nice 95 300D?

[blankers]

Hi All,
This Diesel Forum is great! This is my first post to the ShopForum. I've been lurking for a couple of days and read a lot of the archived threads since I'm shopping for another MB diesel. I'm glad I read all the threads about the 90-95 350's, which has me thinking I may avoid them in my search for an early 90's diesel. I've been perusing the Internet and came across this 95 300D on e-Bay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2429362211&category=6330

Looks pretty clean to me but do you think any warning bells should be going off regarding the fact that they say they only have 70% of service records and that there's no reserve? I ran an Edmunds TMV and it suggests $12.6K (private) - $14.7K (dealer) if I assume an 'outstanding' condition.

The odometer reads 100K. I pulled the CARFAX and it shows 47K miles after 2 years use. Does that sound a little anomalous?

Here's the full car history:

03/18/1994 Georgia
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Peachtree City, GA
Title #27045198
Title or registration issued

05/30/1996 47,347 Service Plan Co.
Atlanta, GA
Service Contract Issued

06/03/1996 Georgia
Motor Vehicle Dept.
Atlanta, GA
Title #30947027
Title or registration issued
New owner reported

I haven't been able to get them on the phone yet, so in the meantime does anyone have any comments regarding this particular car, advice about buying from e-Bay, or any suggestions on a better source for hunting down a nice 90's 300D?

Thanks!

Terry

[sixto]

Good car, good engine, very refined Diesel. None of the usual first year glitches. If this is your first Diesel, you'll wonder why there's any discussion about Diesels being slow, noisy and smokey.

About the only negative is an appetite for expensive glow plugs and only objectionable if you're used to the long life of non after-glow plugs in older Diesels.

I don't think this non-turbo engine has the resonance valve problems of the 602t and 606t engines.

70% records is better than none but I'd rather see random gaps than full coverage of the first 70K miles and nothing since.

24K miles a year is a lot but not unrealistic. I did 40K miles a year for 4 years some time back. I wish I had a Diesel back then.

Sixto
95 S420
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD

[blankers]

Thanks for the comments sixto. This would be my 2nd diesel, my ex-wife just got the 84 300D in the divorce, so now I'm interested in checking out the 'refined' diesel.

My concern about the miles wasn't so much about 24K mi/yr, but that there was 47k mi for the first 2 yrs and then only 53K total for the next 7 yrs (7.5k/yr). Seemed a little odd, but could just be different driving habits after changing owners.

I've seen a few comments about the frequency of glow plug replacements, which is surprising given my experience with my 84 300D. I've never heard of the valve resonance problem you mentioned, and to confess, I'm not familiar with the engine designations you referred to. Are they the earlier 300d turbo engines?

And speaking of engine designations, do you know of a good engine/chassis/trim/year cross-reference link so I can educate myself a bit more?

Thanks again,

Terry

[slowmoe]

blankers,

Here is a reference for you. If you look under 124 sedans, your car is the last on the list. It has the 606 engine. The 90-93s had the 2.5 liter turbo 602.

The 124 is a great chasis and the 606 a fantastic engine. I have the same engine in my 96 E300 and love it.

http://fly.hiwaay.net/~gbf/mbmodels.html

[slowmoe]

blankers,

I just looked at the listing. If I were you I would ask for some additional photos. Of course seeing the car first hand is ideal. I do not know what your plans are.

Here is another site you may find interesting. I experienced just about all of these issues on my 124. Good luck

http://buying.articles.mbz.org/checklists/124/

[blankers]

slowmoe, thanks for the links. I've seen the buying checklist link before, very good info and interesting to know that you've experienced most of those issues. And that model link is great, just what I was looking for, thanks.

Re: more pictures, they actually do provide another link on the page to more pictures:

http://www.autocircuit.com/95mercedes/

And I definitely plan on seeing it firsthand before buying, unless I can get someone to inspect it for me in Raleigh. Does anybody know anyone reliable in the area?

Thanks again,

Terry

[Peyton300TD]

Terry, I would be happy to help you out if the car is still for sale. I'm here in raleigh and know a great mechanic that can check it out.

Eric