Hi everyone.

I bought a 1983 300d turbo recently and took it into a local mechanic to do a full inspection. I have a friend who knows these cars well but he's currently MIA so I'm looking for a second opinion on the mechanic's quote.

Car has ~209k miles, a/c and cruise control. Overall drives well (with quirks of course).

I told the mechanic I'm currently interested in only doing the most pressing things to make the car mechanically sound, to which he came back with:

- needs injector pump rebuilt oil cooler lines $950
- driveshaft rebuilt $1300
- differential noisy tie rod and drag link $400
- alignment $70

My crappy observations about each part:

injector pump
Idling at a red light is sometimes a bit rough; car rocks a bit back and forth at times - not severe at all.

Oil cooler lines
Lines are sweating oil and it's leaking a bit where the lower lines meets the oil cooler. Seems like this should be fixed pronto... Just concerned about the price.

Driveshaft
I know this item could have its own thread... I'll try to keep it short.
I get moderate to severe vibration accelerating at a slight incline in the 30 - 60 mph range. It's a deep resonance. Before 30 mph, no issues. Over 60 mph, no issues. The vibration depends on how much I put my foot down in these situations. If I ease up on the accelerator enough the vibration goes away.

During the same mph range if I'm decelerating I get a mild constant vibration.

Regardless of acceleration or deceleration, switching into neutral completely quells any vibration.

I don't feel any vibration in the steering wheel, and maybe a bit if any coming through the shifter. Feel it all through my seat.

Differential
I just know the back end of the car is noisy going over bumps.

Tie rod and drag link
Don't know.

Ye masters, please share your knowledge!

$1300 to rebuild a driveshaft is grand theft. Is your mechanic a Mercedes specialist who specializes in early cars?

Thanks for the reply!

It's a mercedes-only indie shop, where the mechanic I spoke with 'got his start with these early cars'.

$1300 includes installation

They said the u-joint was notched or something.

I'd try to find another mechanic.

__________________
Jim

The differential noise could be a bad differential mount - cost $200 including labor or bad sway bar links - cost $100 including labor or bad axles - cost $400 including labor. The differential rarely goes out unless the car has in excess of 400,000 miles or very poor maintenance.

I would find a new mechanic.

I live out in Southern California - there certainly are enough mercedes specialists here.

Guess ill have to grab a few more estimates.

Thank you again for the replies.

I agree with the "find a different mechanic".

For anyone else who reads the thread who is not able to do their own repairs and maintenance: reverse the order of the above activities.

Full inspection by mechanic, then purchase.

__________________
Greg
2012 S350 BlueTEC 4Matic
2007 ML 320 CDI
2007 Leisure Travel Serenity
2006 Sprinter 432k
2005 E320 CDI
1998 SLK230 (teal)
1998 SLK230 (silver)
1996 E300D 99k, 30k on WVO
Previous:
1983 240D, on WVO
1982 300D, on WVO
1983 300CD, on WVO
1986 300SDL 237k, 25k on WVO (Deerslayer)
1991 350SDL 249k, 56k on WVO - Retired to a car spa in Phoenix
1983 380 SEC w/603 diesel, 8k on WVO
1996 E300D 351k, 177k on WVO

Generally I agree, per common sense. But sometimes you just have to jump at something. The paint and interior on this car are fairly spectacular, engine sounds great, beefy maintenance records, etc.


I've been treating every other tank with diesel purge... Made a huge improvement! I thought to get the injectors pressure tested and maybe upgrade the nozzles... But this mechanic frowned at the idea.

Motor mounts were replaced by the previous owner (plus tons of other stuff) 4 years ago, 5k miles ago. "Cooler lines" were replaced too... Oil cooler lines? If so, they must've used ****-tier quality parts.

Oil cooler lines looks like a PITA. I'm a computer guy (tech writer / game developer) with experience in custom water cooling setups so I just want to mod the entire assembly for future maintenance. Saw someone installed custom fittings and tubes - something like that. Computer stuff looks to be a joke in comparison though.

Driveshaft center bearing support has been replaced by the previous owner 4 years ago. Eh... I'll just list the stuff recently replaced at the end of this post.

Definitely not. I've worked on old BMWs (e30 318i, e28 m5), a somewhat local friend knows these cars we'll, and my dad is local and loves working on cars, etc. I myself though am the weakest link.

Here's the short list of stuff that's been done 4 years ago, and 5k miles ago:

Front main seal / pan gasket.
Motor mounts
Trans mounts
Driveshaft central bearing support
Trans filter kit
Cooler hoses
Radiator upper and lower hoses
Axle boots rear
Lower ballpoints
Brake sensors
Front shocks
Water pump
Ac recharge
All belts replaced
Front engine seal
Injector lines
Intake and exhaust valve ajustments
Front wheel bearings
Machine rotors
New radiator

Some things replaced in the last two years:

Motor mounts (again?)
Center support (?)
Center support bearing (again?)
Battery
Ac blower motor
Starter motor

Ps what is a reasonable price for rebuilding and installing a driveshaft (assuming it needs to be rebuilt)?

I've seen rebuilt ones selling for ~$375...

The mechanic who supplied the estimate said the u-joint was at fault, and the flex disks looked decent but could do with replacing, the bearing looked to have some minor cracking.

Injector pump issues may be simply need of new nozzles, or even a purge.
May be new motor mounts are in order.

Oil cooler lines can be problematic, when removing them from the radiator, some folks have a hard time there.

Driveshaft, inspect the center bearing I haven't heard of them going out of balance.
The u joints are "staked" in, meaning once installed, using a wedge device or screw driver, hammer on the surrounding metal to push/mangle some metal to keep 'em in place. Are the u joints bad? an inspection should reveal yes or no.

Differential, inspect the rear sway bar links. R&R the diff fluid. Make sure to remove the fill plug first!

Tie rod and drag link, are the ball joint boots torn? If so, not a bad idea to replace them.

There is an intermediate lever repair kit that may be a bit tricky, but depending on your skill set, a DIY.

Depending on the severity of the driveshaft issue/s also a DIY as most other items.

Your mechanic may mean well, but get a second opinion. Ah, that's what doing here...

__________________
83 SD

84 CD

Is DIY out of the question?

The injection pump might simply need a cycle of Diesel Purge and an updated rack damper. Maybe send the injectors to one of the forum members who cleans and balances them. An independent isn't likely to oblige you other than to replace the rack damper.

Replacing oil cooler lines is a nasty job. OE quality lines are very expensive. An alternative is to have the lines repaired by a hydraulic shop. Again, an independent isn't likely to be part of this.

The tie rods and drag links have ball joint type ends. When the boots tear and particularly if they've been torn for a while, it's best to replace the link.

This can be a contentious topic but I advise to stay away from Chinese made parts for steering, suspension and drivetrain particularly if you're paying for installation. Any independent who's been in business a while was probably burned by parts of questionable quality (spelled U-R-O) and steers clear where the work is warranted. Caveat emptor.

Sixto
MB-less

Here's what the general census is on owning one of these cars....

If you not mechanically inclined, willing to get grease and now the ends and outs of these cars.....prepared to spend out the a$$ for repairs.

Sounds like your not willing to do the work yourself and not sure what needs to be fixed to cure problems..

So sadly, you will need to find a local indie that can do the work, how much they are going to probe you....is anyone question...

Also a lot of indies do not want to work on these cars, so they will tell you that the engine is bad and some crazy price to just get your car out...

Mind you, also the replacement parts for these cars are junk now, unless you buy from the dealer or lemforder....anything else will fail in a year....oil cooler lines are the same now...

I still don't recommend normal folk, looking for a daily driver look at these cars...

__________________

Diesel Purge is mostly Diesel fuel. For best effect, have the IP draw Diesel Purge from a separate container and have the return line dump back into the same container. Run the engine until that container is about empty, or all the way empty if you have a good hand primer.

I don't know where you can take a MB drive shaft to be rebuilt. Getting it off the car is about the most difficult step.

Have you read the DIY guides on the forum - http://www.peachparts.com/Wikka/DoItYourSelf ?

Sixto
MB-less

The one time I had a driveshaft rebuilt, it was a front one for a Suzuki Samurai. I don't remember the exact price, but it wasn't expensive. From your symptoms and patient history I suspect the driveshaft was disassembled and then put back together wrong. The two parts fit together many different ways, but all but one are out of balance. I'd take it to a driveshaft shop and have it rebalanced.

Oil cooler lines you should take care of soon. I've DIY'ed this one and give it a 6 out of 10 for difficulty.

Unless the car has been vegged, it's highly unlikely to need an injector pump. You could probably do with a rack damper adjustment. I know the motor mounts are fairly new, but they are worth giving a second look in case they went bad prematurely.

The suspension stuff doesn't have a very good description. I think you should get under there and inspect for yourself. Also, aside from the back being noisy over bumps, do you have any other symptoms? Drive funny? Wearing the tires funny? Pulling? Clunking? Just not feeling right?

__________________
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.

oil coolant lines is a ***** of a job..but i did it in three hours swearing time.
fishing the lines thru is the hardest part.

cool jay is right mercedes, lebforder or nothing..
my new coolant lines that took me three hours to replace are already weeping
$150.00 gone .. poof