I looked at a beautiful '93 300SD (same engine - as you know) 3 years ago and was SERIOUSLY considering it - someone bought it as I was driving onto the lot to buy it. I am glad they did. 4 months later I was at the dealer to buy parts and guess what was in the service bay? You guessed it! Threw a rod through the block - felt really sorry for the schmuck that bought it but heaved a huge sigh of relief I didn't. FWIW, it had had the engine replaced at 63,000 with an "improved" crate engine from MB. It was sold with 72,000 miles on it and the odometer showed 73,500 after the "incident". They wanted $19,500 when I looked at it.