Need immediate input please!
 

Good afternoon all!
I am a new member. Losing my virginity with this post. I hope it is the first of many.
I'll cut to the chase..
Done a lot of research and have brought myself up to speed as best as I can on the older diesel's out there in hopes of getting one. The time may have come. I have found a reasonably priced 85 300td for sale in my area on good old craigslist here is a link

1985 Mercedes 300 TD - $1000 (Flint Hill, VA)

I have spoken with the gentleman who is selling it several times now and he assures me he has all maintenance records going back 15 some odd years ago when he purchased the car. When he purchased the car it had 150k on it. It now has somewhere around the 335k mark. His listing states that the motor has "low compression" however after speaking with the seller he states that the vehicle is hard to start. The hard to start is the sole reason he believes the vehicle has low compression. I asked him if he had ever had the valves adjusted and he says 'not to his knowledge." Also the car has been sitting for around a year. It was taken off the road after he purchased a new vehicle. He does state that other than the hard starting the car ran and drove great before he took it off the road.

Im going out to look at and drive the car later today and was hoping I could get some advise on areas to look at and check to ensure this vehicle is a good buy.
As I said, ive done my homework and have even read the Mercedes Diesel Buyer's Survival Guide that is available through **************.com

If the car is a runner with little blow by and a solid body with little to no rust through, even if she is hard to start..if she shifts smooth and feels in overall good shape. ...if I can scoop it up for around what the seller is asking do you guys think this is a good buy? My plans for the car would be to tune it up and use a daily driver.
thanks so much in advance.

"Hard to start" could be as simple as a few bad glow plugs. Easy enough to check that with a volt meter on the plugs during the glow cycle. If working properly, the current draw should result in a 2-3 volt drop from battery voltage at the plug. Of course if it's been sitting for a year you will probably have to jump start it, but the test will still be valid.

It is hard to believe that someone drives the car for 15 years and 180K miles without a valve adjustment. Did he wrench it himself or out-source it?

Hard to start could be one or all of the below, glow plug(s) not working, valve adjustment or low compression. OTOH, it is a good deal if you can wrench it yourself and the car has little rust. I would start with $600 and see how it goes from there.

Good luck.

If the body is rust free it is worth more than 1000 imho. if you are looking for a reliable car though you will probably have consideralby more into it to get there. If the glow plugs are not working that is usually the most common reason for not starting. There is also a strip fuse in the glow plug relay that can go out occasionally.

Its pretty hard to tell from pics but the car looks reasonably clean.

x2 on the rust free.

If the body is solid, you can get replacement engines for not a whole lot of money. I wouldn't focus on the engine all that much except as negotiating leverage. The key is the body.

Valve adjustment, injectors, glow plugs, filters and fuel should make a huge difference in making it run better. Blow by could be a decent indicator of condition.

maybe
 

You should edit your first post and take the link out.:rolleyes:

The car looks pretty darn good. I'd be a definite buyer if it was located within 100 miles of me.

Worse case would be it needs an engine; you will want to keep the 300TD head though --- it has the SLS pump on it.

True, but it is harder to come by the wagon engines with the SLS pump in the head. I know there are other options out there but that is more money and a lot more work.

If you can get it for $1000 or less and it ends up not being too much work for you, you could probably get most of your money back (assuming you don't dump a bunch into it) pretty easily and more if you sell it for parts.

If he truly has never done a valve adjustment, I would start there and see how it runs.

As long as the body is good, $1000 is a steal for a 300TD. Even if the engine has a rod sticking out, that is not a bad price. You can find OM617 engines at almost any junk yard for a few hundred but the only issue is the SLS pump. Maybe that can be converted to belt diven, etc worst case scenario.

I'd go look yesterday. Take it for a drive. Stop in gas station loosen oil filler . If it is reasonably stable, buy. Interiors don't look that nice unless taken care of.

Plan on $1,000 in parts to bring to reliable with you doing the wrenching.

Total steal for a wagon, from what I have seen. They go for $3000 plus in my area almost regardless of operating condition as long as it's not full of holes. Average is $5000. Buy quick before one of us does!

Run don't walk. The hard to start bit might be low compression, but it could be other things too.

For $1000 if it looks as good as the pics suggest, and no rust is hiding underneath, goferit.

Wow that looks like a nice wagon, its worth that with no engine!

update!
So the pictures in the sellers posting are from sometime last summer. The car is currently sitting in a barn, pretty grimey and no shortage of bird dropings on it. lol
However,
the body is in good condition, typical rust around the wheel wells and jacking points but nothing too too major. No rust through save for a nickel size hole under the passenger rear floor mat.
Car hasnt been started since last April but after putting in a fully charged battery and several minutes of starting attempts it did start with smoke out the rear.
car did stall out after it started and would not idle at first.
After holding open the throttle and keeping the rpms up for 15 minutes the car would hold an idle and she purrs fine.
minimal oil in the filter housing and the oil cap holds steady. (did the tea kettle test)

Tachometer functions intermittently.
other than that most everything checks out.
shifts relatively smooth. no clunking.
what say you all?

sounds like a decent bargain. Just a word of warning, if there is rust around the wheel openings there is a good chance of it in the floor pan so I would suggest lifting the carpets and seeing if you can see the ground.

also. The oil pressure indicator held towards the higher end of the gauge, it would drop slightly but always held high. is this normal?
after a solid 30 minutes of running and a short trip around the neighborhood the temp. gauge held steady in the bottom quarter of the meter... out side temp was in the 40's today. after running for some time she did start back up no problem.

I'd be interested in what suspension components have been replaced....in all likelihood, you would need to replace anything that's original. And I'd particularly want to make sure the SLS system isn't leaking....that can get expensive.

For $1000 it looks like a solid buy as long as you don't mind a project. It looks to have good bones.

hmmm. Lift the carpets and look at the floor pan. After buying two rust buckets that appeared to be OK I learned the hard way! These cars are NOTORIOUS for hiding rust well. If it where me any rust in the front wheel well near the jack points or the rocker end covers would be a NO GO for me. Mercedes threw on the rubber undercoat THICK so it's hard to see the rust till it's too late. And they put a hardened layer of soundproofing on the floor pan that will rust underneath and you may not be able to see it without ripping that off. As bad as it sounds if I go out to buy a car body now I take a screwdriver and poke hard at the undercoating looking for soft spots and will pull the rubber plugs in the floor pans to check the state of the sheet metal. I would also check the condition of the front windowseal. That will tell you more about what you are getting into than anything. If they are cracked and sun bleached and shrunk I'd pass. That usually tells me the rust has already begun. This is a picture of what I bought into before knowing all of this.... The hard floor covering and the rubber bottom gave no indication there was a problem till months later when my driver seat fell through the floor.

well...
I called the seller back to tell him i was on my way back to work out a deal and bring along a friend to drive my car back.. and just my damn luck.. HE SOLD IT!!!!!!!!!
omfg ... so dissapointed.

The trials and tribulations of buying on Craigslist!

Purchased by another forum member????

I'd hit it. Can't go much lower than $1,000 & have something worth fixing.

Nothing like rubbing it in.:eek:

That's why you never post about a deal into its in your hands! That wagon was in amazing shape for a grand....I passed on one that was 1500$ and was in horrible shape....but supposedly it sold soon after I looked at it.....wagons go fast regardless of condition....why I don't know....

There are two things that conspire to turn 123s and older models into rust buckets.

The first is the fact that the car is made with plain steel that has not been galvanized. The technology for continuous hot dip galvanizing of steel wide enough for car body use did not come about until the mid 80s. 124s and later are made with galvanized steel which is why you don't see so many rust bombs that are 124s or second gen 126s.

The second thing is that since the untreated steel will quickly rust, it has to be protected with something, either paint or another coating. The undercoating and sound deadening protects the steel when it leaves the factory. However it traps moisture over time, and if there is any kind of breach of the coating it is all over. Throw in road salt and it is a sure death.

I think the 123 is a beautiful timeless car but its fatal flaw is the steel. Unless you can find one from a dry climate that has been meticulously kept, it is likely going to have rust issues.

I never understood the whole wagon phenomenon either. Too me it's too much like a mini van. But to each his own I guess. I guess if you have to haul youngens and a dawg it's a good thing

Do you have much experience with SLS?

there is no question, the major benefit of the wagon is in it's exceptional handling stability with a load or empty due to the hydraulic load leveling suspension. :cool:

There is a lesson to be learned from this- Buy the car for $1,000 before someone else does! You took the effort to get it running and drive it a few miles, and someone else scooped it up after you did all the work! Look on the bright side, you now know what to do the next time a good deal comes along. We want to hear about the good deal you get AFTER you make the purchase!

Thanks for the input everyone. Looks like I wont be on these forums as much as I had hoped. That is at least until I find myself another 300td for sale out there that is reasonably priced. I have been so damn mad over not buying that wagon up when i had the chance that I have literally not been able to sleep.
It seems every single other wagon I can find within 200 miles of me is selling for 3 to 5 grand and they don't appear to be in any better shape than the one I missed.
I only caught the bug for and started doing my research on these bad boys a few weeks ago. If only I had posted on is forum earlier or checked back a little sooner to see what you all had said I would have bought that thing up in a hurry......
ohhhh well...

I feel your pain, man. I had a black Volvo 240 station wagon with tan leather (yes, leather) and a 5-speed (!) slide out from under me a year and a half ago. It's extremely frustrating, especially when there is something exceptional about the car (such as the good price, or, in my case, the 5-speed).

Hmm
 

Did you see this one ?
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-cars-sale/308824-1979-mercedes-300td-sale-*$1500*.html

or these

Mercedes-Benz : 300-Series TD in Mercedes-Benz | eBay Motors

Mercedes-Benz : 300-Series w123 in Mercedes-Benz | eBay Motors

1985 Mercedes-Benz 300TD Wagon

http://orlando.craigslist.org/cto/3585427857.html

http://miami.craigslist.org/pbc/cto/3579262824.html

http://worcester.craigslist.org/cto/3465529677.html

http://westernmass.craigslist.org/cto/3562794257.html

http://southjersey.craigslist.org/cto/3547608457.html

http://easternshore.craigslist.org/cto/3554576398.html

http://burlington.craigslist.org/cto/3554794671.html

http://burlington.craigslist.org/cto/3505265897.html

http://longisland.craigslist.org/cto/3538024039.html

http://newjersey.craigslist.org/cto/3472425612.html

http://newjersey.craigslist.org/cto/3569596043.html

http://syracuse.craigslist.org/cto/3584279475.html

http://watertown.craigslist.org/cto/3550937500.html

http://jerseyshore.craigslist.org/cto/3533327653.html



.

I have an overpriced wagon to sell....http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-cars-sale/332618-sale-trade-my-83-300td-your-300sd-sdl.html

I don't really want to sell, but $ is a motivating factor.