New to the forum, new to mercedes, and new to diesels, but have been reading up here a little bit. Anyway, I looked at an 85 300sd with about 156K on it. Body was pretty good, just a little surface rust on the front fender. Interior was pretty good, no tears. All around it looked pretty nice.

The problems: There is either a front tranny seal leak or a rear main leak (Dealer said mechanic told him it was a tranny leak, but the oil I saw was black engine oil.) At least one of the injectors seemed to be diesel soaked, which doesn't seem right to me. The rear diff was gunked up with oil on the outside, but may be normal for a 20 year old car. And the sunroof wasn't seated all the way back up. It was still sagging down at the rear end of it.

I couldn't drive it, the battery was dead. Real bummer, and I know I must drive it before I make any decision, but that's depending on the amount of work and money this thing need based on what I hear here.

The dealer is selling for $1500. I'm a handy guy, I've changed transmissions before. Doesn't mean I really want to again. But is this a "good" deal, or do these things seem kinda serious? I know the oil leak would have to be fixed.

Thanks in advance