I just looked at your pictures, thats a nice looking car. even with the engine problem I would take it over a new car.
New cars are nice, but when you add in the high monthly payments, higher insurance, and the super high registration fees each year, especially here in Calif. the maintenance on an oldr MB does seem reasonable. the registration on our 85 300D is $52.00 per year. some of these new cars are like 2 car payments.
I know my wife rolls her eyes sometimes, and says what ever. just make it run. just as long as she has something to drive.

Casey, what are you going to do? you will be so bored with nothing to do, nothing to fix, If Mustang Man picks up your car you might as well throw all your tools in the trunk when the SDL goes by by .

Charlie☺

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

I was trying to find a way to get there from here, but it just is not in the cards for me. Sweet car. Someone grab this thing, Save it and his family!

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83 300SD Dark Silver Dark brown inside

Sooooo....what happened to it?

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79 300SD - $50 out of pocket purchase
03 Dodge Ram 3500 CTD
2003 VW Jetta TDI

Man, I'd rather have my Mercedes Benz's than a Chinese princess! My brother tried this once and it got worse from here on out!

Hope it turned out good.

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Ginny in Denver-ish
78 300SD, 265K (mine)

My fiance is supportive of my car endeavers....for my my top important things in owning a car are: 1. Safety, 2. Reliability, 3. Class, 4. Performance, 5. Hobby Aspect, 6. Mileage, 7. Cost

Her's is more: 1. Mileage, 2. Cost, 3. Looks, 4. Safety, 5. Reliability, 6. Performance (with it being totally unimportant vs. mileage)

Currently she drives a death trap '97 2-door Rav4...which I loathe....it gets bad mpg's....insurance will cost more for it than my huge yaht of an SD....and its super unsafe.....once we're married we're going to really look into getting rid of it for a 190d 2.2 (or 2.5)....or perhaps a late 90's C-class, like a C220 or something. She likes small, and doesn't like the look of the W123's....she likes the 201's and 202's the most. And VW tdi's.....but I don't really want to deal with fixing one of those....though if she really wanted one (a bug) then I'd be fine with it...I'd rather her be happy and have to fix it more often. She understands my concern for safety, and is pretty open in having something like a 190d, especially with the excellent mpg's....(twice that of the Rav4)....

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

It's good to have a partner like that. I was stunned at how the Rav-4 feels so much like a rattle trap! I don't blame you for wanting to get rid of it, but bad gas mileage? I never heard that one before! I thought these were supposed to be pretty good!

Sorry I forgot to update this thread.

I sold it to Brian Carlton and it is en route to him.

Since the shipper needed to have it starting, I had to make some repairs. It turns out when I redid some of the wiring in an attempt to get the glowplugs working, I dislodged one of the "sense" wires for the alternator, which caused it to stop charging. The Optima battery held up valiantly, but reached its limit. Unlike other batteries I've had, the Optima could put out just enough to activate the starter for a split second, but not enough to turn it over, making it look like one of the cylinders was "hydrolocked." I found this completely by accident as Brian agreed to having me swap it for a Duralast, at which point it started - again, and again. I then investigated the charging system and found that pesky loose wire.

However, even though it started, that didn't change the underlying issues: the cracked head and the angry wife. In hindsight, I'm 100% responsible for both issues and I could have done things a lot differently to where I could have kept the car and had my wife be happy. The cracked head was simply because I allowed the engine to overheat by not visually verifying the coolant level and relying on the (burnt out) idiot light. The 14xxx head will only crack if it overheats. Period. I'm sure there are many on this group who will attest to having 400,000+ miles on theirs.

The wife issue and what I've learned may be a good lesson, or confirmation, for those in this group who are married. My mistake was paying more attention and money to the car than my wife. By my count, I put $18,000 into the car over five years, but never got her a proper wedding ring! I would spend weekends doing this thing or that thing to the car, but not spending time with her or my daughter. I had crown molding that stayed incomplete for two years, but would rush to add new gauges to the car. My wife could only take so much of this, and I'm sure if any of you were in her shoes, you would feel the same. She actually called it my "steel mistress" and looking back, I can't disagree with that.

I'm sad to see the car go, but the positive impact on my marriage makes it worthwhile. As the truck was taking it away, all I could think was Sidney Carton's line from the end of A Tale of Two Cities. "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."

Casey

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Casey Cooper
"From a long line of Mercedes ownership"

'86 300SDL 250K miles (Gone, but not forgotten); best diesel I have ever driven, too bad about the Achilles heel.

'81 240D 370K miles (Sold to my brother after 9 years and 150K miles of reliable driving!)

[Five other Mercedes in family clipped for less length.]

Wow so Brian has another SDL! I wonder if I can pry one out of his hands...

He has two blue ones, I'd really like to have another blue SDL...

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Ooops! I'm hoping I didn't violate protocol by mentioning Brian rather than just saying it was sold.

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Casey Cooper
"From a long line of Mercedes ownership"

'86 300SDL 250K miles (Gone, but not forgotten); best diesel I have ever driven, too bad about the Achilles heel.

'81 240D 370K miles (Sold to my brother after 9 years and 150K miles of reliable driving!)

[Five other Mercedes in family clipped for less length.]

He would have added it to his signature line eventually, so I don't think he will be too upset.

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1987 300TD 309, xxx 2.8.2014 10,000 mile OCI


Be careful of the toes you step on today, as they may be connected to the ass you have to kiss tomorrow. anonymous

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter won’t mind.” Dr. Seuss

No sweat, Casey. I'm looking forward to finally taking a look at it.

Yep........one of them is definitely not staying around..........Hattie, oh Hattie...........???

I still want an SDL

Me too, just too far into the 124 to start over.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

No I probably knew before you did that he was going to buy it.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200