Originally Posted by Shawn T. W.

Is the "upper oil pan" what I would call a "valve cover"?

What/where are the "radial seals"?

Originally Posted by Shawn T. W.

I also liked the Finny, but my wife . . . not so much . . .she likes the look of the 123, even better than the 210 which surprised me!

Originally Posted by Shawn T. W.

Today I went to inspect a few cars:
1st on the list was a 77 300D
2nd was a 81 300SD
3rd was a 85 300TD

I ended up only getting to see the 1st one as the others fell through on meeting me!

It shows 246k on the odo, but about 6 years ago his daughter cooked the engine to well done, and he replaced with a used engine . . . the oil cap just barely rocks on the cover when it is sitting there . . . Started in less than 2 sec once it had a 10 sec glow, ran smooth and quite quiet at idle, but I noticed that it took another 10-12 sec for the oil presure to come up on the gauge, is this normal? The odo appeared to work (it changed about 3 miles during my test drive, which seems right. Before I left I reset the trip meter, but the last 2 digits did not reset, it had 9.3. After my test drive it only had 9.5! Is this normal for the trip to die before the odo?

The drivers rear and pass front windows have issues . . . the front seats have been replaced, but are bad enough that the drivers has 2 rips about 8" long and both fronts have covers on them, the dash has a carpeted cover on it, I tried to peel it up, but it had velcro and some glue!?!

The doors all lock & unlock with the, he still has the original key, and service records for the last 10 years he had it, he got it from his Father who passed away, who had won it a few years previous in some gambling game . . .

I tried to look under the floor mats carpeting to see the floor, but could not figure out how to get it up, I thought it was just laying there, I did poke & prode but it seemed solid, the rest of the car is solid with just a tad of surface rust in the hinge pockets . . . he had the car painted about 2 years ago . . . he drove this car for awhile himself, then let his three children drive it till they got out of school . . . it has been rear-ended twice, once recently, but no damage to it other than a cracked tail light which has been replaced! The other veh was towed from the scene & totaled!

I took it for a drive, it seemed to have decent power (more than I expected!), handled well (last year he had the front end rebuilt!) braked well, seemed to run smooth, after I pulled out of the development temp was up to about 130 degrees so I floored it, and I could not see any smoke from the mirrors! Shifted smoothly too!

Anyways . . . I have a few more questions, and lots of pictures to go with them! You like pictures right?

Does this look to be sagging in the back, it is slightly up hill, but look at the rear wheel well . . .



It looks like the tranny is leaking, but it could be from the engine, what do you think? is it serious, or is that just rust preventative!






Some of the engine . . .





Is this the "normal" amout of blowby oil in the air filter?


When I 1st looked at the primary filter, i thought it looked good, I guess I did not look too close . . . when I downloaded it onto my computer I see little black flecks it it, do you think it has fungus among us?


Is this the bleeder that is leaking in the upper right corner, wish I had brought my ramps with me so I could actually get under it, oh well, next time . . .


Is this common for the molding to shrivle up on the door piller?


What kind of A/C does this have? It does blow cold, but . . . only out the side vents, and defrost . . .


I found this linkage on the engine side of the IP near the back that has a ball on it but no socket . . . what is it for?


What do you see that I didn't?

He is asking $1900 for it by the way, but has been for sale for a month or more . . . he is selling it because his kids all have atleast one veh each, and his HOA doesn't like him cloging up the street!

Originally Posted by strelnik

Overall a nice car, but one with some expensive fixes or time consuming ones, if you do them.

Baseline stuff like oil, etc is routine, but the oil leaks are not. They will take you LOTS of time, if you do them right. They would have cost more than the car is worth to fix. vWhich is why he didn't do them

Print out portions of this list and let him know some guys have seen your photos. 1500 cash in hand or walk away, unless you want to pay too much and start your mechanic's apprenticeship at the bottom.

There are other Benzes in the world. The 230S finny is proof of that.

Originally Posted by Shawn T. W.

I have pulled & rebuilt motors before, for myself & a paycheck, but . . . like you said there are quite a few other options out there . . .

I made up a check list.
He was quite surprised when I got out my clip board and blue nitrile gloves . . .

Originally Posted by Shawn T. W.

I took it for a drive, it seemed to have decent power (more than I expected!)

Originally Posted by Squabble

it's a great looking car and all, but i'm writing because it reminds me of my '81 NON-Turbo 300D. it took me about 3 months to get over the joy of the car and become severely frustrated with the lack of power, pep, and pick-up. i would pull out onto the road with cars coming a quarter to half a mile away and would only be at 45 mph when they would be up my a$$ beeping at me and forcing me to pull into the shoulder to let them by. my two cents, if you want it, is to hold out for a turbo model, they're all over the place if you're looking. but, maybe that's okay for you, there are a lot of people on this forum with non-turbo models and 240D's that swear by them. just something to keep in mind before the checkbook comes out.

Originally Posted by toomany MBZ

I'm thinking upper oil pan or rear engine seal, as mentioned quite involved. Maybe a front seal too.
The floor mats do just lift up, there may be some snaps too.
The windows are a fuse issue.
A bit of oil in the air cleaner, no big deal, same with the flecks in the primary fuel filter.
Does appear to have a leaking brake bleed screw.
A dash cover is just that, I'm sure it's cracked and ugly underneath.
You can remove the vinyl attempting to dress up the top of the door frame, you can see, it's painted the same color as the rest of the car.
And yes, the dreaded servo heating system. The center vents open only at certain settings.
I can't tell what that "naked" ball is for, post a pic further away to give a better perspective.

Originally Posted by toomany MBZ

I have turbos, which means I have different linkage, does it have an emergency stop lever? Try to see where it goes down to, but it seems to be the manual shut off. See the red STOP lever in the pic.
The windows have power so you'll have to go inside the one that grinds. You can take the switches apart, if you're careful, clean 'em up and see if that helps.