Hi this is my first time posting here, though I have been reading for a little while. I am realy interested in purchasing a 1980-85 300SD. But I have a few questons first. How much does it cost to maintain one of these a year? I drive 10,000-12,000 miles a year about 50/50 city/highway. I am in highschool and only 17 so my budget isn't huge. But I can do most of the work myself. I do all of the work myself on my current car, a 93 Toyota Camry so are the 300SD's any harder to work on? My Toyota never breaks though I have put a lot of work into it. I like to keep my cars in really good condition, so I will have to take that into account when figuring out what a 300SD will cost me. I figure if I am going to work on, and work for a car it should at least be a cool car that I like. I am doing reserch now and plan on buying one in the spring in the 5k range give or take. So any information about what to look out for will be greatly appreciated. Also I need this car to last me at least 6 years and 80,000 miles because I will be going to college in 1 1/2 years.
Sorry for the long post but I will appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.

If you get one in good shape, they should last that long with no trouble. I have done only the needed fixup stuff to all of mine (except the 220D, which is probably to the restore it stage).

My mechanic says he has several customers that spend between 600 and 700 dollars a year on maintenance, including oil changes. This means it will be somewhat cheaper if you do the work yourself.

The big expenses on that old a car will be climate control issues (especially AC compressor) and tranny problems if they have lots of milage. If you can find a relatively low milage one, though (100,000 or so) most of what it will need is brakes and engine/tranny mounts, etc.

If all you can find is examples with 200,000 miles and up, you will need to look carefully at tranny, rear axles, and so forth, as these don't last forever.

When looking, best advice is to find a good independent mechanic and pay him to check the car out. Don't bother to look at anything with a trashed interior (unless you want to repace it, expensive) or that will not start immediately cold, or shifts funny (except for really hard shifts -- that is a vac problem).

Same goes for oil consumption -- if it uses oil, stay away, this can be expensive to fix!

Some problems are easy to fix -- if the AC only blows up the windshield, and the engine won't shut off with the key, and the tranny shifts hard, you only have a vacuum leak, easy fix, usually.

Read some of the posts here, lots of good info!

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

The key is to get a used car that has between 150,000-250,000 miles, single or two owners, good maintenance history and a good pre-purchase inspection from an MB tech. I love my non-turbo 300D, plenty of power for me and on less thing (turbo) to break down, and my dream car is a 240D manual, as basic and bulletproof as you can get.

These thing are a DIY dream, with the help of this site and parts (relatively cheap) from Fastlane. I think you will find that you'll spend $500 a year in maintenance and another $500-$1,000 or so the first two year upgrading "stuff". After that.....run on.......

For $5K or so, you'll be able to get a diesel that you can run until you get tired of it.

JCD

BTW,

I'm lusting after Aaron's 1970 280SE, and believe it or not, the family is starting to warm up to the car. Got the pics today and it's a beaut.

Wish me luck,,,,,with the family,,,,

JCD

Have you ever driven or rode in a Mercedes before? The Mercdes-Benz will feel like a tank compared to any Japanese car. I say this in a good way. These car have a much more substantial feel to them. The model and years you are looking at are the last years of the infamous 617 engine. Everything related to the engine is mechanical, there is no need to worry about electronic glitches or hung relays and the alike. You have no sparkplugs, wires, or distributor. When I first looked at my TD, I noticed that the tires didn't match, brandwise, this of course raised a red flag with me. However, when I looked at the engine I noticed that there was a Mercedes-Benz fuel filters were installed and a Hengst (OEM) airfilter. This, to me at least, showed that the owner didn't skimp on the important stuff. The A/C has recently been done at the local dealership, as well as the rear hatch struts had been replaced at the dealership. The owner had done his own oil changes using MANN oil filters (OEM) and Kendall 15W-40 oil. Again, he didn't skimp on the important stuff, this made up for the miss matched brand tires. The point here is, maintenance history is very important. If a car looks a little rough, look closely at the engine compartment take note of it's appearance and what brand filters were used and ask how often the oil changes were done. With these engines, the valves require adjustment every 15K, ask when that was done last and who did it. With regard to cost of maintaining the car. Oil changes will cost you about $20. This is for the filter, about $7, and 2 galllons of oil at Walmart, about $12.50. Yes, I did write 2 gallons. These engines take 8 quarts of oil. An airfilter will cost about $14. Go to "Fastlane" at the top of the screen look up an '81-'85 300SD. Just look at various filters and get a feel for what it would cost. You will be amazed at what parts are still available for these old cars. I know one thing for sure brake rotors (OEM) are alot cheaper than for your Camry. I just checked on the price of brake disks. For your Camry it was about $50 per disc, where as the OEM disk made by ATE for an '81-'85 SD are about $42. These discs are 11 inch rotors, which are probably larger than the stock Camry brakes. Larger dics means better braking.

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1999 MB SL500 (110,000 mi)
2004 Volvo V70 2.5T (220,000 mi)
2014 Tesla Model S 85 (136,000 mi)
MBCA member

Thanks for the info. I have never driven a Mercedes before but have ridden in two that a friend owns. A 1983 300SD with 224,000 miles on it and his 2001 S430 with 12,000 miles on it. I spent a day in the SD and loved it. It is an awsome car. I just love looking down that long hood with the star on the end. It makes you feel like a king! Good luck jcd! I'm haveing a hard time convencing my famliy to. They don't want me to sell my "good" car that I have now but I hate it and can't wait to sell it. It is so boring, I can't go anywhere without seeing half a dozen or so.

Hatterasguy:

I have no intentions of every driving anything but Benz from now on -- truely and completely hooked. Not only is it a nice ride (and get noticed!), but driving becomes a pleasure and not a chore. The only Japanese car that compares was my old Toyota Crown (you've never seen one, they were are all rusted away before you were born!) -- large, heavy car, big engine, superb handling.

JCD:

Is that 280 the six or the 3.5? I crossed my fingers and drove to Ohio yesterday to pick up a new hood for my 280 -- probably a wasted trip, and I now have a yellow hood on a blue car..... but what a nice drive! That big beast just flies down the highway, cracked exhaust manifold and all! Once the family drives/rides in it a while, they won't notice it isn't a new car.

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

I seem to recall you purchased Eduardo from Aaron.

From my perspective, anyone who is as dedicated to this site as Aaron is, I would have no problem buying a car from.

I'm still waiting for pics and either a discussion or an argument with the family.

Wish me luck,

JCD

hey, coming from another young benz owner, i think you should go for it. ive had my 1985 300TD since I was 17 and i love working on it.

my recommendations for you, since you are willing to spend around $5K is to get one with as low mileage as possible and as could of shape as possible that you can still afford. fixing a car up always tends to be more expensive than just buying a nicer one.

also, do whatever you can to get a 1985 - 84's and 85's had the strongest engines and best transmissions. even so, if you can't find one you like, you won't go wrong with and older one. the SD's are great but be open to the 300D's as well.

anyways. keep us posted!

eric

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1995 E320 Sportline Wagon "Bernard"
black on black leather

http://i.imgur.com/BdZ7jM3.png

Wow my first post! It has been an intersting 2 years, I have learned a lot about these old cars since then. It is kind of cool looking back I knew nothing about these back then. Other than they looked cool and I wanted one! I remember reading MBworld and getting annoyed that they never talked about the older cars that I could afford. But someone over their posted a link to this forum and well the rest is history as they say!

Thanks for a great 2 years I have met a few new people and have gained a lot of knowledge. I have a lot less money now but I'm having fun.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200