You are factually incorrect.

Our son was pouring oil into it DAILY. So, of course, he had to have been watching it!

There was a catastrophic failure one day ... and since he rode in the passenger compartment & not under the vehicle he did not know until he heard the knock.

Sigh.

Anyhow, all that is irrelevant to where we now find ourselves.

Small claims court is way too expensive.

Go on Ebay, craigslist, or Car-parts.com and find a replacement engine. They are not insanely expensive. You could swap in the eplacement engine, your son could learn to do the work, and in the long run you would come out on top by having a reliable car that would be worth more than if you scrapped it or parted it out. Just a thought.

__________________
2012 Mercedes ML350 Bluetec 91K (hers)
2005 Corvette 55K (fun car)
2002 VW Jetta TDI 231K (mine)
1998 Volvo S70 T5 Turbo 196K (kids)
1994 Ford F150 4WD 249K (firewood hauler)
1983 Mercedes 300D 376K (diesel commuter)

That wasn't the story back in May. It was last checked "at the shop" and when the noise developed, was "driven to the foreign shop". Unless you have a turbo oil feed blow or have the drain plug fall out of the oil pan, there's no possible way typical leaks and oil consumption are going to drain that much oil in one day.

That's the fact.

Lots of us have oil leaks, for you to lose that much oil that fast, it would literally be RAINING out of the engine. There's no way anyone would drive a car like that and think it was ok.

__________________
Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

I think the obvious thing would be to just put another engine into the car. It is a waste to part the car out like it is.

The bigger problem is that the owner needs to adequately be able to take responsibility for the car and care for it.

A diesel Mercedes is not a car appliance. It is a well-engineered work of art that needs to be cared for and loved.

As is the car is worth $500 - $700 tops. There are a bunch of $2000 cars that drive just fine and need minor fixes and maintenance. Why would someone pay that for a car with a dead or dying engine and back end damage?

When I blew my head out of state on another W123, I paid $600 for an entire parts car and drove it back home from Arizona to California. There were a *lot* of issues with that car, but it did run and had a good engine and provided me with many extra spare parts.

Dkr.

Interpret things to the benefit of the garage - as you choose. Since I've been paying the bills & was nearest to the events it would seem that I am the best informed.

Oh, and BTW - there's a new mechanic at the same garage who has a 1984 Benz 300d, knows the former mechanic, has looked at the car, and has reviewed the repair history. He (with eyes on) agrees with me that it was absurd that after $1,200 to fix a leak the leak was not fixed & only got worse, and that 5 visits later it still wasn't fixed. (FYI: The foreign car shop wanted to fix it but it was under warranty & the original garage was responsible to make things right. They did not and have not and never told our son to not drive it - despite the leak - nor have their reimbursed the gallons - literally - of oil he put in it over several months.)

Again, believe what you will to make the garage look good & to put the blame on our non-mechanic son ... I have no idea what anyone would do that ... but it's still a mostly-free country.

We dumped as much as we did into it because it's a Benz 300d & our son loved it. No way we're throwing good money after bad. $3,000+ already in it, plus what we paid, and even with a good engine there are cosmetics and routine maintenance.

We've offered it to a local who already owns one, but needs parts, saying that he could part-out what he doesn't want. He has the tools, talent, & time. We've made him a real sweet offer to make it go away.

BTW: I asked and in this town a replacement engine + labor (no one in our house can do that work) has been estimated at $3,000+ Were this a pristine collector's quality specimen ... maybe ... but probably not even then.

Thanks!

No, wrong. You didn't properly take care of it.

If you did love it, you wouldn't let it run out of oil. It doesn't take a mechanic to check the oil on the dipstick.

It didn't "just" happen unless you blew a line. The thing takes nearly 2 gallons of oil. As stated elsewhere, it would have been the Exxon Valdez on your driveway if it was a leak.

It is not throwing good money after bad. These cars are extremely well built. The high costs you are getting are due to people who don't know how to work on them.

Why not just take responsibility and figure out what to do next? I could believe that you got an idiot mechanic. There are a lot of them. But, we're talking literally 2 gallons of oil to leak out!

It kind of sounds like you have some sort of fairytale in your mind and when people here try to bring you back to reality, you don't want to hear anything of it. These cars do practically go forever when they are properly taken care of.

Dkr.

1,000 miles away & changing things to defend a bad mechanic & I'm inventing a fairytale?

It was driven daily - not parked in the driveway.

It failed while being driven - despite oil being maintained.

The car was destroyed by a mechanic who was clearly clueless ($1200 and a promise we'd not see a leak for 15-20 years) plus 5 return visits, but the leak got worse and worse, & the vehicle required more and more oil.

Based on your muddled thinking a car owner pays $1200. to have a problem fixed, the mechanic says it's fixed 5 times, and when the un-fixed problem results in engine damage - it's not the mechanic's fault.

How you fantasize this as our fault is beyond any rational thought process.

End of story.

Yes, these cars are remarkably predictable.

It sounds like you are changing the story.

If you believed you could buy a 30+ year old diesel Mercedes, pay a mechanic one time $1200 and not see a leak for 15-20 years, then yes you are living in fantasy land.

I actually agree with you. If you paid to have a leak fixed and it wasn't fixed, then yes the mechanic was at fault.

However, if the car ran out of oil and subsequently had engine problems, that would be on you unless an oil line came off while driving.

It's remarkable you keep asking the same things over and over and over and when multiple people here answer and you don't like what we say, you keep asking. When I was about your son's age, I ran my beloved Mitsubishi Eclipse out of oil because I didn't check it. I was young and didn't know a thing about cars. Now, I check the oil every time I fill up. If I chose to blame any of the numerous inept mechanics that worked on that car, I would probably run my Mercedes out of oil as well. I learned from that experience that with an older car and no warranty, I as the owner am the warranty for the car. Your son needs to learn that lesson. It will pay big dividends later in life.

Dkr.

I'm not interpreting anything. Your words are in black and white in the threads I posted above. Complete with timestamps. Did you even go back and read what you wrote? Did you read what any of us said 6 months ago? I'm not the one being delusional or inventing my "version" of what happened.

The whole reason I chimed in on this thread in the first place was because of how you presented the car like "oh no big thing, the engine has problems". Maybe a bit undersold...

You paid a garage to fix the oil issues. You should have held them accountable for it. The fact they never fixed it means they won and you lost. It really is that simple. Blaming them over and over isn't the issue here, the fact it was run out of oil is the issue. Leaking or not, it is YOUR responsibility to look after the car. If that's too much to ask, please don't drive a classic car!

By the way - there's a little gauge in the instrument cluster that gives oil pressure. When it dropped below normal, the engine should have been shut off by the driver. You can spin the story however you want. You're on a forum full of mechanics, shade-tree mechanics, and DIY enthusiasts.

__________________
Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

Folks, it is obvious the OP does not wish to repair the car. Either due to lack of funds, lack of ability/tools, or simply lack of desire, he does not want to fix the car and prefers to offload it. So be it, all we can do is hope that whoever buys it will fix it and take care of it.

__________________
2012 Mercedes ML350 Bluetec 91K (hers)
2005 Corvette 55K (fun car)
2002 VW Jetta TDI 231K (mine)
1998 Volvo S70 T5 Turbo 196K (kids)
1994 Ford F150 4WD 249K (firewood hauler)
1983 Mercedes 300D 376K (diesel commuter)

I think the issue is that nobody is going to take the sweetheart deal of a parts car for $2000. It is a real classic Mercedes, you know.

Dkr.

There's nothing wrong with having a car that's not repairable and selling it on as a parts car for a reasonable price to keep someone else's vehicle going.

That's not really what's happening here.....the OP is blaming the shop that worked on the car, saying he's got interests out there (in a thinly veiled attempt to justify his asking price), and then wants to get $2K for a non-running car in average condition.

Selling a car and taking a loss on it is one thing, trying to get a premium price for it because you overpaid for someone else to work on it isn't right.

If the OP wants to find out what the car is worth, throw it on Craigslist and keep dropping the price until it sells. Whatever he got paid for it is what it was worth and not a penny more.

__________________
Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

I've probably dumped $16,000 into my 300D over the last 12 years of ownership. I realize I could sell it for $2000, maybe 3 if I wait for the right buyer.

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.