1985 300D advice
 

Gurus:

Looked at a gorgeous 85 300D today, he says 4500 bottom line. An awful lot of work has been done: new paint, injectors, strng box, trannie rebuilt 215K, AC redone completely, all things seem to work, very pretty car. Owner used to work for Benz and got the work cheaply. Almost everything done including New Dash, not a cover.

My question: 260K miles, has leaky rear injector which will be redone this week, they were just done. Runs great, but I noticed on the sides of the hood, there was a fair amount of blow by residue. He says 1 qt burned per 3K miles, has a little ticking noise I think might be injector related that I don't hear on my 300SD.

It's the cleanest I've ever seen and I'm a nitpicker. Would anyone be afraid of the mileage assuming it passes compression test?

I think that he is asking too much for the miles. If he replaced the injectors then the noise is probably something else. BE CAREFUL. Just because he worked at MBZ doesn't mean that everything is ok. A good 300 T engine doesn't consume that much oil between changes. Sounds fishy to me. Unless it is a 49 state car, it will have a Cat on it and it is de-rated in HP. MY $.02 CR

I agree, he's a little high. I just feel a little suspicious on the blow by, etc.

He's a nitpicker too, it seems and I found the car through his mechanic, who raves over the car. It hauls butt, would outrun the SD no problem.

Any other thoughts?

55 Bug, too cool, almost got a 57 few years back, great little cars.

My toys: Obsessed as I am, 1958 Corvette, 406 ci/nitrous 1954 Chev Custom cab Pickup, original (the Dadmobile) 1971 300SEL 6.3, in progress 1983 300SD 1998 S500 2002 SLK 32 AMG 2000 F250 Crew Cab Powerstroke ... Still stop and look at any Benz on the side of the road..I need serious help and more garage space!

I wouldn't pay $4500 because of the higher miles, but maybe $4,000. The way I see it now, it's worth paying the extra money for cars that have everything replaced do I don't have the headache of doing it myself.

It's sort of like the 1979 300D I looked at, It was owned by a shop owner, who bought it from an older couple that always had him do the work on it. Almost everything on the car was replaced, but I thought that the $4,000 price was a little too high. I also didn't really like the shop owner, because I have heard about some of the dishonest things he has done in the past.

Take the car to a trusted mech and have it checked out. A compression test will tell you how the motor is. Ticking could be just a valve adjustment. If the car is fast, clean and perfect I don't think the price is unreasonable. Consider that lots of major work has already been done. 1qt in 3K is not a big deal, quite normal. Pay particular attention to the paint. Make sure it was done correctly. Most of the trim, etc. should have been removed if it was a quality job. Check for overspray on trim pieces and especially around the sunroof. A cheap paint job will only look good for a short period of time. RT

I Think Thats too much of oil consumption. I have 85 300D Turbo, and virtually no drop in oil level after 4 k miles. I use Rotella and drive a lot in NY City stop and Go( about 10-15 miles a day in city)

BE CAREFUL with that offer.

MVK