Hello!

As I mentioned in another of my posts, a friend of mine decided he wants a diesel Benz to replace his Bronco. He found a nice looking '84 on eBay; however, it's in the Houston area, making for a long trip from California.

So, my question is, is there anyone by chance who'd be able and willing to do an independent inspection on the car before he places a bid?

If anyone would be able to, it would be greatly appreciated. Next thing I need to do is get him registered on the board (he already lurks here).

Thank you very much in advance!!!!!

Thanks for your help warden!! I just registered. As he said ealier i would appreciate any help in getting this car checked out so i can jump on it if its all good!

As he also said, i am replacing my 89 bronco with a 300d. I have really fallen in love with these fabulous cars and i cant wait untill i have one of my own. The one we are looking at happens to be my "dream" color scheme of dark blue exterior on tan interior!! Thanks again and you will definatly see more of me on the board!
-Josh
300dtobe

cant go check it out for you, but i can buy it out from under you!

just joking, dont have any money or i would have bought that 4-speed.

saw it on ebay, looks nice. its out in sealy, i think thats closer to california!

id do it but i got alot of stuff goin on, plus i dont know if im qualified. maybe i can, how many days left?

__________________
1991 300 D 2.5 Turbo, 220k
also in the family:
1981 240 D 185k
1991 350 SD 185k
2006 S 500
2005 SLK 350

NOOOO!! there will be no buying out from under me; please...

But seriously, if you could check it out, it would be awesome. If youre worried about what to do, we could help you out. Id be more that happy to reimburse whatever costs you incur plus some for your time.

Bumpin it,.... would appreciate any help!!

id be happy to help, you dont need to pay me anything, i was just givin you a hard time!

i wouldnt mind doing it, if only for the brief road trip and to drive a benz that looks that good.

i couldnt do it before saturday though, which would cut it a little close to the auction end. but I might have to work though because i theres alot of stuff i need to finish before thanksgiving. i can let you know for sure tomorrow.

__________________
1991 300 D 2.5 Turbo, 220k
also in the family:
1981 240 D 185k
1991 350 SD 185k
2006 S 500
2005 SLK 350

Anything you could do would be excellent!! Feel free to email me with any questions you may have.

yeah, i can do it. ill call the guy tonight and make an appointment. anything specific you want me to check out? normally i could get it up on a lift but i dont know any of the shops out there.

__________________
1991 300 D 2.5 Turbo, 220k
also in the family:
1981 240 D 185k
1991 350 SD 185k
2006 S 500
2005 SLK 350

Ideally, Id like to do a compression check on the car. I dont know any garages in sealy, so if you dont have the tools or expertise to do one on site, a good test drive and thorough visual inspection would be all i need. On the test drive, look for excessive smoke, listen for grinding or clunking noises in suspension, and feel how the tranny is shifting.
And again, thank you so much for offering to do this. Id feel so much better shelling out the cash to go out there if someone like you got to check it out first.

no problem

ive heard that you can check to see if the compression is bad by parking on an incline with the car turned off and in gear, and if it rolls, the compression is bad. never tried this, but i saw it a while back on this forum.

does it work?

__________________
1991 300 D 2.5 Turbo, 220k
also in the family:
1981 240 D 185k
1991 350 SD 185k
2006 S 500
2005 SLK 350

ive actually never heard of that method for checking the compression. Were you able to arrange a time with
Jimmy?

Josh

I would venture to guess that that would only work with a manual transmission; with an auto, the torque converter would slip.

Another cheap way to test for low compression is, with the engine idling, slowly push the stop lever in (towards the valve cover; as if you were shutting the engine down, but slowly). The RPMs will slowly drop. When the RPM's are really low, if the engine still sounds to be firing evenly, the compression's okay.

Also, it you pull the crankcase breather hose from the valve cover and plug the nipple on the valve cover, the engine will eventually die. This isn't a good thing to check more than a couple of times (doing this builds up crankcase pressure, and can shorten the life of various seals), but doing this builds up crankcase pressure on a diapharam in the injector pump. What I was told was that if you plug the nipple and the engine takes more than 10 seconds to die, it's in acceptable condition. Any less than 10 seconds, and there's more blow-by than there should be.

Again, that's a quick-and-dirty test, but it's a fair indication if the car's worth the trouble to go out there for. I would still try to get a compression check done before buying the car.

Hope that helps some...good luck!

i e-mailed the guy, waiting for a response.

i wouldnt know how to go about getting the compression checked while out on a test drive, but ill definately try one of those other quick tests. let me know if theres anything else youd like me to check.

__________________
1991 300 D 2.5 Turbo, 220k
also in the family:
1981 240 D 185k
1991 350 SD 185k
2006 S 500
2005 SLK 350

Just let me know when youll be going out there. If you wish you can email me with your number (or ill give you mine) so we can discuss what you find.
THANK YOU!!!!
Josh