84 300d ,Put into gear and stalls immediately.

[chasinthesun]

I drove out to see a 1984 300d ,after starting it I tried for a gear and it immediately stalled ,gave it some pedal and the same thing ,could the trans be locked somehow ? This car seemed to have all the normal issues of neglect and condition wasnt great but seller is willing to take $500 for it .He had it driving last week but couldnt tell my why it wouldnt drive now.I could feel the trans engage ,but soon as it did the car stalled.The brakes are not frozen ,we pushed it backward ,and the trans topped off.I was told it would drive up to 25 mph before the drive out to see it ,this lead me to believe the linkage on the firewall was bad ,which it was, the trans being bad too though would kill the deal for me .The engine is still good for someones jeep project AND this seems like what most of the 617 cars are being bought up for , the motor only while the rest goes to the scrapper.Its a shame too ,the color is a rare blueish green that Ive never seen up close.

[Diseasel300]

Trans could be locked up, or could be an issue with the IP. Does it rev freely in neutral or park?

[Dan Stokes]

It sounds like it's engaging 2 gears at once OR the converter is locked up. FWD GMs used to be notorious for that. I'm guessing this has a lock-up converter and if so that's your likely culprit. I'm not sure on a Mercedes but I suspect you can remove the converter-to-flywheel bolts and then reach up to see if you can spin the converter (key on as if the engine was running). Betcha it's locked.

Dan

[Diseasel300]

Mercedes didn't use a lockup TC until the 722.6 in the mid 90s.

[Frank Reiner]

Given that there is no convertor clutch, a broken stator could drop pieces between the impeller and the turbine, effectively locking them together.

[chasinthesun]

Its a mess under the hood,all vac lines are ok though as best I can tell,just an oiley messy motor.A big concern was that the power steering belt was the only belt on the frt of the motor ,no water pump action moving coolant.Another unique item was no primary filter being used ,just straight lined. He said he drove it around abit but cant tell me how far. I followed my check list to the tank and smelled what may have been either turpentine or laquer thinner ,Im not sure which ,someones idea of service .Some of these old 300d models are cheap enough but its sad that they get left as a used throw away towel.I did find that the motor had a very good indication of zero blowby ,the one thing that gave me rise to believe this kid owning and driving it for the 1 yr of ownership ,maybe its last yr of its life , gave it hell . The list is to steep for me, FOR THAT REASON ,IM OUT

[Frank Reiner]

chas,
what is the location of the car?

[OM617YOTA]

Originally Posted by chasinthesun

Its a mess under the hood,all vac lines are ok though as best I can tell,just an oiley messy motor.A big concern was that the power steering belt was the only belt on the frt of the motor ,no water pump action moving coolant.Another unique item was no primary filter being used ,just straight lined. He said he drove it around abit but cant tell me how far. I followed my check list to the tank and smelled what may have been either turpentine or laquer thinner ,Im not sure which ,someones idea of service .Some of these old 300d models are cheap enough but its sad that they get left as a used throw away towel.I did find that the motor had a very good indication of zero blowby ,the one thing that gave me rise to believe this kid owning and driving it for the 1 yr of ownership ,maybe its last yr of its life , gave it hell . The list is to steep for me, FOR THAT REASON ,IM OUT

The driving with no water pump thing would likely kill it for me, even if everything else seemed OK. Good job passing on it, some projects are just too much "project."

[chasinthesun]

Rosehill Texas

[Dan Stokes]

If I didn't already have a back-up engine I'd be tempted to get it if just for a spare. At $500 that's not bad for an engine that starts ,idles and free revs w/o rattley bits. But as a driver, questionable at best.

I paid $900 for the engine presently in Mutt and by the time I sold some parts and scrapped the shell at PnP it cost me like $450 or so. So this is a decent deal to my mind.

Dan

[chasinthesun]

Ive pulled 617 motors and have a parts car with no motor waiting in the wings,this does leave me wanting to dive into it but theirs that wonder of how much overheating its been through in its parked state .I would of liked the later to been true where a test drive would allow me to give better determination on its health .I really thought on the drive over to see the car I would have opportunity to determine the pedal linkage issue as its only pitfall ,I even brought a replacement and was going to install after purchase and get some miles on it to test the motor and trans out.Instead the young man told me a lie about driving the car up to 25 miles recently and when I couldnt get it to back up or move forward the deal was kind of over for me.Shame that these cars are cheap ,they fall into the hands of otherwise neglectfull owners .