Old Kubota diesel tractor. Great machine, and the little three cylinder produced an amazing amount of grunt. Then, years later I bought a GMC 3500 with a 6.2, and the love affair grew cold.....
My current 300SD has kicked it back onto the burner...
Still waiting for a 7.3 powerstroke to fall into my life......

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

A friend has one of those 3-cylinder diesel Kubotas because she has several acres to mow. I think it runs smoother than my '82 240D!
I've sometimes wondered about adapting that Kubota engine in place of my '57 DKW's 3-cylinder gas two-stroke. Also wonder how my DKW would perform with a 20 hp diesel instead of the origial engine's 40. Too bad my friend won't be junking her Kubota anytime soon.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

Only had one - still have it!

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Charles
1983 300D, bought new, 215k+ miles, donated to Purple Hearts veterans charity but I have parts for sale: http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-benz-cars-sale/296386-fs-1-owner-83-mb-300d-turbo-rebuild-parts.html

I've had 2 F250 Powerstrokes ('99 and 2000) and must say they're damn near bulletproof. We have one here at the yard with almost 400K, and thats with towing a DitchWitch/Vermeer Ditching Goose Neck everyday.


However, played around with the newer Chevy Duramax's and they surprised me. The 6.0/6.2's in the Hummers we had on Base were utter junk.

All that being said, back to the original topic.

My "first" diesel wasn't even a diesel. It was a '79 Rabbit sold to me at pawn shop when I was 19 under the monkier that it was a diesel . I didn't know a Distributor from an Injection pump back then. The thing blew a head gasket after 30 minutes. Didn't even get it home. After towing it home, I was looking up how to fix my new "diesel" and felt quite the moron... The slime at the pawn shop, obviously said no refunds. blah blah... It was at that point that I decided never to buy a car/vehicle without doing true research. (I was going off the whole 45+ mpg hype and thought all Rabbits were diesels.)

So, after that mistake learned. 3 years later, we traded our 2004 Jeep Wrangler for a 2002 Volkswagen Jetta TDI, and also bought a '99 Ford F250 Powerstroke. Haven't had a "running" gasser since. Sold the '99, and my friend's GF totaled my TDI. So my boss suggested I look at a 240D. After finding nothing but basket cases. I stumbled upon my new love of my life. my '85 300SD. Diesel for life.

I originally wanted a 1987 300TD but ended up with the 240D. I'd still LOVE to have a w124 Diesel. It's a goal.

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2007 BMW 328XI

It started in May 2006 for me. 1983 300SD from my dad's aunt. We already had a Duramax at home, but I loved the simplicity of the 617. Soon after that, we got a 1984 300CD...and a little later in 2007, my own car, 1987 300SDL.

If it weren't for that 83 SD, I'd be stuck with my 1991 Honda Accord...

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It's not the years, it's the mileage.

Hi Pelon,
had also this model in 1964/65. Rust was definitely a problem and stayed away from MB cars for many years. However, no speeding tickets

My first love was the 1981 300SD. I loved the sound of that Om 617. The odd number of cylinders gave it a very distinctive sound almost like a radial engine.

Now I am in love with the much more sophisticated OM 603... Ah true MB levels of smoothness and power ( yeah I know the power is not that much over the 617, but it feels much stronger)

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"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy"

Current
Monika '74 450 SL
BrownHilda '79 280SL
FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban
Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee
Krystal 2004 Volvo S60
Gone
'74 Jeep CJ5
'97 Jeep ZJ Laredo
Rudolf ‘86 300SDL
Bruno '81 300SD
Fritzi '84 BMW
'92 Subaru
'96 Impala SS
'71 Buick GS conv
'67 GTO conv
'63 Corvair conv
'57 Nomad

My first car and first diesel was a 1982 VW Jetta diesel.
As a few others have said, when it was running well, ~50mpg.

Then I got stupid and gave it to my sister a few years later as a wedding present as they needed a reliable car. Neither had a mechanical thumb in them, nor any maintenance inclination, and the car died a sad death shortly later.

I'm still tempted to find another, or maybe slap a TDI power train under an older lighter VW of some sort...

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-Josh
Testing the cheap Mercedes axiom, one bolt at a time...

2002 VW Jetta TDI. This was the most fun and reliable car I've ever owned. Totalled by a sober but inattentive driver last February. It had 200k miles on it so they didn't give me much money for it. I've always wanted a 300D and I figured buying one now would be entertaining and put a couple grand in my pocket.

Now I just need to find a project to put my Jetta driveline in to. I'm thinking 81 VW Caddy but I'm not sure.

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1984 300D 193.5k miles
ASTM-certified B100 bio when able

Not sure... it's between my 220D and a Dodge Cummins!

Carpets were coming up...palamino interior was so so. But the AC blew frigid and the seat was even better than my 83SD. Start her up and people thought the parking lot was on fire.

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77' 300D, "Cartman" SOLD @ 150K (didn't know what I had)
83' 300SD, "The Superdon" 325k+ @ 28mpg
95 E320 wagon, "Millennium Falcon" 231k+ @ 24 Mpg
95 E300D, "Sherley" 308k @ 33.69 Mpg, currently anticipating a head
99 Suzuki Intruder "Trudy" @ 45 mpg

A 300SD a dentist I know bought almost new. I owned it for a couple of years and sold it while it was still worth something in 07.

I still think the W126 is one of the best cars ever, its very hard to fault MB built almost the perfect car with that one. After tearing a few apart I can only think of a handfull of areas they didn't get quite right, but they don't detract from the car.

The diesels are nice because you can drive them hard around town and still get good mileage. With the SDL's being the best of them, IMHO.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

CHAIN = NOISE REDUCTION, easy to repair and replace
GEAR = NOISY, reliable, expansive repair and replace...

my 1979 300D it was in PERFECT CONDITION (sold it before i even gotten to drove it) then my 300SD...

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Current Garage
2008 Mercedes GL320 CDI 188k mi Repair/Work in progress
1994 S350 160k mi Garage Queen & prepping for repairs
2005 E320 CDI 203k mi Healthy & Daily Driver
1994 S350 357k mi Retried as parts car
1984 300TD 214k mi Blown OM617 Poss OM603 Swap??

Sold
1987 300SDL 200K+
1994 S320 181K mi
2008 E320 Bluetec 127k mi
1999 S420 130K mi
1980 240D 360k mi
15+ Others that has come, stay and gone

GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
1995 E320 SE 220k mi
1984 300SD 350k mi

1982 240D auto with 262K on the clock.

It leaked oil like a sieve and I burned out the starter every winter because I didn't know any better. Lighter, or synthetic oil, and I still might have it. I even utilized the little known option of having it pulled at 55mph in neutral by my dad's truck and dumping it into drive to get it started. It was about 0F that day.

It had a manual crank sunroof(very, very good idea), manual windows and no A/C.

Interior was perfect, diesel was about $.85 a gallon and I was commuting 100 miles a day to college.

Life was indeed grand.

Since, I have owned four more W123 diesels, one 1995 C280 and my current 1993 W124 300D.

I've bought and sold lots of cars and owned many for personal use and nobody, I mean nobody, beats an MB, period. Diesels, anyway.

I really, really like Audi allroads but I can't get over the fact that they run on Premium and have unreliable air bag suspensions.

If they brought over a diesel version I might jump ship for that baby.

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1993 W124 300D
-297K on the clock as I type this.