I'm going to look at a 1976 240D today. The car has a black exterior with white interior. I'm not sure the whole story yet but apparently it's been garaged for 16 years and obviously does not run.

Since it has been sitting for so long how can I know if the engine or tranny are complete? Furthermore, what steps would need to be taken to bring the engine back to running condition without causing any damage?

As always your advice is greatly appreciated.

If you can you need to find out why it has been in storage for that long. Often it is there because something needs to be fixed.
The focus of what I wrote below is that you do those things so as not to do any damage to the engine by tring to start it.
Make sure there is engine oil, power steering oil, ATF (you can't measure it without running the car but you can tell if there is none by checking the dip stick) and coolant
For the missing stuff part you have to do a visual inspection at least look for the things that you know you need to run any car engine the engine or any empty spaces.
Do not use the fuel in the tank it is old and cruddy. Get a longer fuel inlet hose and run it to a container of clean fuel.
Remove the Glow plugs (and leave them out for) squirt in engine oil or some people like to use Marvel Mystery Oil (letting it soak over night to relieve sticky rings). I just use motor oil. The important thing you are going to rotate the engine by hand 3-4 complete revolutions (Socket on the crankshaft pulley). The spreads the oil over the cylinders and tells you if there is something hanging up in the engine like the such Valve Timing being wrong. It also give the engine a little pre-lube. (personally I would change the oil before I do this but if the engine is no good you wasted the money on the oil.)
Change the spin on fuel filter and pump on the hand primer (sucking in the clean fuel from the container/bucket of clean fuel) 15-20 to flush out the old fuel from the fuel injection pump (it will return to the fuel tank).
Loosen all of the Fuel Injection Line Nuts where they attach to the injectors (when you crank the engine you want to see fuel spurt out bleeding the air out of the lines).
Hook up the battery and ect. to get ready to crank the engine (remember no glow plugs, MAKE SURE THE GLOW PLUG WIRES YOU REMOVE ARE COVERED WITH TAPE SO NO SHORT HAPPENS). When you crank the engine it is going to blow any of the excess oil you squirted in out of the Glow Plug hole in the cylinder head; you might want to put a piece of card board to catch the spray. Crank the engine a short time; wait and crank it again until you see fuel coming out from under the injector nuts and tighten them.
Put your glow plugs back in.
Next we want to make sure the engine can be shut down incase something in the Fuel Injection pump gets stuck and the engine "Runs Away" . The most sure way is to have some one stand by with a good solid piece of board to cover the inlet of the intake manifold (you want to cut off the air to the engine). If you have a manual shutoff and you want to take a chance on it have someone stand by that to get ready to shut
down the engine.
I think you are ready to try to start the car now.
If it runs before you drive it check the transmission fluid and turn the engine of and talk a look at the Fan Belts and I forgot the power steering fluid.
After it starts and before I would drive the car I would adjust the valves (search the threads for that). As the valve seats/faces wear the valve clearance gets smaller and smaller and due to the cost to have some one do it or the wrenches to do it people just do not do it.
Take a look at this site and save the site address:
http://www.pauldrayton.com/uploadfiles/merc/Service/W123/Index/616index.html

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

The guy is asking $750. The odometer shows 59000 miles but it's a five digit display. It's been sitting in Big Bear, CA and little is really known about the reason or history behind it. Apparently they got it started last night but did not drive it. There is no front grill but I looked on ebay and they're only about $60. The main thing is the white interior which I'm told is in great shape.

Bottom Line: Given all the unknowns is it worth $750?

If you want a 115 240D, it might be worth the chance you're taking buying a non-running car. But unless it's really in great cosmetic shape, I'd try to talk the seller down to $500 or less.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

$750 doesnt sound like much it the body is clean and rust free.

Check for critters, too.

Remember its going to need 5 new tires.

Seat, steering wheel wear and pedal condition will tell you if it has 59K or 359K......

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Terry Allison
N. Calif. & Boca Chica, Panama

09' E320 Bluetec 77k (USA)
09' Hyundai Santa Fe Diesel 48k (S.A.)

Thats bad news!! Betcha them idjits skipped the critical ring-soak procedure prior to starting mentioned by Diesel911 above. Now gotta assume the worst - coupla cracked rings. And that kinda damage wont be apparent for another 8-12k miles, about how long it takes cracked rings to score the bores. Meanwhile bein a diesel the car will start and run like normal, of course.

Not sure of your intentions, but at worst its could be a good $500 parts car.

You can use the fact that they started it last night with little or no, and definitely old fluids, as a bargaining chip.

Black exterior, white interior...really?

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1982 240 D, 308,000 - 321,127 miles (sold)
1982 300 TD,166,500 - 226,000 miles
1998 E 320, 120,000 - 144,000 miles
2005 C 230 K, 26,000 - 77,000 miles (sold)

I have a 1981 240 D automatic transmission...I only drive it during the summer months. I keep it in the garage for winter. After getting it out this summer it ran great but the tranny shifting is delayed and it doesnt want to shut off when I turn the key off. I have heard they are easy to work on..I would like to fix it myself if possible....Any help/advice?would be greatly appreciated.

You've got a vacuum leak somewhere. Buy a Mity Vac and start checking vacuum levels. There are vacuum diagrams on the stickys on this page.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Those diagrams are a lot of help...the golf tee is in the line running the door locks that I didnt even know I had...lol. I'm also trying to get my dash lights to work... just removed the gauge cluster from the dash and am trying to figure out which 2 connections I need to solder for the dimmer switch.

You will see something that looks like this on the back of the cluster:

http://catalog.worldpac.com/mercedesshop/sophio/wizard.jsp?partner=mercedesshop&clientid=catalog.mercedesshop&baseurl=http://catalog.peachparts.com/&cookieid=1CQ0J3JZ42D71A55ZP&year=1981&make=MB&model=240-D-002&category=P&part=Dash+Light+Rheostat

That is the dimmer, you can connect those two contacts to by-pass the dimmer (or you can buy a new one).

Oh my goodness....you are such a help to me craig....u know a pic says 100 words. Now I just have to figure out how to use the soldering gun....lol

Mercedes engines aren't as delecate as those gasoline ones that sit for so long...at least not in my experience. An old man that owned 10 to 20 mercedes diesels over the years gave my friends and I an old early 70's 220D. He said that his daughter got back from college and just parked it down on the ranch in the imperial valley and it hasn't been moved in seven years. From san diego we drove don there and found what looked to be a deralict car that had been sitting in the desert sun, wind, dust, and rain for seven years. It was not pretty. we gave her some fuel, changed the filters, checked to see if we had oil inflated the tires and a new battery. within 10 minutes of trying to start it....she turned over and ran. e had to instal a new water pump but other than that we drove her 150 miles home the next weekend. now a few years later she is still running. This is what sold me on mercedes diesel engineering. for something to last that long is amazing!
-Stephen

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68 250s SOLD
78 300d non turbo SOLD
1980 240d manual SOLD
1981 300SD 360,000 miles I think she's doomed for a parts car but has a good engine SOLD the engine to spamman
1977 300d non turbo SOLD
1985 300SD california car
1978 240D Manual

My 300D is a similar story to Stephen03 .

The car was driven into a shed and stored for 10yrs.

New owner changed the fuel filter , and battery , then drove it 500miles home.

I bought it , did the brakes and tyres and vacuum lines, and now have several k miles more on it .

Diesel911 is a good post if you are at all unsure of what you are getting into.

In my experience , RUST is the biggest killer of these old cars. Examine it carefully .

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'72 240D
'76 300D
'88 300sel
'40 Chev pickup , the shop hack.
'73 Monte Carlo Landau, for "Super Chevy Sunday"

This is what I would expect. My favorite machinist and I got a 59 benz diesel running one night after changing a few glow plugs. It had been sitting for a long long time. It ran really well on old old fuel but had a lot of rust and in the end it got traded off for something of not too much value.

They will sit for a long long time and be fine in my experience.

Tom W

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.