So this car has 184k on it(odometer stopped working a couple days ago so my guess is probably not the first time) I have done a lot of reading of these posts these last few weeks and one person says you will get 300 to 350k out of a turbo motor, the next person says they have 500k and the next thread says they lost their timing belt at and it took out their motor at like 250k. There is some awesome info and some really crappy info out there that would kill any car.

So what would you do to this thing mechanically if it was yours? With what i am reading i think i should sell it and make a couple bucks or pull the motor and rebuild it while i still have a motor that hasn't turned into a grenade.

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"NEW" 1984 300D TD needs some love

I changed what needed to be changed out on my first '83 MB 300SD (305K miles) as it needed it for the mostpart. Be keenly aware of listening to the car, what is leaking on it, fluid levels, wear-items like brakes/tires/shocks/belts, and how it drives. Many owners prematurely overmaintain sections of a car's maintenance schedule, and many don't. I'm kind of an in-betweener between too much maintenance, and neglecting some things. Listen to the car and watch it closely. It'll tell you what it needs.

The car referenced above was passed on to it's next owner in very good running and maintenance condition. I don't know how many miles that car was good for, since I wasn't able to keep up with what happened to the car the past 15 years.

Well right now the car, and my backside, is telling me it needs some love in the drivers seat department.... LOL

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"NEW" 1984 300D TD needs some love

Nonsense on an engine rebuild! At 184K, it's still got a helluva lot of life left in it if it's been taken care of. I had a 1980 240D I scrapped a few weeks ago. It had 330K and was a daily driver for me from 1998 until about early 2007 until it was put away due to rust. Ugliest car I drove, faded paint rot everywhere but didn't let me down. It was serviced meticulously mechanically and not a lot of blow-by believe it or not. Listen to it when it tells you it needs luvin'. To me it's like a woman, they let you know they need attention one way or another.

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Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

hmmm i want to get my hands on a motor or two to try and transplant sounds like i know where to look if i am up to the road trip and take in some sights along the way.

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"NEW" 1984 300D TD needs some love

Keep me in mind. I always love showing somebody a thing or two with these old Diesels. I'll be tearing down a 1984 300D soon to bring it back from the dead with lots of pics once I feel good enough to get around to it. I'd give you the junk motor to tear down if you were local to get a feel for it.

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Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

Assuming this car is new to you and you don't know the maintenance history: Change oil, adjust valves, check timing chain elongation. You might do a compression test at this point. Then change power steering fluid and filter, inspect brakes, change brake fluid. Change transmission fluid and filter. Change diff oil. By the time you're done with all that, you should know if the car needs anything else right away. Take care of that and you should be good for several years of mostly scheduled maintenance before something expensive comes up.

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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.

You'll encounter many more experienced people than I, so feel free to disagree, but here's my two cents based on a 1983 300D.

You may have read too many alarmist things if you're worried about selling or rebuilding at 184K. Remember that everyone talks about the horror stories, no one mentions the drive into work that didn't become a multi-thousand dollar disaster. I don't know how well your car was maintained, so I can't really tell about your specific case, but 184K is young for a 617 engine. Mine isn't much older at 225K, and it was purring like it just rolled off the lot after a 500+ mile road trip this Thanksgiving. So unless you have specific reason to worry...don't!

I would concur entirely with Skippy's post. Do every bit of routine maintenance--timing chain included--you can find to do, and at the end of it, you'll surely know the car well enough to know if it has an issue to address or not. Good luck!

When i was young i had a lot of cars, i built several motors, did body work, painted you name it always on my own cars, i have been dusting off and rounding up tools i haven't seen or used in years.

I changed the oil, if the sticker on the car was right it was super overdue, better a diesel than a gas car, also happy for the fact that that they use a bypass filtration system i plan on doing it again in about a month as i will be redoing the oil lines, probably actually all the hoses and rubber under the hood. Then move onto the suspension and rubber under the car. Other than wishing i had a hoist i could use on a regular basis this thing has been pretty easy to work on.

I need to make some fancy wrenches for the valve adjustment but there is little valve noise and since i replaced the orings in the oil filter housing it's been really nice sounding on a cold start.

thanks for the info, not really worrying so much as i just want to make sure i give the old girl the attention she needs now and not wish i had 6 month from now when i could have avoided something i missed.

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"NEW" 1984 300D TD needs some love

Good advice. Maybe have the front end looked at too. Don't want to be chewing up expensive tires for lack of front end maintenance.

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Codifex
1981 240D ChinaBlue (Got her running with a donor engine.)
1983 300DTurbo w/sunroof.
1984 300TD manual sunroof. (Electrical Gremlins)