New 87 190D turbo
 

Well, I started out trying to help my friend sell his car. Now I think I may want it for myself. The car drives great, and is much quieter and quicker than my 300D.

Here are few of my concerns;
201,000 miles
left rear door will only open from the inside
right rear door only opens halfway
ABS light on - ABS works, tried it out on a nearby road
$3500.00 price

any thoughts/suggestions.

If the transmission hasn't been replaced, be sure to check it over carefully. That mileage is closing in on the normal upper limit of the trans.

The transmission was rebuild at 172k. Shawn (the current owner) is a West Point grad and keeps track of everything. He's not sure what owner he is.

The VIN is WDBDB28D7HF355477 if someone has an active carfax account.

The transmission was my major concern with the mileage. As long as it's been re-built, I'd pursue the car seriously. Do the normal checks on the engine, suspension, AC, etc. Chances are the engine is good and the other things are repairable without too great a cost. It's a hell of a nice car overall!

87 190Dt
 

I've had a couple of them over the years and they are nice performers. They are very hard to find. I've read were there where only about 1600 imported with the 2.5 TD.

I can vouch for the safety of the vehcile. Even though it's relatively small I was in a major accident and walked away.

The AC is the only thing that I seemed to have some trouble.

Mine gets about 28/33 mpg.

200k on a MB transmission with proper care is nothing. If the trans shifts good (no slipping or flairing) then you are fine.. don't worry what the odometer says. Even when they start acting up you can get another 100,000 miles out of them.

Got the prepurchased done;

Compression 300-325 all cylinders
Needs rear brake pads
Pinion and diff side seals leaking (seeping)
A/C out of refrigerant (compressor does run, they think its probably a hose leak)
whine from transmission

alot of little things I'm really on the fence on this.

The AC will be very expensive to fix - no matter what's wrong with it.

The compression numbers sounds low. Spec for that engine is about 380-460psi for normal compression (26-32 bar). Are you sure the test was done on a hot engine? If the test was done cold, the numbers are useless...

They are fun cars to have if you don't mind doing a little restoration. Figure $500-$1500 for the A/C. The engine is probably fine. 0-60 spec for that car is roughly 11.5 seconds, clock it with a stopwatch and see what it does...


Regards,

The most expensive part of your A/C would be the evaporator. Its actually easy to change on the W201, unlike many other models which require dash & heater box removal.

Don't forget the Nipponden$o compre$$or which also costs a small fortune. As to the manifold hose, it is MUCH cheaper to remove it and have it rebuilt at an AC hose shop instead of replacing it. If you live in a warm to hot cliimate, stick with R-12 even at 2x-4x the cost of R134a. In cooler/northern climates R134a is acceptable (or if you have a high heat tolerance!)

:D :D

After discussions with the family, my wife and daughter really like the car I'll go ahead and bring it home. I should be able to get another couple of years out of it.

One good thing about this is I get my 300D back from my daughter.

At my local dealer, the compressor & clutch clost WAY less than the evap. I think the manifold hose costs more than the compressor! - my mechanic put in a good used one we discovered mine was leaking.

Here's a picture of the new (to me) car. Now with two I can really smoke up the neighborhood.

Another shot.

You sure you own MB diesels? There are no oil stains on the driveway :)