.

Southern car (aka no rust)
Any collision damage? (check VIN)
solid maintenance history - or you know the owner and how they maintain their vehicles
A/C that works properly (expensive fix)
check all the electrical (switches, seats, windows, sunroof) - though most of this stuff is pretty easy fix
starts well (all glowplugs working)
shifts well (pretty subjective - but firm)
Target sub 200K (so the timing chain should still be fine)

__________________
~shell
As of 2/2010:
2001 CLK55 0o\=*=/o0
13.6 @ 106mph
10K mi
1984 300SD
260K mi and going and going...
97 S600
46K miles
1991 Sentra SE-R (extremely dorked with)
www.se-r.net

Jim,

Long time, no see... I really second the A/C working. It's either a really expensive or incredibly time consuming fix if it's related to the evaporator. I have torn the SD down twice to replace the evaporator - first time to replace the core, which apparently had a leak in it (aarrgghhh), and the second time to put a "new" unit in that I pulled from the junk yard. That was economical - it cost me $80 for the entire unit, including blower and everything, and some time.

- Ted

__________________
1987 300SDL 265,000 mi.
1982 300SD 325,000 mi. (and holding)
1956 Packard Clipper 150,000 mi.

way to replace the AC in the '83 300CD driven by my "other". The fact that she's getting to drive the closest thing we'll ever own to a Duesenberg is lost on her. Actually, would be great to replace the "climate control" with an AC/heat unit as simple as that in my 240Ds.

Saw your son with the SD at our local Texaco a few months back.

Maint records are vital. Even if they are scribbled in the margins of the owner's manual. It shows you someone took the time to care for it.

__________________
'85 300SD (formerly california emissions)
'08 Chevy Tahoe
'93 Ducati 900 SS
'79 Kawasaki KZ 650
'86 Kawasaki KX 250
'88 Kawasaki KDX200
'71 Hodaka Ace 100
'72 Triumph T100R

Jim,

Yes, my son loves the SD, even with its idiosynchracies. He just got admitted to Univ. of South Florida in Tampa (my alma mater) and will be taking the Benz south, probably forever. So, the A/C is very important. We still need to get it checked out, but hopefully the evaporator core leak problem is solved, which is the real killer with this.
The CD is a 123 model, right? So, it would seem that the same type of swap would work there, as well. Either way, if the evap core is bad, the whole housing has to come out, either to swap or replace the evap core with a new one. There is a u-pull-it yard here in the area that I try to monitor occasionally. I've gotten some really good parts really cheap there.

- Ted

__________________
1987 300SDL 265,000 mi.
1982 300SD 325,000 mi. (and holding)
1956 Packard Clipper 150,000 mi.