Got my first Mercedes! 1980 300TD - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

silverfishk8 · #1 01-31-2002, 09:57 PM

I bought my first Mercedes yesterday! It's a 1980 300TD. I enjoyed my slow ride home very much (its not a turbo), but defineatley have some work to do. I got the car for a GREAT price: $500. After seeing what some other people were thinking of paying for 300TD, I jumped at the chance.

The transmission shifted great, the engine hardly had any blow-by, and the rear-leveling suspension actually works! I figured it had to be worth $500, even with over 300,000 miles on the clock!! (I'm going to get the high milage badge ASAP)

I'll get some pictures up soon, but right now theres about 3 inches of ice covering everything.

When the weather impoves, I plan on doing all the typical PM items. Change the oil, tranny fluid, PS fluid, brake fluid, rear leveling suspension fluid, glow plugs, air filter, and fuel filters. Did I leave anything out?

The car has the following issues that I would love some advise on:

1. It has its fair share of rust, especially on the drivers floor pan. I'm not sure if it is easier to replace the entire floor pan, or have a welder to some remedial work. Any thoughts?

2. The seats are quite uncomfortable, and don't look that great anymore either (they're blue MB Tex). I'm thinking that I will need to rebuild them, or find used seats in a wrecking yard. My SAAB has great seats, has anyone tried to install these in MB?

3. The passengers front side window and the drivers side back window do not roll down. I hear the motors running, but they don't budge. I'm guessing they are just off track? Is it a pain to remove the door covering?

4. There seems to be a small amount of oil leaking from just below the instument cluster.

5. The climate control works OK, but no AC. I'm not too worried, I hardly ever use it anyway. I realize that I have the "evil crysler" unit in there, so I don't expect too much from it. Is it possible to exchange units, or did the whole system change in 1982?

I'm sure there will be plenty more things that need attention soon. Some other general questions:

6. Does anyone have the MB service manuals on CD? If so, is it possible to burn me a copy. They cost major $$$.

7. Is there a good wrecking/junk yard for MB in Upstate NY, or anywhere else in the North East?

Thanks in advance for all your advise!

~Sean Roland

#2 01-31-2002, 10:21 PM

Sounds like a great deal!

1. I went thru this on my 85 300D. My mechanic tells me that it is only 1 pan in the 123 cars, for all 4 floors (driver, pass front and back). You can cobb it if you goto someone who knows how to weld and put some new metal in there.

4. Your oil line is leaking, or its the guage. A physical oil line runs to the back of the oil pressure guage.

5. The A/C probably does not work, no freon or bad compressor, probably not your climate control assy.

Capt Kirk · #3 01-31-2002, 11:08 PM

Bill, I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you on Glow Plugs not being a PM item. Here in Texas we only really need them 1 month out of the year. The rest of the time they are kinda a novelty, but in NY they use them a lot more often and are more important. I say that unless he knows when the last time they were replaced he should go ahead and replace them. It helps a lot.

As far as burning a copy of the Manual on CD: _I_ for one will NOT burn a copy of the CD. I was reading up on why the pictures were so crappy - it costs to much to make them pretty. Now if you go and steal a copy of that Manual you make the odds of them making the pictures pretty even less since they are assuming not very many people are buying the CD's (no demand, no supply). Don't forget that you stealing the CD will result in a price increase for those that do buy it. This sort of thing has been a big problem in the Computer Industry. For me to play a computer game I now have to go through a couple verifications that I bought the game (which I do). Sometimes those verifications get fubared and disable the game making it hard for some one to enjoy it. Look at Windows XP- that whole verification crap has made it very hard for people to upgrade their systems since when ever a major component is changed you have to go call Microsoft and get their okie doke. If people keep stealing software then things will get worse, be it more expensive to more inconivinces.

With all that said you have some other options: go buy the Haynes Manual, it's pretty informitive for the repairs you'd likely undertake. Or you can try your luck on eBay to buy the manual on CD - Just don't come in here and complain when it doesn't work.

Sorry for that rant, but I get very mad when people go and get illegal copies of Software when they are fully capable of buying it .

seafood54 · #4 01-31-2002, 11:33 PM

Hi Sean,

You sure got the better deal, seeing as we both have, new to us Wagons. Your door removal project is a breeze though wrestling with the track might cause a few scraped knuckles. I doubt that they are "off track" and think it is more probable that the geared bracket which opperates the sissor lift has cracked. WHen replacing that bracket, it might be easier to buy the bracket / sissor / and window glass all together. There were at least two different and noncompatable designs. You may find that you will have a workout removing the glass from one track system and installing it in the next. It can be done but ...

I would give some thought to WHY the floor pan is rusted out. Are there any repairs to seals around the windshield/sunroof. Are any of the rubber plugs missing from the floor pan?

Anyway..Congrats on finding the better of our two deals

Frank

Capt Kirk · #5 01-31-2002, 11:38 PM

What I ment by my glow plug arguement was that here if the glow plugs are dead, you can usually crank it over a few times and it'll start with out much of a problem. Up North though I'm sure if the glow plugs die out then your stranded since trying to crank it over will result in a dead battery pretty quick.

I don't mind sending a page or 2 off the CD if your doing something that has a certain trick to it that isn't printed in the Haynes Manual but after a few times you really should be thinking about buying those CD's.

But yes Bill your right, there are enough people to keep the system going. I don't think DaimlerChrystler will go Bankrupt because a few people aren't buying their service CD's for w123s.

Capt Kirk · #6 01-31-2002, 11:58 PM

Hehe, naw. I know that sometimes people need like one or 2 things from that CD and thats the only thing they'd ever use it for (like changing the rear shocks or driveshafts, simple to do, but there are tricks that the MB CD explains, but Haynes doesn't). For those people, I'd help out by either explaining to them how I did it or send them the pdf file off the CD that covers it.

I don't buy $100 books for one little quote.

240 Ed · #7 02-01-2002, 04:41 AM

Capt. Kirk

LOL!
I haven't heard that term in a while. I had a friend in the 80's who applied for and received a personlized license plate here in CA for his Triumph Spitfire GT coupe.
Yup, FUBAR.

The best one I have ever seen, EVER, has to be on an old nasty van. PHA KIT.
Kid you knot!:p

leathermang · #8 02-01-2002, 10:04 AM

Do the CD's have everything the Factory Shop Manuals have? The pictures in the Shop Manuals are not TOO good either, many are too dark. Greg

leathermang · #9 02-01-2002, 01:52 PM

Then that accounts for the poor picture quality.

silverfishk8 · #10 02-02-2002, 10:25 AM

Thanks for all your advise! I'll have to check out the windows Frank, and let you know what I find.

I think I will go ahead and do the glow plugs. I'm getting the flashing GP relay light, and I think that means they need to be replaced?

Capt. Kirk, sorry about the CD thing. I know its a sensative issue to some people, but I tend to think as burning CDs as free property rights. You bought it, and you can do what you please with it. Its kinda the same when someone asks for someone to run a Carfax report, instead of buying it themselves. One a BMW bulletin, there was one guy who gave out his email and people ran something like 632 reports on it! And Carfax still seems to be doing fine. Anyway, sorry to stir up a little bit of a hornets nest. Different people, different tunes.

Anyone else know of a good wreking yard in NY? If there isn't one, I'm afraid I will be paying some monster shipping charges!

Thanks again

~Sean Roland

michael rybikowsky · #11 02-02-2002, 10:30 AM

I will give you 800.00 for it

Capt Kirk · #12 02-02-2002, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by silverfishk8

Capt. Kirk, sorry about the CD thing. I know its a sensative issue to some people, but I tend to think as burning CDs as free property rights. You bought it, and you can do what you please with it. Its kinda the same when someone asks for someone to run a Carfax report, instead of buying it themselves. One a BMW bulletin, there was one guy who gave out his email and people ran something like 632 reports on it! And Carfax still seems to be doing fine. Anyway, sorry to stir up a little bit of a hornets nest. Different people, different tunes.

That guy who was taking Carfax requests was abusing the system.

Coming on here and asking for some one to run 1 carfax report is the same as me sending you a page or 2 off the CD. It's easier since you'd only be buying the CD for that one project. But if you wanted some one to run 10 different cars then you should think about signing up for your own Carfax account. Same with the CD, if you were going to take your car apart and try putting it back together you should think about buying the CD instead of asking some one for all the relevant pages.

EDIT: just noticed your comment on property rights concerning the CD. Go read a EULA and see if that still holds true.

silverfishk8 · #13 02-02-2002, 01:34 PM

Here are some pictures of the 300TD. It may look OK, but there is plenty of work to be done!! First thing I am going to do is remove the instrument cluster and fix the oil gauge leak. I plan on documenting all of my repairs on my new homepage, 300TD Homepage. Theres not anything up yet, so wait a couple days before checking it out.

Front View

Side View

Interior

Odometer

Hmmm..If the pictures appear as the broken box, right click on them and say open image. This worked for me.

Dee8go · #14 10-28-2007, 08:16 AM

This thread is several years old. I'm wondering if you still have your TD, Sean. I just got one just like it.

Sbean · #15 10-28-2007, 01:14 PM

I have two just like it; one I bought in 1993 for $2400, one was given to me with a failing transmission. I put in a remanufactured tranny from Sun Valley and it goes fine, has a stronger engine than the one I bought. I'm running them on 90% vegetable oil and 10% RUG. Either one looks good with my 18-foot Grumman canoe on top. Steve

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
1980 300TD For Sale	vwkess	Mercedes-Benz Cars For Sale	0	12-17-2004 07:34 PM
In Today's Wall Street Journal	albert champion	Off-Topic Discussion	6	05-28-2004 03:10 AM
Please help: No voltage for radio on a 1980 W116 Mercedes 300SD.	ericnguyen	Car Audio and Multimedia	5	09-29-2003 10:52 PM
"Racing Mercedes" on SpeedVision	ke6dcj	Mercedes-Benz Performance Paddock	4	01-28-2003 06:25 PM
1979 mercedes benz 300TD	Dave McDonald	Diesel Discussion	4	11-05-2002 07:56 PM