The car runs fine, has good power and does not blow smoke.
Mine is a 96 nonturbo E300

He wants to do it himself.



I am inclined to say give me a deposit for the full purchase price of the car I am inclined to say give me a deposit for the full purchase price of the car

Split the cost with a shop you're comfortable with. You don't want a random hooha breaking it, but it also shows he cares.

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$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

Find another buyer

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CENSORED due to not family friendly words

You would be advised to get in writing what he considers an acceptable threshold of suitability and the details of the process he intends to undertake. More than a few "experts" think that a compression test done at something other than operating temp is as valid as one done according to the official MB procedure. Letting someone fool with you car without knowing what criteria they will use is a shot in the dark. He may not know what he's looking for, he may not know how to find what he's looking for and he may screw something up in that process as well leaving you holding the bag and engaged in a dispute over all that.

Better to find a third party that you can both agree upon and then figure out how to assign the cost of doing that.

Wouldn't let anyone I don't know do it themselves. You might want to know on your own, I'd probably do it before putting one up for sale, so I could include the information in the listing. Then if someone doesn't believe my numbers and wants to do their own, I'd probably avoid them as a buyer, chances are it would be just the beginning of "issues" with that buyer if they did buy the car.

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1983 W123 300TD US spec Turbo engine, with Euro bumpers and manual climate control, and manual transmission.

Indeed. I'll tell him if he wants to pay for one at the local Mercedes shop I'll bring it.
But if it comes back bad I wouldn't be able to sell it to someone and lie about it.
Sounds like I'm a softy, but I just hate the idea of screwing somebody

I never let someone wrench. Drive yes. External measurement yes. Move on. There are more people that have money.

A friend in college used to sell cars. He'd schedule several and hold all but the 1st person off to the side. Competition took over and he got his proce.

That's a weird one - and I have to assume you are not asking $32K for it and its probably a few grand. So we are going to pull the intake off and go through all that? If its a "smalls" price car he needs to make his best guesses on his risks or move on.
Now on the other side if you allow him to do it give him all the soft lines and new gray return hoses and a heat exchanger to put on while he is in there

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BENZ THERE DONE THAThttp://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...c/progress.gif
15 VW Passat TDI
00 E420
98 E300 DT
97 E420 Donor Car - NEED PARTS? PM ME!
97 S500
97 E300D
86 Holden Jackaroo Turbo D
86 300SDL
(o\|/o)

As already stated, the preferred way to deal with this is having a competent garage perform a PPI at his cost, and agreement up front that if he wants to use the results of the PPI to negotiate a lower price, he needs to provide you a copy.

Agree with this plus more, if you agree with him doing the work himself. He'll need to purchase all the materials (replace all the return line hoses and injector heat shields and any other one-time-use items, and be prepared to replace any aged fuel lines or o-rings that leak after the work) and provide all the tools (special socket for the injectors, torque wrench, etc. etc.) in addition to the written procedure he'll use.

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Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC

^ Yep, this exactly. Don't let some random dude start wrenching on your car. He strips or breaks something, and its YOUR problem now.

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1998 E300 turbodiesel

America's Rights and Freedoms Are Not The Enemy!

Tell him to shove it where the sun don't shine. If he cares that much have him pay the MB shop do it themselves and if anything breaks upon removal, he has to pay for it. Have at least $500 in hand when it goes to the shop.

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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

The PPI at his cost 100%, then no matter the results, say the price just doubled, had no idea the engine was that good.