I had a look at a 87 190 turbodiesel auto yesterday , still trying to decide.

the good

It is a 190 turbodiesel

Power seems good

presentable

The bad

Has 430K (300K miles)

Trans flares and fails to shift at times

Heater core is bypassed

Couple of small rust spots

Ac not working (what a surprise)

Slow to shutdown with the key( I am thinking vacuum problems which may be related to the transmission issues)

Certain amount of nailing noise (I am used to my super quiet 190D on Bio , just burbles along)



He wants $1000

I have a good auto in my present car which is going to get a 5 spd conversion which I already have.

What do you guys think?

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It's always something simple
91 300D 603.960 (from japan) 194K
92 Toyota Diesel Landcruiser HDJ81-t 116K
02 Golf TDI new head courtesy of PO
87 300D
97 BMW 525 TDS Wagon 5spd
bunch of Onan and other diesel generators

$1000 seems a bit steep for one with a failing transmission and bad HVAC, nailing is also not normal. Biggest problem in these cars is rust, check the jack-points and rockers in general, and door bottoms. Also, these early ones had problems with the head cracking (replaced mine '87 190DT), see "#14 head" in the 603 for some info on the problem, the FSM has the casting number references to see if you have an early 602 head or a replacement one.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff