I've been looking for a donor engine for my 1985 300d for about 6 months now and finally found two! at a local junk yard and a family friend. He is asking 1,500 for the whole car. its a 1985 with lowish miles to my understanding. so i'm wondering if its a good deal and/or if its worth it to replace the motor in my 300d when i only paid 1,500 for it.

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84 300sd 2.47 dif 360k
26 mpg needs lots of love
given to me in pitty

89 civic hatchback auto 140k
33mpgs soon to be low to mid 40's
been in the family since mile 1

85 300d with unknown knock. driven over 30k with knock and still going. sold for $800

Well you can get a whole lot more stuff off of a car - if you just buy an engine you just get the engine.

But in both cases when you just want the engine to start off with - it comes down to condition. There's no point buying a weaker engine because it comes attached to some extra car parts.

So it is engine condition condition condition condition...

...condition condition...

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Regardless of price it is pretty well required that any engine you find pass a decent compression check first.. No sense taking a chance on getting a boat anchor. You have one already.

That is about all many people land up with if not taking the effort to really check engines out. As for claims of low milage you have to use your own judgement when you see a car as well. Far too many odometers on these 617 cars are just indicating fairy tales.

I echo what the others say, and will address two things they did not.

You ask if its worth it to do the work on your car, which you only paid $1,500 for. That question doesn't necessarily depend, for its answer, on the car's purchase price. It depends on its condition and its value to you.

I suggest that you sit down (or go outside and pop the hood if its easier) and do an assessment of what the car is going to need in the next two years, apart from the engine install. I recommend you start with the front bumper and move back, component by component. You don't show your location in your info... but unless you're in a hot dry state, or the car came from same, rust is a huge factor in this assessment. Then decide if you're game for whatever the end investment estimate looks like.

This is especially true relative to your DIY level, whether in particular you will be doing the motor install yourself or paying a shop. Around here, the bare minimum a shop will charge for that job is 12 hours (plus other incidentals, such as changing the oil and coolant, for example), assuming no hiccups. Many shops charge considerably more (and some won't even do a customer-supplied-used-motor install unless they can see and hear the motor run beforehand). Also bear in mind that the 12 hours assumes them receiving the donor motor ready to install. If you roll up with a parts car that they have to pull the motor out of, add another 50 percent to that labour figure.

There are detail differences between the '85 and your car, really relatively minor -- the '85 will have a slightly more complicated vacuum hose setup and it has a black box in the passenger footwell that controls the EGR function. Some shops freak when handed a situation like that if they aren't familiar with older Mercedes (freak = cost creep).

You mention one source is a family friend. Ah. In that case, it is DOUBLY required that you be merciless in assessing the donor car's condition, as chances are pretty good realistically you won't have much recourse once you've bought it, unless you want to create an immense issue. (And if you have to swallow your anger from a problem, and not create an issue if things turn out wrong, chances are you will be angry about it for a long time.) Friends selling friends cars, whatever the situation, isn't always a good idea.

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22