Also . . . have you tried buffing out your paint job? We never did find out the year and model of your Benz. Maybe if you do the work yourself, send for a paint job/buffing, drive to Pick Ur Parts for new interior, and replace all the sensors, lights, and pressure sensor behind your cluster . . . you can plan this stuff by a weekend at a time, and you might have a "new" car within 6 weeks, for a lot less than you'd spend on a replacement of questionable quality.

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1983 300D, the "Avocado"
1976 240D, 4-spd the "Pumpkin", SOLD to Pierre
1984 190D, 2.2L, 5-spd, my intro to MBZ diesels, crashed into in 2002

what'syerpoint? many are not. Mechanic (Doc) said my ball joints should last ~ 40 years. I'll only be 98 then. Hopefully there will be an old skool tech to deal with my old technology & not insist on installing some computerized new fangled thing. BTW, I'm referring to my recent ass ball joint installation not those on the SD.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

Damn right...........you only get 10 on those............

You'd have to see this thing. It's a conglomeration of problems.
No fuel gauge
No aux fan(toggle switch)
sagging rear springs, bad bushings in the rear end.
wears out tires(rebuilt front end last year, had an alignment, tired of messing with this)
front seat trashed
paint respray blistering, many layers visible
rear window leaks when it rains
drivers door leaks when it rains
rear windows inop, had them working after doing both regulators and both switches, when they went out again i said FORGET IT
steering gearbox VERY loose, drive like on the simpsons.(turn wheel back and forth to keep straight)
no dome lights
headliner trashed
dash cracked, wood missing
ac compressor MISSING
heater core leaks
auto shut off inop, scores of vacuum circuits MISSING
front door will not lock, key broke in cylinder
rear drivers seatbelt stuck all the way out
headlight doors totally trashed
trunk leaks water
transmission leaks
can see ground from battery tray
rust behind rear wheels
probably forgot something...does that satisfy you guys?

Buy a $1000 to $2500 MBZ with turbo 617. Cars that are decent starting points can be bought for that. The only one that I thought would only need maintenance was priced at $5700. I didn't go look so don't know actual quality.

Either use yours for parts or sell it on Craigslist. Start at $1000 & take anything $500 or more.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

I become very sad when people say they "fix" their car but it keeps "breaking" especially when it's a mechanic who is "fixing" their car. They moan about the cars lack of reliability and ***** about the mounting costs at their "trusted" mechanic.

While it is possible to experience failure of a new stock or refinished replacement part; most of the time if someone is paying a mechanic to "fix" something that is constantly "broken" like say... A front suspension rebuild that keeps eating tires they are getting bilked. There are a finite number of components that can affect each fault, like worn tires. Once someone goes through that finite number of components and systems to replace the defective ones they then set everything to "spec" and see if the problem (worn tires) is corrected.

Occasionally an obscure part will be overlooked, or a good new part can unexpectedly fail, or the mechanic makes a mistake. It happens to the best of us. The fault (tire wear) is then reproduced. The car reenters the shop and they search until they locate the cause of the fault. Once the system is repaired the car is again released to the owner. Keep in mind when I use the word "system" (front suspension) that system can be made up of a LOT of parts. Hundreds of them. But one by one you can check them out.

Obviously it's never a smart financial decision to take a transmission completely apart because it takes too long to shift into reverse, or if it always slips on a 3-2 upshift. This is when owners usually take a dramatic step and replace the entire system (transmission) with a "good" used unit rather than rebuild the original. Often, this works out fine. Occasionally some new running issues are uncovered when the new unit is in place. Usually this can be attributed to other "systems" having been adjusted to meet the performance of the old failing part. With something like an entire transmission, there are a few adjustments that need to be made before the unit will work as intended.

Something such as a front suspension though on an old car can be a lengthy battle. The point is every battle eventually. The design of these cars is very sound it's the decades of poor maintenance that causes frustration.

If something is broken, and right after it's "fixed" it once again breaks, 99.99975% of the time it's because it wasn't fixed properly the first time. the other 0.00025% of the time it's because the part you thought was good wasn't in fact good. Even with new a stock.

I rebuilt the front end myself, with what are apparently cheap front end parts. I already have 'clunks' in the front end, with a definitely bad outer tie rod on one side. This is my first benz, I learned a lot and made ALOT of mistakes on it. I want to start fresh. Besides, I'm 25 and can't keep picking up my girlfriend in Uncle Bucks car..

You have a good sense of humor, and good taste in cars. You will go far in life my friend. I say keep your current banger for parts, and find a nice solid example of the same breed that you can graft your engine into. You shouldn't have any trouble out in Tucson. I used to live out there and loved it.

When it's time to buy parts I always just call Phil. He is the sole source of the parts for my fleet of five oldies. K trust him completely.

I'm pretty sure that your broke a$$ 240 is waaaayyy better than beat to hell, 1975 Mercury Marquis with a Landau top! If it isn't, then maybe you are due for an upgrade!

Further, 50 points to Gryffindor (for being 25 and knowing who Uncle Buck is)!

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1991 300D 2.5 "Rocinante"
2002 Golf TDI "Teen Spirit"
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1984 300D
1966 Mustang I6 3sp
1985 Mazda RX-7 GSLSE
1982 Toyota Supra
1977 Datsun 280z
1971 Datsun 240z