The fuel guage is a bit "touchy" and I ran out of fuel while in the garage. I was stranded because I did not have another vehicle to take the kids to school or go to work. Wife had to come pick us up.

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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

Hmm, fun memories. Out of a bit over 100K on the SD, my alternator seized and chewed up one of the belts while on the road about 200 miles from home. It was daylight, so I drove back with no problem, just watched the temperature and didn't cut the engine off when I fueled up. More than once while tinkering I had one of the "throttle" rods pop off, resulting in the engine dropping to idle. I ended up swapping the suspect ball cup to one of the horizontal rods instead of on the IP. Since then (about 80K) ago, no problems that have affected me on the road without warning. And I figure, if the car warns me and I don't fix it, its really my own fault...

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Tjohn

82 300 SD
77 450 SL (gone)

On the E300 140,000 miles - GP relay failed in the Winter and it wouldn't start while at work. I found a wire in the trunk with aligator clips and used it to jumper the GP's, one-at-a-time for about 15 sec each. Jumped back in and got the car to start on a couple cylinders then went back to jumpering the GP's until it ran smoothly.

On the F250 90,000 miles - Camshaft position sensor crapped out - again, at work. (A known recall problem) Replaced it the next day laying on the street in the rain. Took about 10 minutes to replace and get soaked in the process...

Neither counts as high-mileage though...

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-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

3 times in 8 years my SD has stranded me.

Ignition switch locked up on me in a convenience store parking lot. Had to have it towed.

Glow plug relay fuse opened one cold November day when I was attempting to head home from work.

Rolling about 75 mph southbound on I-85 2 years ago (south of Macon about 90 miles from home) and the harmonic balancer bolts sheared off. Limped off the interstate and a couple miles to convenience store parking lot. Wife had to come get me (she was not happy). Returned the next day with car dolly.

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Joe

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1980 300SD - 495k miles - 'The Ambassador'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Former Family Members
95 C280
73 280SEL
90 300D
87 300SDL (X2)
86 560SEL
84 300D
80 300SD

I left work to get a sandwich and on the short trip back a rear caliper froze. I immediately stopped, but the heat was enough to burst a (probably already weakened) metal brake line. Left a nice lake in the parking lot.

I ended up replacing pretty much everything from the master cylinder back....

Other than that she's been rock solid

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Rich

83 300D
98 E320 Wagon

I've been stuck once. 6 miles from home, 4 miles to my indy in the opp direction.

my slave cyl went, thus no use of clutch.

other than that...

i sprayed a bit too much belt dressing on one night, shortly after I purchased the car, it didn't mess with me until the drive home && i was in rochester ny, had to go to pepboys for the belt, then get it over to sears for them to put it on... $100 boo boo on my part, oh well

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Matthew McIvor

2016 E350 4Matic Black/Black
2007 GL450 4Matic with Off-Road Pkg Silver/Black
1995 E300 Diesel White/Gray
1994 S600 Euro Black/ Black Velour
1986 560SL Blue/Blue/Gray
1986 190E Blue/Blue 93k

None of my three ever have. Part of that is because with help from the members of this forum I can do repairs on the road if necessary. Part is because I try to have the car in good condition before leaving home. Part is luck, I suppose.

Jeremy

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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

Neither my E300D nor my 2000 Passat 1.8t have left me stranded. When I bought my E300D it wasnt running so I had it towed to an Indy and that doesnt count. The Passat right now has 287,000 miles, and the E300 has 277,000. Even with the recent alternator failure I was able to make it home.

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Dennis
2006 E320 CDI Black/Black Leather. Nav, HTD Seats HK stereo 32000 miles.
2000 VW Passat 1.8t 300,000 miles as of Dec 09, 2009 original owner
1997 E300d Silver 300,000 miles As of Jan 05, 2010
3rd owner SOLD

Only when I converted it to veggie once. I guess it was telling me it didn't like it.

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

I was driving home from work, on the interstate and the engine started making a funny humming noise. Next thing I knew, it threw a rod. Coasted to the side of the road.... ..... Then I woke up in a cold sweat! :-) LOL But seriously, the old SD hasnt left me stranded. (knock on wood)

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I drove my SDL 45k miles for 5 years all over New England and it was perfectly reliable. We actualy took the SDL once on a road trip over my moms car because hers broke.

It always started the first try every time, and never skipped a beat.

The SD failed to start twice but both times were my fault. The first one was because I ran it to low on fuel, and the way the car was sitting in the driveway the pickup was out. The second was because it was to cold, and I let it sit at work all day. I should have gone out and started it every 3 hours or so, but I didn't.


If you go through these cars they can be as reliable as any modern car. They are very simple, only a few things will strand you. If your cooling system is in good shape, your filters clean, and your belts tight chances are they won't stop running. You have to commit the money to proactively replace stuff, like oil cooler lines so you don't get stuck. A lot of the break down posts on these boards can be prevented with some proactive maintenance. For example there is no reason an engine mount should be allowed to collapse to the point where the V belt cuts an oil cooler line. Stuff like that isn't the cars fault.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I guess being in business and using my SD,I fixed stuff before hand.
Never had a problem with any German or Japanese cars,and trucks.

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran, deutschland deutschland uber alles uber alles in der welt

Forgot one... my alternator went (long after the pulley incident), and I needed a jump to get it started. Also, my starter failed once but I cannot for the life of me remember where it happened.

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1987 W201 190D

300D (well maintained by me and by PO's)-hasn't left me stranded (yet).

240D (well maintained by me, not so much by PO's):

Doing about 60 down a dirt road on the way home from work and somehow a rock of just the right size got kicked into the engine compartment and wedged into a pulley. This caused a belt to be tossed, which in turn caught the other belt and tossed it as well. Got a ride home. Returned with new belts and some tools, after which all was well. More my fault due to improper operation.

Doing about 70 on the way to work. Applied brakes very hard to slow down for turn onto dirt road. Left front rotor broke into several pieces. I returned later with a rotor, limped it in to work and changed it in the shop there. Examination of the failed rotor revealed considerable corrosion and cracks that had propagated for some time. This and the above failure occured shortly after I bought the car.

Starter began showing signs of iminent failure. I replaced it with a Malaysian reman shortly before leaving the country. After getting the car out of storage over a year later, the reman starter began showing signs of failure. Since the starter was so new (less than 2000 miles), I mistakenly thought the problem must be something else. After my unsuccessful attempts to diagnose the "something else" the starter went out completely at the motel I was staying at while looking for a place to live. Had it towed to a shop which replaced the starter. Luckily, I was able to get my money back for the bad reman, but I was still out quite a few bucks.

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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 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.

The 190D which egan in '84 uses an electric pump.