'97 was the first full year of this transmission, and while it is fairly reliable, the early units had a bushing that was not robust. It was improved in later versions. Since the 300D does not exactly have neck snapping acceleration, I am hoping the bushing in mine is not highly stressed. Mine has 237k miles and has never been opened up, so I would not advise buying preventative repair parts.

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'97 E 300 D

Mitch - pass on the '97 E300. It's a N/A, non-turbo engine. Slow.

What you want is a '98/'99 E300. Both turbocharged. Fast.

The E300 I am picking up tomorrow is turbocharged, didn't know there were any E300 non turbos in the UK!

I know that there is an NA variant of the OM606 which is rather slow, my car has a small turbo hanging off the side of it which is why I was happy to go for it.

The U.S. market was different than the Euro market.

We've only had a small sampling of Diesel here.

For the W210 we got the E300 with an OM606.960 non turbo. Same engine as in the 1995 124-based E300, but with the drive by wire pump. This was 1996 and 1997.

Then we got the turbo OM606.962 for 1998 and 1999. I have a 1998. Only sedans were offered with Diesels these 4 years. Only Diesel wagon that was offered (after the 123) was in 1987 as a 124. Got one of those too!

The Diesel was then discontinued in the US for the remainder of the 210 run. Only gas powered models available.

When the W211 was introduced they brought back the Diesel in the US, this time the OM648 inline 6 CDI for 2005 and 2006, and then changed over to the OM642 V-6 CDI for 2007 and beyond. In addition to the sedans, they started offering the ML SUV with a Diesel starting with the W164 in 2007. My wife drives a 2008 ML.

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The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech

Ah ok, that makes sense, I see loads of threads up about how to turbo the OM606 NA etc, I guess with the very cheap petrol you guys have over there the larger petrol powered cars would be more appealing.

My plan with my E300TD Wagen is to do a few subtle mods and tweaks - basically an 'OEM+' style to start with, then I will just bolt on more fueling and a larger turbo.

Was interested in the interchangeability of some of the parts, especially with the transmission as it seems to be a widely used box.

The CDIs aren't bad, and would respond well to remapping etc, but it doesn't change the underlying mechanical strength after seeing a 550bhp OM606 turbo running on stock internals etc.