My brother, a friend and I went to look at a car today for my brother and while it has its issues, we felt it was too good a deal to pass up. It has 181,000 miles and the engine runs extremely well. It had little to no blowby and little smoke and was very quiet for a OM617. Brakes were amazing, new tires, no rust beyond some surface stuff like under the battery (Atlanta car for its entire life), transmission shifts well, rides extremely well (all bushings have been replaced) just overall a very well sorted car.

Its issues include the HVAC (I don't know much about what is wrong, may be really expensive but considering how nice the car is we aren't too worried), rear seat needs all new pads, regulators may be broken or need lubrication (again could be expensive), a couple of tears in the interior (though overall very good), and the paint is original and has a few issues but should shine up decently well. We paid $1400 but because of how well the engine ran and how the car felt, we decided the price was more than fair. The owner was pretty awesome.

I will try to get pics up tomorrow, even with its flaws, it is very presentable.

__________________
Current: 1975 450SEL, 83 300D, 88 Yugo GVX, 90 300D OM603 swap, 91 F150 4.6 4v swap, 93 190E Sportline LE 3.0L M104 swap, 93 190E Sportline LE Megasquirt, 03 Sprinter, 06 E500 4Matic wagon.

You bought it! Awesome.

The owner looked like the good sort from the ad... very straightforward and somewhat knowledgeable.

__________________
"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

Congratulations.

W116s are great, not a overgrown w123s and not w126s either.

I had always lusted after one, since the owner of the business where I worked as a teenager bought a used 450sel. They were nearly supercars in their time, the best sedan in the world.

I bought a 300sd in 1997. It was my first Mercedes.

Your brother should get ready to receive compliments. Pedestrians used to give me thumbs up as they crossed the street in front of me at lights, one woman (tipsy) remarked that it looked like the automotive equivalent of a Harley fatboy (in a nice way, talking about the chrome) .

Good luck with it.

__________________


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

This car is really pretty nice, rides extremely well but doesn't handle like an old American luxury car. And yes, many compliments already today.

__________________
Current: 1975 450SEL, 83 300D, 88 Yugo GVX, 90 300D OM603 swap, 91 F150 4.6 4v swap, 93 190E Sportline LE 3.0L M104 swap, 93 190E Sportline LE Megasquirt, 03 Sprinter, 06 E500 4Matic wagon.

Just wait until you have a chance for a long highway trip. Assuming the seats are sorted, it's what the Brits call a "long-legged" car for trips.

You can pile on many hours and miles before you get out of it.

__________________


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

I feel the exact same way.
Congrats on the purchase and please post pics

__________________
W211 B-PILLAR TRIM PANEL REPLACEMENT
My Continental Tire Experience

By Land:
2005 E320 CDI (Unnamed as of yet)
2011 Toyota Tundra DC limited 4x4 "Big Red"
1965 euro import VW Beetle "Mojo"
By Sea:
22' Grady White Seafarer "SeaSun Pass"

Good to hear you guys decided to buy it. You will have some work ahead of you sorting it out but it looks to be a dandy. I'll be looking for it on the roads of Atlanta. It will be easy to spot that big red beauty!

__________________
Joe

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1980 300SD - 495k miles - 'The Ambassador'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Former Family Members
95 C280
73 280SEL
90 300D
87 300SDL (X2)
86 560SEL
84 300D
80 300SD

No interior pics yet but its really overall pretty good except the rear seat since it needs new foam. Most of the pictures in this album are not of the car but of interesting things this guy and his neighbor owned. 1980 300SD Slideshow by oldskoolfan2 | Photobucket

I think this was his first Mercedes diesel but he has two Volkswagen diesels as seen in the pictures. His neighbor has a Ford Falcon station wagon. He also has an ex-Ukrainian military Dnepr motorcycle which ironically my brother had been looking at those on craigslist the day before we bought this car and it happened to be that this guy's Dnepr was one my brother had seen.

The car has a few modifications such as a trailer hitch (bolted to sheet metal and bumper so it won't tow much but I wouldn't want to try much weight anyway), a valve to shut off water to the heater core (less heat in the interior), and it has a camera mount welded to the underside of the car that the guy used to film rims for a dealership (obviously the W116 is a steady enough car for the job).

The owner was a professional camera man who says he has done tons of films from the Mercedes plant in Alabama (which he said as he was filming the building of an ML, a worker was putting in parts in the interior and a switch exploded out of nowhere, but it didn't make it into the final film) to filming part of the torch relay for the 1996 Olympics. He was also flown over to Germany to do films for Volkswagen and Mercedes, which was part of why he buys VW diesels. He was selling this car and his motorcycle to buy a higher end quad copter for filming.

Now since we looked at the car, a few issues have propped up. First, the passenger rear door worked and within a few minutes of us starting our look over, the handle must have failed and now it can only be opened from the inside. The car usually starts up really easy and quickly but it is having issues of not wanting to crank at all for some reason. Also the antenna was working but now it isn't though the previous owner said he had it replaced recently, not sure what this is, but I suspect the starting issue is related and has to do with the ignition switch, which he said was replaced but I know they are a common failure item.

Other issues known:
Locking one door does not lock them all, probably vacuum issue.
AC does not work, guy never had it hooked up and when he got it, it didn't have the belt to it. We do not know about the servo, but the heat works though I don't know if it is stuck on heat like it could be if it has failed. It does have a crack in the plastic housing. We accept that it will probably need to be replaced sooner or later as well as the AC compressor.
The door seals are bad, and OEM is double what I had expected, but my dad says he was successful in the past with sealing the doors better with weatherstripping bought at a hardware store. I will look more into it but it seems like the only brands available are URO, CRP, unnamed seals from Thailand on Ebay, and OEM but at $300+ for OEM, we might use another brand, at least URO claims to have a 2 year warranty (whether or not you can actually use that is a different matter).
2 window go up and down, need to be greased, both on driver's side don't work, if the regulators are bad is to be determined.
Half the lights in the interior are blown, barely any in the instrument cluster are good, seems as if the rheostat doesn't work.
Needs new axle boots, the ones on there were still good but look as if they started to rot, no cracks go all the way through the rubber.
Upshifts to 2nd and 3rd and harder than the rest by a good amount, maybe a vacuum issue or just how these transmissions usually are.
The paint is original, has its issues
Could use some new belts and a valve cover gasket
Headlights got water or something in them, need to be cleaned out and maybe replaced or refurbished

The good:
New tires
Came with full tank
All normal wear suspension components and bushings have been replaced so it rides well
Recent brake job
Runs extremely smooth and quiet
People love it

Overall, we feel we couldn't have done any better with $1400

__________________
Current: 1975 450SEL, 83 300D, 88 Yugo GVX, 90 300D OM603 swap, 91 F150 4.6 4v swap, 93 190E Sportline LE 3.0L M104 swap, 93 190E Sportline LE Megasquirt, 03 Sprinter, 06 E500 4Matic wagon.

wow very nice, i missed a SDL about 3 days ago, i was stuck in school

__________________
"NEW" 1984 300D TD needs some love

More ignition problems, I'm suspecting the ground or the switch

__________________
Current: 1975 450SEL, 83 300D, 88 Yugo GVX, 90 300D OM603 swap, 91 F150 4.6 4v swap, 93 190E Sportline LE 3.0L M104 swap, 93 190E Sportline LE Megasquirt, 03 Sprinter, 06 E500 4Matic wagon.

Starts in neutral, sometimes in park, suspecting linkage to the transmission is loose and is interfering with the NSS

__________________
Current: 1975 450SEL, 83 300D, 88 Yugo GVX, 90 300D OM603 swap, 91 F150 4.6 4v swap, 93 190E Sportline LE 3.0L M104 swap, 93 190E Sportline LE Megasquirt, 03 Sprinter, 06 E500 4Matic wagon.

Yeah, check the 2 linkage bushings. They are often worn or missing all together.

__________________
Joe

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1980 300SD - 495k miles - 'The Ambassador'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Former Family Members
95 C280
73 280SEL
90 300D
87 300SDL (X2)
86 560SEL
84 300D
80 300SD

The W116 is a cool car with character, nothing like it today. I wish I had the opportunity to buy one just to have it. The rarer they get, the more special they get I think. Good score. By the way, I'm sure you could make your own bushings instead of buying new.

New bushings are a couple of bucks. No reason to try and rig something when the proper fit is quite affordable.

__________________
Joe

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1980 300SD - 495k miles - 'The Ambassador'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Former Family Members
95 C280
73 280SEL
90 300D
87 300SDL (X2)
86 560SEL
84 300D
80 300SD

i have been starting my car in neutral or start, which ever she wants, since i got it

__________________
"NEW" 1984 300D TD needs some love