I had our 300TD parked out in the snow ice etc during this last long French winter. Wifey used the company 4x4 instead. The 300TD sat out in freezing temps (snow, sleet, ice, freezin rain, yuck) for at least 2 months.

When temps got back to about 40F this spring, I decided to fire him up and go for a little spin. I got in, looked and sniffed around, and found no mustiness or evidence of water leaks. I turned the key and waited for the glow plugs ... then another 10 seconds after the light went out. R-R-R-R VROOOOOM -- immediate start with no loping, just as if he'd been sitting for only a few days.

DAMN what a good car. Too bad about modern Benzes and all the reliability issues. Here in Yurrup they have gotten a really bad rep for all the problems. I think Benz should take the W124 tooling out of mothballs and make a new W124: minimal electronics and luxury crap. The real luxury of a W124 is its anvil-like reliability.

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Thx/Reno
An American in France
88 300TD 5spd Sportline (lowered factory susp) - totalled by a flying deer
89 Range Rover V8 - the 4wd beast
02 Toyota minivan
05 Peugeot Partner 4x4 Dangel
88 International Harvestor 633SA
--Gone but not forgotten:
1970 250/8 C (sold to buy 450 SLC)
1972 450 SLC (sold after battling wiring harness problems too long)
1971 300 SEL 6.3 (sold after destroying two *very* expensive rear LS diffs)
1986 560 SEL (now my little brother's pride and joy)

I would love to import a sportline turbodiesel with a 5sp, have you done any research into bringing the car backinto the US, what kind of money do they sell for over there, any good sources of cars for sale, thanks.
Ron

Hey RenoHuskerDu--how's your 89 Rangie stack up with the 124? Ha-ha!

Actually my classic was very reliable for 25k miles before it became a project--now I have a P38 in addition--it takes up all my spare time working on it.

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2002 Mercedes-Benz E320 4Matic
1995 Mercedes-Benz E320 Wagon
2005 Land Rover LR3 V8 SE
1999 Audi A8 4.2L quattro

My Classic has been very reliable (except for a broken 5spd - I swapped in a ZF automatic). Sure, there are some electrical glitches and the headliner is coming unglued, but I expected that. The Benz is way better, natch.

I hear that the P38 is more reliable about little stuff, but when it breaks it's a big expensive repair. Such as the air bags ... which can get poked by sharp sticks when 4wheeling.

But we're OT here (oh hi mister moderator, plz don't shoot us)

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Thx/Reno
An American in France
88 300TD 5spd Sportline (lowered factory susp) - totalled by a flying deer
89 Range Rover V8 - the 4wd beast
02 Toyota minivan
05 Peugeot Partner 4x4 Dangel
88 International Harvestor 633SA
--Gone but not forgotten:
1970 250/8 C (sold to buy 450 SLC)
1972 450 SLC (sold after battling wiring harness problems too long)
1971 300 SEL 6.3 (sold after destroying two *very* expensive rear LS diffs)
1986 560 SEL (now my little brother's pride and joy)

The P38 is not more reliable than the Classic in any way--trust me. But its not as bad as they say, either. You just have to be handy, and patient. The original owner of my p38 spent thousands on the air suspension before finally giving up and converting to coils. Still, its nice to have an on-board air compressor and tank for tires, etc. My headliner is falling down in the Classic, too. Use more headliner clips to hold it up. (I got some out of a junkyard from a Ford Explorer that color-matched, and you just pop them through.

Yes, the 124 is a better car, except in the rough, of course.
BTW, does your 89 have the center diff lock or had they gone to viscous coupling by then?

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2002 Mercedes-Benz E320 4Matic
1995 Mercedes-Benz E320 Wagon
2005 Land Rover LR3 V8 SE
1999 Audi A8 4.2L quattro

It came with the visco, but I could feel my visco slipping too much during crawling 4wd. So I ditched that TC and put in a rebuilt one out of an older diesel Defender with, natch, a center locking diff. It also has lower gearing, so I can run 33" tires and still have decent acceleration in high range. Of course I had to sic Mister Sawzall on the fenders a bit. I added a Softlock rear diff too, OME 2" springs, and Bilsteins. She wheels about as well as any other rig in France except rare expensive rigs with custom high-articulation geometry suspension and dual lockers. Oh man, we are OT

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Thx/Reno
An American in France
88 300TD 5spd Sportline (lowered factory susp) - totalled by a flying deer
89 Range Rover V8 - the 4wd beast
02 Toyota minivan
05 Peugeot Partner 4x4 Dangel
88 International Harvestor 633SA
--Gone but not forgotten:
1970 250/8 C (sold to buy 450 SLC)
1972 450 SLC (sold after battling wiring harness problems too long)
1971 300 SEL 6.3 (sold after destroying two *very* expensive rear LS diffs)
1986 560 SEL (now my little brother's pride and joy)

Now I can see why you call it "the Beast!"

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2002 Mercedes-Benz E320 4Matic
1995 Mercedes-Benz E320 Wagon
2005 Land Rover LR3 V8 SE
1999 Audi A8 4.2L quattro

was expensive.
In the short year I owned I replaced the blower fan, had to fix the Central Locking System (wiring fault due to corrosion) and a faulty door switch caused the alarm system to act erratically. Also I never did recover the function of all those headrest switches. In certain models the control arm bushings are set up wrong and they have to be changed, which I did.
I was also nervous about the aluminum head and I saw too many posts about the head cracking.
I sold mine and I miss it. They car could do a 100 for hours and not complain.

"The head cracking"? I have NEVER heard of this, least not on the m104. The headgasket leaks, the m103 had valve seal / guide problems, but never a head cracking problem.

I fixed my headrests--they stopped working at 30-something thousand, I used a hose clamp, they have been working ever since.

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2002 Mercedes-Benz E320 4Matic
1995 Mercedes-Benz E320 Wagon
2005 Land Rover LR3 V8 SE
1999 Audi A8 4.2L quattro

I used to work 110 miles from where I lived. I got up in the morning at 4 am and I would hit the Turnpike and find a fast moving knot of cars. The 6 cylinder Diesel wouldn't even complain as I sailed along at 90 mph. I think my RPM was something like 3500. I felt like I was riding a Merchant Ship, the car was very solid.
In my Gas SAAB which has 220 hp, the engine really makes some noise at that speed.
I regret selling mine. Once in a while I see a 300D 87 on the highway and I give it a double take.
I still believe the aluminum cylinder head had a problem indtroduced by overheating but I never overheated even while sitting at idle with the AC full blast in 95 degree weather and 95 humidity.
There were other reasons I sold the car. I'm 45 and I dont think I will be swapping motors and pulling all nighters on cars forever... I wanted to buy a Five Speed sports car before my motor head days come to an end. So I sold the 87 300D and used the money to buy a used 95 SAAB.
I hope you enjoy your 300D. I really miss mine....
Last weekend I swapped a 85 300D motor and last month a Volvo motor.