83' 380sel (????)

[murray720]

This maybe the wrong forum but I feel there's a lot of Mercedes knowledge here (I trust) that runs far past 1979.

Yesterday my neighbor asked me if I know of anybody that wants to buy her 83' 380sel that hasn't moved in at least 2 years. She said when she parked all it needed was a manual ignition. I'm sure I could pick it up for next to nothing but I'm wondering if it's even worth thinking about.

[ctaylor738]

No such thing. Apparently, it doesn't run, which could mean anything from a fuel pump to the ignition system. If you can get it to run, then you may find that the tranmission or brakes are bad.

These cars don't sit well.

If it hasn't run in two years, you can assume there will be fuel problems. Parts are expensive and you could easily need something like a fuel distributor that would put you 'way underwater.

Not a great car to learn on.

[cth350]

then again, if the body is free of rust and the car does indeed run with a minimum of fuss, you have a nice car.

Those 3.8l alloy motors are a pain to rebuild, so if it needs that, don't bother (right Chuck?) -CTH

[wbain5280]

Check the chain stretch and the guides. Fairly easy to replace, PITA to rebuild after the chain guide breaks and bends the valves, drivers side.

[Tomguy]

Most important thing to check before buying is the timing chain but not necessarily for why Warren said...

I think this car might be one of the 380's that had a SINGLE ROW timing chain.

if it does only have a single row timing chain, DON'T BUY it - conversion to dual-row is expensive, time-consuming and pretty much the only way to prevent catastrophic top-end engine failure!

If you don't know the difference, single-row looks like a bike chain, dual row looks like two bike chains together. Sprockets will have 2 sets of teeth.

[ctaylor738]

True.

The problem that I have with these situations is that a car that was simply parked and left to sit was probably judged by its owner to not be worth fixing. That means it probably did not get much maintenance over the years. And as such, it is probably going to need a long and expensive of parts and a lot of work to get it roadworthy.

The candidate list is endless but would include:

- rotor, cap, wires, and spark plugs
- fuel pump and filter
- fuel distributor
- injectors
- engine air hoses
- cams, rockers, and ball studs
- valve seals (certainly dry and brittle after 2 years sitting)
- timing chain, rails, and tensioner
- mono valves (if you want heat)
- AC refurbish (if you want air)
- idle valve
- O2 sensor
- brake hoses and maybe calipers
- tires (flat spot after 2 years)
- complete fluid change

And when it does run, keep fingers crossed that the transmission is OK.

My .02 is to buy a running car so you can at least assess what the financial damage is likely to be. But there is a huge emotional reward from bringing any car back from the dead. Just go into it with your eyes open. The chances of charging the battery, fixing something simple and driving happily for 50,000 miles are about equal to winning the lottery.