Not the cheapest or easiest fix, but not so much a deal breaker as a price adjuster in your favor.
Same, but egregious examples will result in the engine continuing to run after you've removed the key and walked away.
Difficulty in fixing depends on the source of the leak.
A service that should happen every 15,000 miles. Spend ninety bucks for the special wrenches and DIY with ease forever after.
Six buck for a new gasket. Easy day.
This is where is gets expensive. Fully working climate control is worth a bunch. Getting a non working one going again ist eine hundin.

See also the earlier comments about rust, rust, and...what is it called? Oh yes-rust. These cars when new were very expensive, very well engineered, and very well manufactured, except for the rust proofing.
I have loved driving all the Mercedes I've owned (even that POS 114). I haven't owned a 116, but I'll bet it's sublime.

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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.

Just is my biggest worry. I've learned about the under and over coating on the floor, since yesterday I discovered a big hole in my wagon's floor pan hidden by the coatings.

I think the w116 is the Edsel of Mercedes to much chrome

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran

I think it's really good looking. Pretty much the only reason I'm looking at it.

I beg to differ. I love the look of the W116. Granted the park bench bumpers are not everyone's cup of tea but that is a handsome car sir.... Since this picture was taken I have replaced the front bumper with a euro one. Need to get a photo of that.

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Joe

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1980 300SD - 495k miles - 'The Ambassador'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Former Family Members
95 C280
73 280SEL
90 300D
87 300SDL (X2)
86 560SEL
84 300D
80 300SD

i have an 80 sd.great car,fairly fuel efficient and quick.you do need to check all the above mentioned items before you buy.you didnt mention mileage.

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95 e320,87 sdl,79 300sd

x2. I got more compliments on my 1979 300sd than any other Mercedes I have owned. Thumbs-up from teenagers at crosswalks, remarks from old ladies in supermarket parking lots, "Hey cool old car" from people with no general interest in automobiles, etc.

I was a teenager when they were current and thought they were incredibly elegant, including the bumper design.

Your car is beautiful, Ether. Wow.

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

My wife loved her 300d but thought the 116SD made her look like a real estate agent.

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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

Well, that was a lot worse than I thought it was going to be.

...can you elaborate?

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"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

yes, details plz!

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1983 300SD (daily driver)
1991 420SEL (work in progress)
1979 300SD (future replacement for 83 SD)

RIP:
1983 300SD (totalled)
1986 420SEL

A little rust means no trunk floor, at all.

Beat up interior means it doesn't have an interior and the gas pedal is a piece of re-bar. One of the door windows was held up by blocks of wood. The door handles were pieces of bailing wire.

One quarter was completely smashed in.

The WVO system was jimmy rigged together. The battery was moved to the trunk, unsecured and sliding around.

Steering, brakes, suspension, vacuum system were basically nonexistent.

Runs well means that it has a miss or two and blows smoke from all around the turbo. Couldn't get it to make any sort of power, even revving the **** out of it.

Would be a fine parts car, but not for a grand. Ad had bad pictures and basically said that it ran well, was beat up, but would get you where you needed to go. That's how I would describe my wagon, so I didn't think it would be that bad, probably on the same level as my wagon.

Did you insult the seller by telling him you wouldn't take the car if he gave it to you
or
did you just walk away?

Curious minds want to know.

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daw_two
Germantown, TN

Links:
Sold last car --- 05/2012 1984 300D Light Ivory, Red interior
Cluster Needles Paint
New Old Stock (NOS) parts

Past:
3/2008 1986 300SDL "Coda"
04/2010 1965 190D(c) "Ben"
& many more

Why waste any more time on the guy?

I had experiences like this when I started looking for my first Mercedes back in 1996. I am in serious rust country. Even back then a w116 was really hard to find, nigh impossible to find one with a floor (the odd 450sel that had been a garage queen, maybe, but I wanted an SD).

Some people have a serious perception problem: anything with a Mercedes badge on it remains valuable, no matter how decrepit.

Though this case is really out there, sadly from time to time guys like that manage to convince someone with money in hand of the same fairy tale. A few of the victims have showed up here afterwards....

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22