Oh man, somebody talk me out of this car. I like the color and wheels combo, but there might be some trouble here:



https://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/cto/d/1984-mercedes-300sd-turbo/6243693455.html

I have a rule on Craigslist: I don't lowball unless the ad has been up a long time. This one says 'about a month', I think it's been two. He might take 9.

I could use an SD for a daily driver. Save my SDL for more special action.

He shares this info:

Does the 617 have a delivery valve thing like the 603?

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

no,leaky delivery valve thing,however you have to adjust rockers arms under cover.Sounds like it has some fuel leaks somewhere.find out mileage,seen one for sale with 599,000 miles.

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran

It is cause for major pause. Anytime someone says that the odometer is broken but these old diesels go forever, I really should put on the welders glasses and walk away.

On the other hand, demand for these is down so the fact that it hasn't sold may or may not be all that significant. People see some issues that they don't know how to handle and they don't consider it.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

That car was for sale before I put my SD for sale and I thought it took a long time to sell my SD (asked $1800, sold for $1200). It might be a good deal for half the asking price. $500 without working AC.

Sixto
98 E320s sedan and wagon

Would be interesting to drive it to get a feel for how it feels on the international seat of the pants miles left on this thing scale.

I'm tempted to email him and ask what the odo reads. If it was a busted odo and read 420K, ruh-roh.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

His excuse for the hard starting issue most likely is a lack of compression. You get what you pay for, and if you pay $900 you will probably have a hell of a time fixing everything that was neglected. It's a gamble, bring a compression tester kit and go from there. If the compression reads okay, then it sounds like you could very well have a daily driver.

That's a good call and I should know that. I bought an old Volvo station wagon back when they were cute, a '68 122. Actually, I traded a van for it, this in the late 80s. The lady was hot and the car was giving her trouble, she had two kids, the van ran fairly well, for some reason I though it was a good idea.

It had difficulty starting, the easiest way by far was rolling it down a hill. But with the starter was way tough. I eventually checked the compression, was not good.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

If air leaked in the injector lines, you would surely see fuel leaking when running. Air leaking into the suction side of the lift pump (where little plastic filter sits and hoses & tubing upstream) is common, and also easy to fix, so why hasn't he/she? But that usually causes rough idling all the time. If it has trouble starting in the summer, it probably won't in the winter. But real easy to check for bad compression from rings. While idling, take off the oil fill cap and see how much puffing from the valve cover. Judge against youtube videos. A little is normal, but if it aggressively moves a tissue paper around, the engine is likely shot. If OK, then perhaps it just needs a simple valve adjustment to restore compression.

A failing clear-coat in Sacramento is common in a 1984. Less common in Santa Rosa unless it has been parked in full sun all the time. You can probably find a better candidate for $1500 in the Bay Area. If you can talk down to <$1000 it is probably worth the risk, but most of these "million-mile" claimers think they are sitting on a silver mine.

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1984 & 1985 CA 300D's
1964 & 65 Mopar's - Valiant, Dart, Newport
1996 & 2002 Chrysler minivans

I had a similar thought, that if the owner wanted to move the vehicle at a decent price he'd have fixed it by now, were it fixable with any ease. Who knows, I have reason to be in nearby Petaluma before too long, I might take a look to satisfy my curiosity.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

I dunno, I might be delusional, but the same way I like the E30 more than subsequent 3 series Bimmers, I also like the 126 more than most of the more modern Benzes I've driven. The issue before me is should I somehow put a 606 turbo into a 300SD chassis, totally renew the front end, etc? It's major work and I don't have Jay Leno garage type capacity.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K