I'm talking to someone about their 1980 300D. It's a one owner car that's had regular oil changes and maintenance throughout. But 200,000 is a fair number of miles. Theoretically, how many more miles could the car go before it needs a rebuild or replacement?

If it's been well maintained and it has no problems now, 200K means the car is just about broken in. Welcome to the world of Mercedes diesels.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

Yea, I'd give it at least another 100k to go, easy.

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past MB rides:
'68 220D
'68 220D(another one)
'67 230
'84 SD
Current rides:
'06 Lexus RX330
'93 Ford F-250
'96 Corvette
'99 Polaris 700 RMK sled
2011 Polaris Assault
'86 Yamaha TT350(good 'ol thumper)

If you keep up what they started... you can probably get 300,000 more out of it... a one owner with paperwork to boot... you really got lucky....If you decide not to get it.... post it here because someone is bound to jump on it...
Of course much depends on the price they are asking .... at some price it pays to have an independant with no future interest in the car test it.... like " lemon busters".... that type of company...cheap insurance in the long run... primarily compression readings.... the best overall indicator of the engine condition...

Lets see,

look up some of the cars on ebay. alot of them have over 400K. Heres what to do this year. Fix all the oil leaks, common spots are the air cleaner pipe o rings (upper and lower), turbo drain pipe and lower grommit, oil pan gasket.

After inspecting, and replacing if necessary, (i would do it anyway), Keep track of your oil level when ever you fuel it up. If it does not consume much oil then you should have alot of miles ahead. My 84300d does not consume hardly any oil

got to go

welcome abored

bob c

300-400 k seems reasonable.

You'll need a transmission before then. Ussually, age will kill the seals, if it has not been rebuilt.



Michael

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Michael McGuire
83 300d
01 vw A4 TDI
66 Chevy Corsa
68 GMC V6 w/oD
86 300E

If MB's need another engine at 200k, I'm in trouble. Heck, I don't buy them until they have 200k on them. Don't trust that they've been broken in enough yet

Don

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DAILY DRIVERS:
'84 300DT 298k (Aubrey's)
'99.5 Jetta TDI IV 251k (Julie's)
'97 Jetta TDI 127k (Amber's)
'97 Jetta TDI 186k (Matt's)
'96 Passat TDI 237k (Don's
'84 300D 211k Mint (Arne- Undergoing Greasecar Conversion)

SOLD:
'82 240D 229k (Matt's - Converted-300DT w/ 4 speed

I'm 107,000 miles overdue

Larry Bible should be able to elaborate on this post.

I had 310k on my '85 300D and my mechanic told me that the worse thing about the whole car was that since it was up here in Michigan for all of it's life, the body was gonn'a rust around the engine. It still ran strong and didnt use hardly any oil (3/4 qt every 3000 miles).

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Frank
84 500SEL EURO 101K ( JUST LIKE MY 1ST WIFE. GLAD TO GET RID OF HER! )
85 300D 310K (sold)
90 350SDL 184K sold
83 300D 118K (sold)
88 300E 153k (sold)
93 400E 105K (sold)