A 1975 240D poped on the market near me. I really like the /8 body and need a grocery getter so I am tempted. Here are some details:

Good:

• I'ts cheap, $850 asking
• Manual trans
• Has AC, Southern Cal gets hot in the winter
• Nice Color
• Even though is was hit at some point it appears straight in pics
• Claims no rust
• Did I say it's cheap?

Bad:

• Salvage Title
• Some sort of drive train issue, owner says is drive shaft related
• From the ad "turns over but not running"

So am I crazy to consider this? I can take a battery, temp up a fuel source and see if it will run but if the drive shaft is toast how can i check the trans?

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1972 280SE 4.5

Not cheap if it's not running, but the body is gorgeous!
Take a battery and a 2 liter of diesel and see if it starts.
Go from there.

Pretty. . .I love 115s, too.

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Ginny in Denver-ish
78 300SD, 265K (mine)

The not running part is most likely glow plugs or fuel filters, with badly adjusted valves as another possibility. All are easy fixes. The driveline thing is most likely worn out flex discs, also not a hard fix. Take a look at it and unless you find something very bad, I say go for it.

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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 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

Yeah man. I'd be all over it had I not already purchased a w123 240D last summer. GP and/or fuel issue is my guess. Good luck!

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1982 240 D, 308,000 - 321,127 miles (sold)
1982 300 TD,166,500 - 226,000 miles
1998 E 320, 120,000 - 144,000 miles
2005 C 230 K, 26,000 - 77,000 miles (sold)

Yeah good luck. Sounds good!

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Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (113k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
1993 300SD (291k)
1993 300D 2.5T (338k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (265k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K)
1985 300D (233K)

The car looks nice. In the 80's I drove a 115 that looked like that. They are great cars and you should buy it , IF you can deal with how slow they are.

Will you be able to drive that car in crazy SoCal traffic without getting into a road rage incident ? Very poor acceleration and much worse when you turn the air on !

If I were after a car like that I would not try getting it running. If you are good at working on them ,just make a much lower offer as-is, and see what happens.

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Diesel-guy

Driving a /8 240D in LA/San Diego/Vista/Escondido is interesting. You have to stay to the right and typically any on ramp with any positive slope causes a lot of precarious near miss rear ender situations. It really makes you very alert because there is that constant need to make all of your driving moves due to the minimal power available.

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1974 240D 3.0L 4(M) - 250K -OM617.910 + 300D FW + Rajay turbo power!
1977 6.9 3(A) - 84k

I see the problem - the "240D" and "Diesel" badges have been reversed! That will cause all kinds of problems!

Nice looking car though - in fact, it's the same exterior colour as mine. Bet it was repainted (mine was too), thus the badges being put back incorrectly. I bought mine for around the same price 6 years ago, but mine was running & driveable. Still, I quickly spent hundreds more in parts on it as it needed filters, brakes, water pump, shocks, hoses, battery, primer pump, instrument cluster, lights, stereo, exhaust & new tires. Probably quite common with a car of this age that wasn't impeccably maintained. The heater blower and A/C still aren't functional.

You're not crazy to consider this - if you want the car, by all means get it, just know that running or not, it's going to be at least a few hundred more before it's road-ready, and you'll probably uncover plenty of other problems once you start working on it. If you can figure out the issues and potential repair costs, perhaps you can negotiate with the seller to let it go for a few hundred $ less.

And you may want to make your grocery-getting outings on Sunday mornings or late evenings, for example, when the traffic is light. Then you can enjoy driving it instead of dealing with the perils of slow acceleration.

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1976 240D "Katja"

Yep, has the York AC compressor... the hp saved by having a manual shift will be taken away by that unit.

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1980 240d ,

chain elongation, cam marks reference:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/10414-help-i-need-check-stretch.html

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/305365-9-degrees-chain-stretch.html

evap fin cleaning:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/156207-photo-step-step-post-showing-w123-evaporator-removal-1983-240d-1982-300td.html?highlight=evaporator

A/C thread

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/297462-c-recommendations-mb-vehicles.html

Bring $700 in cash and take the car back with you. The body looks fantastic!

-J

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1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

I considered looking at that car as well, but my hands are full with my wagon project right now. My guess is that the drive line issue is a flex disc. Sure looks nice!

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1979 240D with a 617 turbo diesel.

Add me to the chorus. Pull the trigger if the engine runs w/o belching smoke and the rust is minimal. The drivetrain issue is likely to be minor, and even if the gearbox is toast it's not going to be too hard to find.

But make sure you know you can live with the speed....

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

So, how much slower is a 75 240 compared to my 80 240D? my 80 scoots right along. Just don`t compare your 85 300D to the 240, and expect the same performance. the 240 is only 60 + HP. the good thing is this 75 does have a manual transmission.

Just make sure your finger works, because you will be waved at a lot .

Just remember, at 36 yrs old, it is an old car with a lot of problems, and some expensive ones if it has been neglected over the years. this one looks good in the pictures, and go for it, you will have fun with it.

Nice thing with old cars is, the wife always knows where you are, and it keeps you out of the bars.


Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

I'd do it. Worse case, you can part it and get more then $850 back.

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With best regards

Al

So I guess what your saying is, if I have been driving my SRT8 and then hop in this I might notice the extra 25 seconds it takes to get to 60MPH?

Smart ass aside, thanks for all the input! I am off to look it over this morning, Palm Spring is about 2 hours away, I will report back later.

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1972 280SE 4.5