Better yet a w124 wagon.

__________________
Jim

Did you buy your W210 new?

Never a debilitating transmission issue as you had, on the W210 I bought new in 16 yrs. now. In fact, none since 1969 in any of 6 MB AT diesels in over 1 Million miles combined service. However, ALL of our MBs were either bought new, or had verification on their service records before buying.

Without records, it's impossible to assess a used W210 ' s care and maintenance over the years and miles

Great cars actually I spend the least amount of time fiddling with repairs on this car than the 123 and 124 series. My wife uses it but for long highway trips this is my preferred car the best economy around 38 mpg and lots of get up and go power.

__________________
92 e300d2.5t
01 e320
05 cdi
85 chev c10

I think I am going to just get it running again and get rid of it. I'm going to have to pull the intake manifold to get to the fuel lines that need replacing, which means its likely to be sitting in my driveway for a month, and that's not really what I was looking for when I bought it. It seems nice otherwise and everything works, so I will post it here for what I paid for it and throw in the $175 or so of maintenance parts I bought for it if anyone is interested.

The intake isn't bad once you do it a couple times. A cordless small impact drill like ryobi or dewalt is your friend. Where is the car? I know someone interested in one. The main thing that will get you with these high mileage 200,000 plus is the transmissions. Expensive on any car. Of all the benz's we've had in last 10 years, these have been the most reliable for us. Or rather, i should say just as reliable. The only time i've ever been stranded in any of them is when a belt tensioner or alternator pulley broke. But i usually don't mind breaking down Make the trip more interesting. One time a fuel filter clogged in the middle of the night (wvo ) in the country in TN. I got out and changed it by moonlight and look over and a bunch of cows are just staring at me. It was cool. Which reminds me, had that been a w210 , my battery may have gone dead trying to prime it. An electric lift pump or primer bulb is a good thing to keep handy. A quart of clean diesel too.

__________________
What Would Rudolph Do?
1975 300D, 1975 240D, 1985 300SD, 1997 300D, 2005 E320 , 2006 Toyota Prius

Its in the California bay area. Its mostly a nice car, I am just really uncomfortable working on diesels, and I can't afford to have a car that expensive that isn't reliable enough to drive daily, so I'm going to look for something less complicated and with a gas engine. I'm a bit disappointed because I thought I'd be able to keep it for at least a few years, but maybe someone else will have better luck with it.

I bought it from a Forum member, I was near Edwards AFB, near the Mojave desert and found myself looking for a car to replace one my wife wrecked back home. I probably wouldn't have bought it if I had to drive the 300+ miles to go see it, the planets must have been aligned that day I logged onto Peachparts Cars for Sale Forum.

Maybe I was not clear, I never had a debilitating moment in the 210, once or twice it stuck in low gear, both times on a city street or in a parking lot and I stopped, shut the engine off, restarted and it shifter fine (except for the flare). I actually could control the flaring by modulating the accelerator pedal but my wife wasn't capable of learning that trick well.
So I started reading about the Limp Home mode and at the same time was assessing the 1-2 flaring and finally went to MZF transmissions in Burlingame, CA the premier Mercedes transmission shop in No. CA. I was shown a printout of my OBC and was informed the only thing of any concern with the health of the car was the transmission, its amazing how much info is stored in the onboard computer!
I was told a rebuild wasn't something I needed to have fixed ASAP but that someday it would have to be towed when the bloody computer locked it in 2nd gear (or low gear I can't remember).
at the time I was planning to drive it cross country so I figured that it was time to have it rebuilt.
BTW, I had the automatic fail in my '79 300TD and also in my '75 230.4 the auto trans stuck in low gear, this was definitely something I didn't want to experience again!

__________________
'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

If you're not amenable to spending a lot of time mechanicing on it, with the cost of a lot of parts $$$, or paying to have it mechaniced on - then I agree with your route of dispensing with the car. Periodic maintenance on these can easily run into the $2,000.00+ dollar range with a competent, full-line independent aftermarket MB-specialty garage. It's probably better that you learn this early on, rather than later. They're terrific cars - but they come with a price. That's just the way it is.

I thought it would be more like the 300sd I had, that needed work too, but was still pretty reliable and only once had a mechanical problem that required it to be parked right away until it was fixed in the 4 years i drove it.Occasionally spending $2-300 and a weekend fixing stuff is one thing, but no, spending every day off repairing stuff or multiple $2k repair bills at a shop is not at all what I want to do.

No, they're not to me.

I am evolving in wanting to buy another W126 - a '81-'84 300SD as my main car/transportation. That's how good those cars were/are !! (IMO)

The 300sd I had was at about 440k miles (odometer was broken, but it was at least that high) and starting to cost a lot to keep working, but it was pretty reliable and cheaper than a newer car. I think the biggest problem with the w210 for me is that its not that cheap of a car, but its not something that can be your only car. If I have to have 2 cars, they both need to be cheaper lol.

Quick answer then? Two early '80s era MB diesel cars. A W123 and a W126, or whatever combo - both diesels. Reliable transportation? Yes. Problem solved? Absolutely!

I have yet to see any reason to believe that the trannies on these cars are particularly problematic....provided they have been faithfully serviced (fluid and filter every 40-60k without fail). Yes, I know their weak spots...but if a conductor plate or an adapter plug has to be replaced every once in a great while, that's fine.

__________________
14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 154k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 172k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 142k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 61k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

Service is the key to getting anything to last. For example, my '96 E300D came with a warning that the power steering would stop working (especially at idle/parking lot speeds, when you really need it). I was advised the pump needed replacement. Turned out that, at 250,000 miles, the fluid had never been changed. Apparently none of the factory services include this fluid, other than "check and top up." The fluid in the reservoir was, of course, black with age. I changed the fluid several times and most of the problem went away. The internal pump damage is still there but I can live with it.

Jeremy

__________________

"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

Have patience. Nothing that you have said about the cars problems are all that bad or hard to handle.

Over-thinking the problem, for me, is usually the most time consuming and difficult thing when working on our W210. The battery, last week, dropped down to 12.34 volts and the car wouldn't start. Simple fix, 3 nuts to remove. All of the time spent was searching for the best battery.

The fuel lines O-rings leak after many years with the main problem being the fuel changing to ULSD. Changing them is very simple and can be done from below the car without removing the intake manifold its just not as easy as from above the engine. The cross-over pipe is just a few screws and the manifold is a few screws that takes a total time of 30 minuets. The manifold gasket is $12. Filling the fuel tank might solve the problem for now.

The cars from the eighties have the same issues with rubber going bad over time and batteries getting weak, they just present in a different way.

It is very satisfying and rewarding to see the car run after an issue like this. And it must be done now before you sell it or it will not sell.

And diesels are easier and kinder to work on than gassers for most issues.