Yes, it is a shame that the industry is not training new techs to competently service obsolete equipment.

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'79 240D

Its not that the industry should train techs on every piece of machinery invented by man.

The techs should at least be qualified to quickly pick up such procedures.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

The problem is that "picking up" can be time consuming, aka more billable hours on the job to repair the car, and the customer already doesn't want to pay for the repair, so they're extra extra not going to want to pay for on the fly training time either....

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

There is no way to acquire talent or natural curiosity via education. The reality is that there is not much incentive for young techs to learn how to keep old cars running, so only a few who are disposed to working on them will occupy that niche. As the number of cars (and/or owners of old cars who are inclined to pay market rates) dwindles, so goes the market. There are still specialist shops out there, and probably a few younger people coming up in those shops, but it is just not feasible for most facilities (especially the dealerships) to maintain the tools and skills to service an ever-shrinking market segment.

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'79 240D

Awhile back I was out and about and pulled the 560SEL up to a stop light. On my right sat a woman in a W210. I carefully sized up her car; I noted the massive amounts of metal missing due to the "right sizing" and "down sizing" of her car. I also noted her plastic ware bumpers versus the steel bumpers on a 300D. The 560 DWARFED her car in size. When the light changed to green, I pressed on the go pedal........her medium lab ate the exhaust from my BIG GERMAN SHEPHERD.

are you online right now?

I have an issue with E320 1994 coupe as high idle problem after restart the car.

I feel i could positively contribute to this discussion. I am a tech at a vw dealership and I can say that the mechanics dont get to choose what we work on. Its whatever rolls through the door. Oldest car ive worked on so car is an 89 but we get beetles and buses
rolling through on a decent basis. They go to the guys who are the most familiar with them. And yeah when the 91 jetta rolls in you get the moans but we all write it up just like an 11 jetta gets written up.

In regards to not knowing how to work on them (again this is in relation to vws but its the same thing with mercedes) Most any tech working in my shop either has worked there long enough to have worked on them when they were new enough or have owned older vws themselves. Most of the older stuff is much simplier and any of us could diagnose it.

I feel bad that you guys are in places where people are refusing to work on your vehicles. I would never refuse working on a car because its "too old"