I bought this car for my 17 year old daughter a year and a half ago and did a rebuild on the engine (#3 piston had a hole in it, so I got some used pistons in good shape, had the engine block re-sleeved, honed, new rings, main shaft bearings, replaced everything that was questionable). Ran like a champ, 425 PSI on all 5 pistons, and very smooth, no oil leaks.

Then my daughter started driving it...

First she got into a rear end collision. Crushed the front end. I ended up tracking down a replacement hood, bent the metal back into place, replaced the radiator and headlight assemblies and got it operating again. It was still running strong, but looking a lot uglier.

Despite my repeated warnings to keep an eye on the oil level, this was apparently perceived as an optional exercise. Despite my warning to let the engine idle for a minute or two before driving it after a long night in sub zero Colorado temperatures, she would repeatedly fire it up, throw it into drive, and step on it leaving a nice trail of blue smoke as she rushed off to wherever she needed to be.

No surprise then, that I get a call that she had a sudden loss of power, and that the engine is running really rough now. It's also got a substantial leak of oil coming from the front.

Compression test indicates 175, 350, 375, 375, and 400 on 1 through 5. Number one is the problem then. Just finished pulling the head, and cylinder number one has blown rings as evidenced by the scoring on the cylinder walls and the fact that the piston has a lot of lateral play in the cylinder.

I'm not going to do this work for free for my daughter this time, and she doesn't have the money nor the patience to pay for it, so I'm evaluating which of the following approaches would be the best.

1) Yank the engine, and re-sleeve number 1 again. Sell the engine by itself, and part out (or sell for scrap) everything else that remains. What would be a reasonable price that I could expect to receive a rebuilt 617.951 engine?

2) Yank the engine, fix it, and put it back in the now much more ugly car and sell it.

3) Complete part out.

4) Scrap metal.

Opinions and feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks everyone!

Wil

Sounds like a scrapper to me but I'm not walking either

Well, neither am I, but my daughter is! Just trying to get a feel for whether or not there is any market for parts or engines in this model.

Welcome to the forum.

Buy your daughter a Toyota and drive the Mercedes your self.
This cars getting too rare now to be trashed by novice drivers.
Fix it up right and it will last you a long time.
No new car can reach the quality standard of a 70s Mercedes,
and you will drive a car that actually looks different than all the other tin cans on the road.

__________________

76 240 D. Bought in 1998 for $25.
85 300D. Got it for free with a bad engine. ( Sold )
60 Unimog 404. What was left of it, was given to me. Now powerd by 617A.
88 560 SEL. Bought without engine and trans. Now powerd by 617A.
67 250 SE. Cuope. For resto or sale.
64 220SE. For resto.

Either swap the engine with a used one and sell it, or fix the engine and keep it for yourself. They are getting too rare to part out, and it doesn't sound like your daughter should own a car until she can completely pay for it herself. I didn't even have my liscense until I was 22, and the 2 cars I have previously owned and sold were in better shape than when I purchased them at the time they were sold. It depends on where you live of course, but for me, the complete engine would be worth maybe $450 at most. I think any useable car should be kept on the road as long as possible.

Thank you guys, for your responses so far. Keep em coming!

If you like the car and will use it yourself fix it up - otherwise if you have the time and the patience I'd say part it out.

In my experience - unless you've got access to the proper machinery - you are better off not repairing stuff before you try and sell it. Even then an engine rebuild, for example, should cost in excess of $2500 when you factor in the time taken to do a good job as well as the spares. How much is your labour rate?

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

If its nice rebuild it but do a through job.5 matching weighted pistons,new liners,3 angle valve grind,,ect...
Then store her for when value goes up.

__________________
1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran

Not meaning to hi-jack the thread but you need to know Army to really appreciate the irony in this post!

Hey therapy is expensive too!

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Well from what I have seen working with cars in Stealerships and from my experience with my kids and grandkids is, that if they are not happy with the vehicle they will trash it. That seems to be the makeup of kids. My grandson a couple of years ago wanted an old Dodge Ramcharger I had. He lives in Denver, and that old Dodge put stars in his eyes. So I got it out there, but we couldn't get it to pass emissions in CO. I wonder why! So a niece had a beautiful Mazda for sale. It had 100,000 on it, but looked brand new, showroom clean inside and out. So I bought it for him. Seven months later we were in Denver and I couldn't believe the way that car looked. TOTALLY couldn't believe it. That car was so junked out it made me sick. It still ran, but it was totally gone.

__________________
Junqueyardjim
Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important. C.S. Lewis



1983 Mercedes W123 240D 4 Speed 285,000 on the road with a 617 turbo, beautiful butter yellow, license plate # 83 240D INDIANA

2003 Jaguar Type X, AWD. beautiful, good mileage,
Mom's car, but I won't let her drive it!

I agree, its hard for teenagers to appreciate a car they are given.

I offered to buy my cousin a car for her HS graduation. After looking around I purchased a used Ford Explorer for her. It was in overall nice shape, it had leather and the usual features. I put new tires on it and gave it to her after a long talk about responsibility. I put the car on my insurance and told her I would pay for 90 days of insurance yet she had to get her own policy. She told me she would do so that weekend. One month past and after numerous messages left on her phone by me I informed her I was removing the car from my policy.

Sure enough about 2 months go by and I get a phone call "did you remove me from your insurance because I just rear ended someone?"

She learned the hard way, sometimes it's the best way to learn.

__________________
2001 G500 (45k and counting)
1991 350SDL (211 and counting)
1998 C43 (50k) Silver/Black (sold)
1995 E500 (40k and counting) Pearl Black/Anthracite (sold)
1991 300CE (50k and counting) Silver/Black Cloth (sold)
1983 300D - 79k Classic White/Blue Leather
2002 E55 Obsidian Black/Black
1996 S600 Coupe - 75k Black/Black (traded)
1984 300D -145k (sold)
Silver Blue Metallic/ Blue Leather
1985 300D - 87k (sold)
Manganese Brown/ Palomino Leather
2005 E55, 50k(sold)
Flint Gray/Black

i need parts from 1979 300 SD turbo diesel please call 630-918-6253