I drove my 79 300TD over to the local german car shop that the dirt lot dealer told me the previous owner used. I was hoping to get a heads up on what has and hasn't been done to my new girl. The owner saw me pull up and hey is that Bills car?

I informed him I picked it up at a dealer and was just hoping to get some service history. He was really a good guy and printed off the last year of records. In the last 500 miles the car has had Valves adjusted with new gasket, compression test results were within spec. freshly rebuilt injectors, new front calipers, all rotors turned, new brake pads and sensors at all four corners, new wheel seals, new battery, new hood release cable and lever, new thermostat, with flush and correct coolant fill. Complete new idle control system, and all new belts and filters. Lots of Mercedes part numbers on the list for a total of $1971.95 and the parts alone cost almost what I payed for the car. I found it interesting that the last item on the list was a 1hr check for diagnosing a fuel smell....hard to believe they would have missed the return lines but there are none listed on the bill for the injector install. I bought the tech lunch at my restaurant and drove over for a color match and some body shop supplies. This afternoon I fixed the peeling paint problem with a scraper and sander. Took the offending spots down to metal and epoxy primed.

This morning I was about to place an order for crush washers to do a compression test to determine if I wanted to take on this project. I think I'll hold on to it for a while.

Wow that is good detective work - it is nice to know it has been well looked after.

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

The last Mercedes diesel I bought, I didn't even get an owner's manual, let alone service records! But after owning three rusty W123s, It was worth it to find a solid, nearly rust-free 240D, in my neck of the woods. This car now has both an owner's manual set, and new service-records.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

Exactly what I am doing with the 190D / W2-1 2.2D that I just bought!

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Strelnik
Invest in America: Buy a Congressman!

1950 170SD
1951 Citroen 11BN
1953 Citroen 11BNF limo
1953 220a project
1959 180D
1960 190D
1960 Borgward Isabella TS 2dr
1983 240D daily driver
1983 380SL
1990 350SDL daily driver alt
3 x Citroen DS21M, down from 5
3 x Citroen 2CV, down from 6

Not really Sherlock Holmes level stuff, the previous owner was an older gentleman and he left a hand written note with all the mechanics he has used in MT including oil change places.
The Salesman also told me where he went for work on it. Elementary!

The positive compression test results were really the cherry on this one. I was a bit worried about what I'd find when I did the test, although the car runs really well. Low compression would have been a deal breaker and I was prepared to flip this one.

I am actually going to talk to Pete the guy who did the work on the car today and find out what the actual comp #'s were, the bill just indicates "within spec". The injector return line leak was the reason I got the car for 900$ so I might just thank him for forgetting to change them.

You might want to investigate that a bit further, Sherlock.

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When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

What he's trying to say, but failing to do without being snarky, is that on the W123 there are only sensors on the front pads.

So either 1) you were just mistaken, which is OK, it happens or 2) the mechanic ripped the PO out of a few extra bucks by charging for rear sensors.

Glad you were able to get your hands on the records. It can be peace of mind that you've found a good one. My '85 was an $800 non-running car. I was surprised when after paying him the PO handed me service records back to 1986 included. After towing it home, getting it running (new battery) and catching it up on fluids and filters, it's been very reliable.

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1979 300D 040 Black on Black - 1985 300D Maaco job (sadly sprayed over 199 Black Pearl Metallic) on Palamino

http://i.imgur.com/LslW733.jpg

The Baja Arizona Oil Burners Send a message if you'd like to join the fun
Left to Right - UberWasser, Iridium, Stuttgart-->Seattle,, mannys9130

Visit the W123 page on iFixit for over 70 helpful DIY guides!

Whats with snarky reply? My only info on the service history is a bill that was printed out by the shop. The car has the brake wear sensor warning light in the 80's instrument cluster that is in the car so I assume it has break wear sensors. Please elaborate.

Thanks Uberwasser, Just re read the parts line on the billing statement and there is one mercedes part 140 540 12 17 break sensor 6.00$ so I am incorrect. But all the brakes are new I replaced the tires last week and checked them. Cheers

I've learned not to take it personally. It's kind of his M.O.

He's very knowledgeable, he just takes a very tough love angle when sharing it.

*HUGS all around*

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1979 300D 040 Black on Black - 1985 300D Maaco job (sadly sprayed over 199 Black Pearl Metallic) on Palamino

http://i.imgur.com/LslW733.jpg

The Baja Arizona Oil Burners Send a message if you'd like to join the fun
Left to Right - UberWasser, Iridium, Stuttgart-->Seattle,, mannys9130

Visit the W123 page on iFixit for over 70 helpful DIY guides!

AHHH that's the warm fuzzy feeling I was looking for. It is hot as heck in GA right now guess I won't hold a little crabiness against him.

Spent my last two days filling, wet sanding




and fixing a few rust bubbles


that turned out to be a poor rust repair, the body man did not use a rust stopper around the welds just used putty and guess what came back. Lucky it was not too very rusty just enough to lift the paint along the edge of the welds. In reality the cut and weld repair was done well but . I fixed it for good (lets hope) with rust killer and etch primer. I'm planning on painting the hood and portions of the roof on monday. We have a decent auto paint guy at one of our O'reily locations. Got a chip and photo match and the test looks really good.

Youll enjoy that car ,the best part of a wagon is the access to hauling what ever you can tuck away in the back ,then you have all of that rooftop if youve run out of interior room.Its the closest thing to an 617 MB truck you can score plus its good at picken up chicks,ones that wear gurdles and need a ride to pick up some groceries.

My Wife loves the fuel efficiency, smooth ride, and predictable handling. FE calculated over two tanks is 27.9mpg and 27.6mpg....which adjusted 15% to account for the speedo diff mismatch is about 23.6 I'll round up to 24 Mostly driving in town with the kids, (often to the parts store) with several short freeway drives. I think that is pretty common for the turbo wagons. My 4spd 240D gets quite a bit better so I use that to commute to work.

While I consider my TD's factory roof-rack more decorative than useful, the car does have wonderful, sturdy rain-gutters - to which I've fitted a slightly modified Thule roof-rack, for hauling 4'x 8' plywood and metal roofing panels.
The last time I checked on a 200-mile trip, this car got about 30 mpg, cruising at 65+ with the AC going. It's a 5-speed Euro version.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

I wish it was a five speed or even a four speed manual, slush boxes give me the willys. I had to carry a borrowed(well stolen untill I talked to the rancher a couple days later) tractor battery 6 miles back up a mountain road in a snow storm to a bronco II with a bad alternator. Manual tranny and I would have roll started it and made it to the gas station, The look on the guys face at the gas station was pretty funny when he saw the huge battery duct taped to the hood

As we say up here:

"Real Men drive automatics. They trust machinery"