My 95 S420 (sold) had a foam sheet between the interior trim panel and the innards of the door. My 93 300SD has the typical plastic sheet but no foam. The plastic sheet looks like it's never been off. Is this a running change in W140s? Do lesser Diesels warrant less soundproofing?

Thanks,
Sixto
93 300SD

Its a base model what do you expect?

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

How I wish it was 'base' enough to have velour like your SDL :/

Sixto
93 300SD

Got to love the the people who just insist on special ordering the base model.

How is the W140 treating you? I'm thinking of replacing the SD with one next year.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I can't find my list of Norm responses but my all time favorite goes like this -

Woody: How's life treating you, Mr. Peterson?

Norm: Like I've been sleeping with his wife.

The SD is a great ride. Gotta love that 3.5 torque. Oil consumption is out of this world but I'll see how much it's reduced by resealing the turbo and replacing valve stem seals. Bent rod denial? Perhaps, but I'm setting up a 3.0 block in case worse comes to worst.

The other thing bugging me is a battery drain. Battery goes flat after sitting a couple of days. I'm looking for a clamp type ammeter because there are sooo many wires to test. The darn thing has 6 control units in the engine bay and 3 in the trunk... that I've found. There's probably more in corners I haven't explored. 'til then it's not so big a deal to disconnect the battery every night.

Sixto
93 300SD

Cool hopefully it isn't a bent rod!

I'm thinking S420/500, its insane how cheap they have gotten. My friend has had great luck with his S320 over the past year, so I'm not really scared of the 140 anymore.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Probably a production change along the model run. Its not really feasable to change small specifics when your building a series of cars. For the amount of money they save on the plastic vs the foam they spend it in the overhead of keeping part numbers and ordering and dealing with multiple materials.

While the owners of many of the V8's would want you to think that the lower end models are assembled cheaper its most likely not the case. They just spent most of their money on that gas sucking engine in their engine compartment.

My 99 has been wonderful. There's really nothing to be scared of on the 140 as long as you have the finances to pay for some of the big ticket items that happen from time to time.

Some of the earlier models are dropping really fast but I think thats mostly because of their condition and because of the extra hassle you get owning an earlier model.

So far all my 99 has needed was some bulbs in the cluster and a set of remote batteries and an oil change.

Its next service is going to be a big one as I am going to replace my swaybar bushings and links and do a transmission service and do its yearly all fluids change and a set of sparkplugs and wires. Probably will do the oil fluids and spark plugs myself and get the mechanic to do the swaybar bushings and transmission service.

I think part of the price drop on the 140's is the gas guzzler perception. Even the standard length chassis is massive in appearance. I bought my S320 for more than 6K under its list price with no negotiation needed at the dealer. The same thing happened in the 1970's and a lot of smart people snapped up really good classic sports cars cheap and their values rose. Since the 140's are paticular about owners I think a lot of the poorly maintained 140's will go away and make them less common. Factor in the fact that the car is one of the highest quality MB's ever put into production and you may have some eventual collectable interest in the future.

Strangely enough I have been admiring late production 126's lately. I love my early production 126 diesel dearly but there is a great difference between it and the later production gasser 126's. Perhaps a 300SEL might be in my future.

Plug wires? Doesn't the M104 have a coil over each plug?

Sixto
93 300SD

Yep, one thing I love about MB's of this vintage. No plug wires and plugs cost $2 each. Nothing like a $12 spark plug change vs several hundred for the later model cars.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Actually there are three plug wires on my 1999. Im not sure how it all works as I have not pulled the plastic covers off yet.

Well not quite, you will see when you get in there. I guess they are a plug wire, more like a short jumper from the coil.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

None the less. They are getting replaced once the plastic comes off.

I was going to change the belt myself but I might farm that out as there is not a lot of space to work in the front of the engine.

I don't see a reason to change them unless they are in bad shape. They were like new on my friends S320, car idles like a turbine with new plugs. I bet those wires cost you $300 to replace. MB doesn't use cheap parts, those things should last a very long time.

The problem with the serp belt is there are many different ones. The dealer could only narrow it down to two for my friends 1997. That was with the vin, they sudjested buying both and returning the one that was to long.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Hmmmm

The first place I looked I found them at $67. I might consider leaving them on there depending on what a pain it is to get to them. I consider the part to be somewhat cheap and just don't want to deal with the hassle factor in the event that they eventually start to go out on me.