife following in the BMW. We had a pair of Motorola walkie talkies and stayed in contact that way -- no dialing cell phones.

The BMW was bought near home and again held while I ran to DMV for plates.
She was in drivable shape until I stopped for gas and found the tank leaked when it was filled past 1/2 way!

The Jeep got towed home on a U-Haul carrier. Best idea I have had. It was an easy tow for the Suburban.

The interesting take away was the SDL. I bought it about 80 miles from home. I did not know if I was goung to buy him so I did not hitch a triler to the truck. Instead I took one plate from the 300SD and put it on the back of the SDL (they are the same color) and called AAA. I said the car was leaking and needed a tow home. They came with a flatbed and I followed him home.
Nice free delivery!

If you are taking a car home within 100 miles use AAA as a delivery service, farther out than that or if you have a buddy to spot you, get a trailer from U-Haul...
I know I would really hate to be the one you crashed a parts car with no insurance into.

KAdams4458 · #25 03-10-2009, 07:56 AM

Do not assume that I drove the car without insurance!

I assure you, the car was insured for the trip, I would never, ever drive an uninsured or under-insured vehicle. It's super easy for me to get insurance. Call insurance company, tell them the VIN, and -Poof!- it's insured for the same full coverage that I have on every one of my other cars.

I finally managed to get the car home, tonight.

Of course, the day started out with snow and a highway packed with traffic accidents, so it took a lot longer to get down there than planned. Think, it was getting dark quick, kind of late. I got the bypass hose taken care of, topped off the coolant, and the car fired right up with the fresh ignition switch. I was doing pretty well until I noticed the stream of coolant shooting out of the top of the radiator.

(Looks like the seller might have botched it up when he was working on it for me, because it sure didn't leak there when I agreed to buy the car.) I managed to patch up the radiator with some epoxy, but lost plenty of coolant in the process.

I swapped my refinished bundts with new tires on to the car for the drive home. (I just don't trust beater tires.)

I then figured out that the defroster still wasn't working. Well, freezing weather plus no ventilation equals serious fog and frost on the windshield. Ugh. Figured out the blower motor was getting power, but not working. Pulled it apart at a gas station and repaired it with a paper clip. Good to go!

The 100 mile trip home was smooth sailing. My feet got a little cold because all of the heat was routed through the defrost vents, and there was a spring poking me in the butt the entire time, but all in all, it was a nice relaxing drive.

SwampYankee · #26 03-10-2009, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmbdiesel

Trailer or flatbed would be my options -
AAAplus will get you 100 miles, and you'll still have a couple roadside assistance calls for later.
Real easy to end up costing yourself more money by trying to cheap it out.
You could either break down and need a tow (in CT it's $88 for the hook and $4.75/mile - adds up fast)
You could wreck/damage the very parts you bought the car for
You could get stopped by the boys in blue and get a ticket that doubles the cost of the car (I assume you have temporary registration and insurance, but even an unsafe vehicle / defective equipment ticket can be costly, not to mention might cause a non-consensual tow)

Good luck!!!

I tend to be pessimistic anyway but CT generally isn't a good place to chance it.

LUVMBDiesels · #27 03-10-2009, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KAdams4458

Do not assume that I drove the car without insurance!

I assure you, the car was insured for the trip, I would never, ever drive an uninsured or under-insured vehicle. It's super easy for me to get insurance. Call insurance company, tell them the VIN, and -Poof!- it's insured for the same full coverage that I have on every one of my other cars.
...

Please don't think I was being specific about you in regards to insurance. There have been others here who have put a 'fake' plate on their new purchase and just taken her home. My warning was to the general audience.

I am glad you got her home. Now that the car is yours, are you still going to part it out or turn it into a daily driver? If it made the 100 mile trip without failing, she mght be a keeper

cmbdiesel · #28 03-10-2009, 09:15 AM

Congrats on getting it home safely.
x2 about the insurance being just a general warning, not a specific assumption.
Best thing I've ever had is a dealer plate.
Switch it over to whatever vehicle, comes with insurance, and is totally legal
In fact it's all I ever dreamed of in a license plate.

pawoSD · #29 03-10-2009, 11:08 AM

The $750 car.

Hopefully someday I can find one like this for myself.... mine is starting to fall victim to the MI salt.....though this summer I am going to make a good effort to slow/stop the horror.

tyl604 · #30 03-10-2009, 11:11 AM

Every night when I bring my '81 300SD home my wife says "When are you going to get rid of that thing?" Been happening for about fifteen years.