Hello guys. Im new to mercedes and to the 300d. I purchased a 1983 300d with 239k on it. I live in a very remote area in new mexico and having trouble finding parts and a good junkyard. I bought the car about 2 years ago for 800. It has the regular peeling of the clear coat and a few dents and dings. The interior is where all my questions arise to. I had an issue with the car not shutting off with the key and lots of of other vacuum related problems. I checked with a gauge and no vacuum. I bought a pump from ebay and it worked great the external check valve is the problem with the old. I paid the same for a whole pump with valve for the price of just the valve. The car starts right up even after sitting for 10 months and runs well. I checked for blowby and found none it idles great and i am gonna tackle the interior. This is where all my problems lie. The car has a black interior and it looks good other than the seats especially the rear seat upper it is torn some. I wonder what is the best way to repair it? I really want to keep the car from going to the junkyard and feel it is worth fixing. The door panels are good and the dash is good. The drive and pass seat backs and the rear seats are the issue. If anyone would help i would appreciate it thanks. Robert

in order from least to most technical: black duct tape, cover it with cloth draped over the cracked area or take it to an auto upholstery shop and have them re-do just that upper area. I had to have my rear seat re-upholstered in that area and it was fairly inexpensive for them to do just that upper piece(like$100)

That sounds easy enough. I may call some upholstry shops and see what they say on it. I could cover the front seats and have the rear repaired as you stated. Thanks Sir

Seats out of a junked donar car. Except all the cars that far south might have the same issues. The ones that do not may be hard to find.

We send cars with pristine interiors to the junkyard here because of rust issues.

... black is a pretty rare color... I've got several sets of seats, in other colors, and in your lattitude, ya might wanna move away from black anyway... like maybe a blue set of euro cloth!

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 560SL convertible
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
2005 Dodge Sprinter 2500 158"WB
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

You can also replace the seat covers yourself. Plenty of info on this site to DYI that procedure. There are several sites on the net where you can source the material. GAHH being one I'm familiar with.

GAHH: Convertible Tops, Auto Interiors, Quality Convertible Tops

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Joe

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1980 300SD - 495k miles - 'The Ambassador'
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Former Family Members
95 C280
73 280SEL
90 300D
87 300SDL (X2)
86 560SEL
84 300D
80 300SD

I have found out that im really out of luck on the black. What do you think the car would look like with tan seats and all the rest black? I think it would look ok. Whats you guys take on it? Thanks Robert

If I just bought the Car I would take a serious look at the Oil Cooler and Transmission Cooler Hoses, the rubber Flex Discs on the Drive Shaft and the Rubber Boots on the Rear Axles.
If any of those have an issue I would spend my Money there first.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I think that might look ok. If you go to the junkyard on half price day it shouldn't even cost you much.

@Barry: We see completely rust free cars in the junkyards all the time here. Careless/incompetent owners seem to be the most frequent cause of death.

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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 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.

Where would be the best place to purchase these parts and what would a guess on price for all the parts assuming they all need changed. I am a diesel mechanic by trade and live in a place where mercedes are scarce. Thanks guys.

Do a Valve Adjustment, injector cleaner/sea foam in tank. Put car on rack and check out front end, and all the "rubber" from bumber to bumper.

You might be able to get an entire interior in great shape at one of the boneyards outside of San Diego (I believe you can call them also). VSTech is best source right now for used parts, and Phil, here at peachparts has gotten parts to me overnight in some really offbeat locations.

But . . . sounds like there's no reason to rid yourself of the car . . . especially if you're already a mechanic. Once you have all the mechanical and interior stuff fixed, you might want drive through Earl Sheib or 1 -day paint when they're running their specials. Personally, I like the enamel job that was done on mine.

Good luck, and keep us up to date on your improvements. Pics are always welcome.

And . . .. welcome to the club.

Torie

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1983 300D, the "Avocado"
1976 240D, 4-spd the "Pumpkin", SOLD to Pierre
1984 190D, 2.2L, 5-spd, my intro to MBZ diesels, crashed into in 2002

fastlane

all rubber lines are suspect in an old car ESPECIALLY in your area.
brake,transmission,fuel. I'd ONLY go new in these cases. as far as axles go, you can rent the tool to change them yourself if you have access to compressed air, the boots are not expensive, and if yours are not leaking yet, but badly cracked, it's THE way to go on these cars. the rebuilt axles are pricey, and not as good as the originals on the car, the new stuff from autoparts stores are garbage. PRC stuff...

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 560SL convertible
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
2005 Dodge Sprinter 2500 158"WB
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

I don't know where you live so I surly could not suggest where to buy the parts. But, we might have other Members that live in your area that could help with that.

It is sad to say that with the exception of the Rear Axle Boots; some have suffered serious damage to their Cars due to not checking or ignoring the items I mentioned.

I was also a Diesel Mechanic for 18 years and I wish I was still physically able to do that sort of work.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

If the undercarriage was good when you got the car, it probably is still good as the air is not inclined in that part of the country to rot rubber, unlike Florida, where the sidewalls on tires rot out before you get halfway down the tread!!! You want to also change every fluid, taking care to put the correct stuff back in, such as the G-05 coolant in the radiator (Zerex G-05), which will guarantee it will run at least 5 deg. cooler. Maybe time to change the brake fluid, and power steering fluid, checking for filters at same time. Again, keep us apprised of your progress, there are plenty of people here to help out with advice, DIY articles/links, and of course you can call Phil here at Peachparts for pricing and purchasing of parts needed at a much reduced price, compared to the stealership!!!

I would take care of the car mechanically, and for the meantime, on driver's seat, you might want to take a thick piece of carpet, cut to size of seat bottom, with or without a layer of foam, use a little adhesive spray to tack it down to the seat, then put lambskin on top of that. I believe they're pretty easy to find out there. That will buy you time to hunt for the seats you want. When I went to a PickaPart in Chula Vista, CA (could swear that the other side of the berm on the southern end of the eurocar lot is the border with Mexico!!!!), I found dozens of cars with recently restored/re-upholstered seats/carpet kits to be had for less than $100 in total. Just the time/tools needed to remove them and replace them into your car. They also take phone orders, but of course you pay more to have their guys remove them and pack them up for shipping. Any chance you could take a drive out there? Have any long lost relatives to visit???? I exchanged parts right in their parking lot and relieved myself of bad parts in their dumpster, so I wouldn't have to figure out how to fit them in regular trash cans (after I removed the horsehair from the seats (worth it's weight in gold)).

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1983 300D, the "Avocado"
1976 240D, 4-spd the "Pumpkin", SOLD to Pierre
1984 190D, 2.2L, 5-spd, my intro to MBZ diesels, crashed into in 2002

Just saw the first photo of the car in photobucket. Was the original color green? It's obvious the top of the car needs some rust conversion/inhibitor. Go get a quart of OSPHO and prime the roof with that. Can be used as a primer. It's black, and you continue painting it on til all of the rust no longer bleeds through red/orange. Then put on one more coat for added protection, and keep truckin'. Hope you're already enjoying your purchase.

Also, where in NM are you located???

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1983 300D, the "Avocado"
1976 240D, 4-spd the "Pumpkin", SOLD to Pierre
1984 190D, 2.2L, 5-spd, my intro to MBZ diesels, crashed into in 2002