1982 300d I bought last night died??
 

Ok,

I bought the above vehicle last night. This was my first diesel benz. I say was because the thing died on me after I'd been driving it for 50 miles. The thing was very nice with 138,000 miles. Engine sounded and ran out smoothly (seemed to have nice compression and powered up to 70 and 80 quickly enough, especially when turbo kicked in around 40), transmission shifted firmly and did not slip at all. No problems with the glow plugs, started right up. No indication that this car was going to crap out.

On the interstate, it powered down like it was running out of fuel, then powered back up to cruise speed at 70, then lost power completely like it wasn't getting fuel. It will turn over, but immediatly dies. It is not out of fuel and I think it may be a clogged fuel filter. The gentleman I bought it from said he had been driving it for the past week or so with no problems whatsoever. With 138K, has this car sat around too long? If it's just a filter or something small, should I buy this thing again or should I be worried about other things? I've gotta say I really loved the car and had no buyers remorse especially at $1800. But that really threw me and came out of nowhere. Any advice for a benz newb?

Fuel Filters
 

Change the fuel filters, pump the hell out of the hand primer pump and give it a go. Sounds like that's all it is. Its a good idea to keep a few spares in the trunk as well, part of owning an MB diesel is changing those filters.

If you're not sure what the primer pump is, do a search, there's tons of information on this topic.

Welcome!

Eric

The odometers are known to fail, the car might have quite a bit more than 138K. Does the interior look like it only has 138K? If the seats are in good shape it might be accurate. The good news is the car can probably last a long time even if it has a lot more mileage under its belt.

I would say your fuel filter guess is a good one, it's a place to start, at least. There is also a fuel pre-filter which is inexpensive. I have a feeling you will find this forum invaluable; I certainly have.

Good luck!

thanks guys for the speedy replies! i got my money back last night and my seller is going to get it fixed. seller was completely awesome and trustworthy. he said he'd call me when he had it looked at (apparently his mechanic had just serviced it recently. as long as it's simple as that i think i'll buy it again. the interior is nearly flawless, the paint is original and still somewhat shiny. i believe the miles are close to accurate. the seats are completely covered and springy. everything works, except the AC is not cold and the panel lights are out (probably reostat). other than that there were only a few tiny oil spots under the car and he says he never has to add oil between changes. i would have tried to fix the thing last night but it was about midnight and i had no tools, nor energy as last night was crazy. there actually were a couple filters in the trunk, but i wouldn't have known where to start. i'll be searching this site diligently.

Does not sound like any catastrophic failure at all. Probably just some minor item like fuel filters as others have and will mention. You drove it long enough to establish the important things where there. Nice running engine and good transmission for starters. In my opinion if seats are in great shape for that price it may be a pretty good example for the price. Certainly without a doubt low for even what good examples have been selling for on ebay reciently. If it restarts for even a few seconds you know nothing major like throwing a timing chain for example has occured. The loss and restoration of power temporarily rules out almost all expensive problems plus the timing chain as well. If it has a good body many others would wish they had it. .:) Car sitting a long time? Algea growth in tank? Small prefilter near injection pump black? Poor poor old fuel? Car was in regular use? Ask the owner.

Since his mechanic has it this may be a moot point, but the tank strainer can also cause this problem Cut the car off, or it dies, and the crappage floats away from the screen.
Nice car, nice price. Pics please when you re-buy.
And Welcome....:)

I second the tank strainer.
 

definately sounds like fuel line problem. very simple and inexpensive fix.
get this car back and enjoy!
also get familiar with dieselgiant's site www.dieselgiant.com he is a regular on here and his site is AWESOME!
:cool:
John

Clearly a fuel supply problem and not likely to be catastrophic.

I'll bet plenty of 616/617 MB diesels have changed hands or gone to the junkyard for similar issues.

My 300SD did not make it home from the seller's location because of this issue. In fact there were a couple of service receipts in the pile the seller gave me where the car had been towed into the shop after it had stopped running. The receipt showed the shop had "reprimed, and it ran".

Turns out the primer pump started leaking (near the end of a 300 mile trip) and the car lost power and then quit. I also had fuel tank vacuum that contributed to the problem.

So, all I did at the side of the Interstate was release the tank vacuum, try to prime the system using the pump, and then crank down the pump as best I could. No further problems and I shortly thereafter changed the primper pump out for the newly designed version.

Got the car cheap - this is probably why the seller decided to get rid of it.

:)

Ken300D

$1,800 sounds like a really good price for what you describe. I'll bet you could sell it for twice that in some parts of the country as soon as it's fixed.

As fewer and fewer of thse cars are on the road in the future, it might be worth even more...

Update with Pictures! 1982 300d that died...
 

turns out it was the fuel filter. seller emailed me back, said he changed the filter and it started up and he drove it back home. with all these blessings on here i'm pretty sure i'm going to buy it again! here's some pictures of this bad boy!

http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/5...02125yr.th.jpg

http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/7...02322sr.th.jpg

http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/5...02421fy.th.jpg

http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/2...02922op.th.jpg

http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/9...03321uv.th.jpg

Very nice car!!! for $1800 wow!

Not only does it have hoseclamps for the intake (first time I've seen that), but it also hase the breather hose upgrade, and a new A/C line, complete with 134.

It looks like it really could have around 138k mi., just by looking at the headlight doors, assuming they are original.

As far as the Toshiba stereo goes, I would've thrown out the 2 knob becker too...along with those crappy paper things they dared to call speakers.

Nice Buy.

Are those leather seats, or is that Tex?
I would pay $1800 bucks for every 300D I found that looked like that car. Not bad, and sounds like a decent seller....

It looks like it should go for way over 4 grand to me.

Looks like tex to me.......our '83 has tex and looks just like that, while mine has leather, and looks flatter/different.

It does look very maintained with the new A/C hoses and clamps on the air intake. I noticed no horns on the front by the fan, are those in a different place on a W123? We just replaced one on the '83 so it was in my mind. On the W126 they're both attached to one of the cross bars in front of the condenser.....maybe they're down underneath on the 123 like on a SL.....