I just can't resist I am going to brag a bit!
 

I will pat myself and my SDL on the back it has been running pretty good this year. I have not really fixed anything major (over $100) since the end of April. I took it on a few trips, one 650 mile one back in May and it runs like a top. Next weekend maybe I'll take it up to NY and run another 300 or so on it. :D

Last year was hard but this year is going great!

249,417 miles today and she still doesn't burn any oil! :cool: I almost wonder why they bother to put a dipstick on these! :D

So you mean "the rebuild" is not continuing?!

Hattie,

That is great. You have a lot to be proud of. Happy motoring.

Wish I could say the same Hattie. I just found out that my AC compressor is toast. Ahh, the vacuuming of my wallet by my MB continues. RT

304,000 miles.....
 

My 1987 300sdl has 304,000+ miles on it. I have put over 15k on it since I bought it last Thanksgiving. I could have afforded a new car, but I fell for the big old yacht. I'm 6'5" tall, and after experiencing the sdl, I just can't go back to Japanese. My 14 year old son is 6'4" and he can ride comfortably in the rear seat behind me - not many will accomodate things like that lol.

I find myself looking for things to upgrade/repair on the car. No one who sees it or rides in it can believe that it has over 300k on it. Arctic white with burgundy interior, and other than a very small worn spot on the driver seat near the door, the interior truely looks almost new.

So far no major problems, just routine stuff and minor component cleaning. I have found that the wiring connectors need cleaning, and also that most everything appears to be rebuildable to some extent. I did flush the coolant and replaced the 'blade' on the aux. fan (one blade was broken which cause vibration at idle).

The car ran about 10 deg cooler after I sprayed a cleaning solvent onto the radiator on the 'engine side', hosed it off, and then used a 3 foot long extension wand/ blower with a rubber tip (to prevent bending rad fins), and carefully blew dirt out from the engine side. By holding a cloth in front of the car, I could see the stuff being blown out of the radiator fins. I didn't remove anything, just worked around the shroud as best I could. Figured it couldn't hurt. Of course, when I think it is necessary I will pull the rad and do it the 'correct' way, but for now this has really made a huge difference.

The fluid-filled clutch on the engine fan is a weak point from what I can see. I wonder how many have tried their fan to see if it is working 'properly'. I would think it rather rare to have a properly functioning fan-clutch on these cars. Safer to wire the aux fan straight (always on). The fans aren't that expensive to replace - much cheaper than a head lol. This car, btw, has the original '14' head.

Anyway, good luck to you all and I hope that we all go over 500k with no major problems !

How about that sunroof? get that fixed yet :D

i feel ya,im almost done rebuilding the front suspension in the sd. other than that i havent had any problems

For those people new to the forum...you might mention the COST of your car thus far :) :D

300SD...281k+ miles and most expensive parts/time spent so far...oil cooler hoses :)

Hattie, I think I'm gettin in your shoes though it has cost me and my parents much less than yours has. I'm getting bored enough that I'm retrofitting the rear power/heated seat in. It's taking a lot of work but I think it will be cool when it's done. All that remains is:
-body work (being done next week)
-paint (will probably do it myself at the end of summer)
-recover LF seat back and RF seat bottom (currently on order with a member here)
-replace B pillar covers (torn, on order with same member)
-install an oil cooler and hoses (saving up to buy from a member)
-replace hard fuel and brake lines (sitting in the parts room at work)
-replace front crank seal (next this coming week if I can get the tool on time)

I hope to have all this done by the end of summer when I go away to college. My car will have to stay at home. This list doesn't show some other minor things like power steering flush and filter or rear-end drain/fill.

Thanks
David

Oh the rebuild continues I am just putting off the major projects until winter. Since my car will be sitting in my garage from Nov 1 to April 1 I might as well fix things then. This winter I plan on:

Finally pulling and fixing the trans leak. Along with a driveshaft rebuild.
Finish rebuilding the front suspension, including rebuilt steering box.
New rear discs, (cross drilled) new calipers and stainless brake lines.

I also want to pull the head and replace the head gasket along with the timing chain. While I am at it I will seal up every oil leak I can find and rebuild my turbo. Then send the IP out to get rebuilt.

Also I will refinish the wood to like new.

I need to add everything up but I must be over $10k. This will be a $20k car after I go through the body though.

My sunroof is still broke. :o I need to replace everything up their I am putting that off for awhile. I bet that costs me like $600. :pukeface:

Well, contratulations. :o

However, it's a sad commentary when making it two months without a $100.00 repair will generate such satisfaction as to warrant a new thread. ;)

But, I'm beginning to understand the exact feeling. :eek:

I congratulate you enormously my friend. My 300SD would have ended up being "cheap" to own/run if not for the $4600 I'm digging in to get the front end repaired after hitting that deer. God, it did a lot of damage. Didn't quite look it at impact. The price tag is very high, but after looking around for a replacement 300SD of similar mileage and condition for about two weeks I've decided to just bend over and take it in the rear like a man - dig in the money and fix it. And since I'm insisting on not going into debt over this, my S350 rebuild project has been put on hold indefinitely. :(

Hey your car's wheels will look ultra sharp after you put in the cross drilled rotors. :cool:

Richard I hear you, whacking a deer is a major worry of mine as well. :o My area is loaded with them and they do tons of damage.

I need to figure out what to coat the new rotors with before I install them though. From the pics the Zimmerman(sp?) rotors look like plain steel. Maybe I could use some high temp paint on part of them to prevent rust.

But they are going to look sick! :D

Oh yeah man, I never knew the damage would be so severe. I just told my girlfriend that our December vacation plans are off since the money for this repair has to come from somewhere. She didn't take it lightly. :( Oh well. What makes me so mad is the fact that I had just removed full coverage insurance from the car before it happens. Life really is full of lessons. I'll never have a car without at least comprehensive insurance from now onwards (at least if the car is worth it - my insurance company pegged the value of my 300SD at $4K-$6K so I really should never have done what I did).

Make sure to keep us all updated with the progress on that 300SDL. Pics will always help. :)

That's what I did with mine (run the aux strait) and it runs at 80 to 90 all the time even with the a/c on. My fan clutch is also bad and just dont have the time to replace it lately