I don't drive a 123 any more although there are still some on the place that I've pretty much used up. If they were all I had to get around in I would have them back on the road and in condition to depend on.

I drove my 240D up to 453,000 miles with incredible reliability. I was in a job at the time in which I absolutely had to be in a customers location and absolutely when I told them I would be there.

It was typical for me to get in that car in the morning and see the sun come up several hundred miles from home and keep driving awhile after that. Even when it was at the 450,000 mile mark I could not have had more confidence in a brand new car.

My son took it at 453,000 miles and drove it with no problem until he went to college. I then ressurected it as a daily driver and finally had some serious problems at about 510,000 miles, but hey, over half million miles I think it earned the right to be set out to pasture. Even then I put in an interim engine and took it to 523,000 or so. I'm hoping that once I finish my shop I can put it back on the road just because she's like an old friend.

As with ANY car though, you must maintain it and keep an eye on it. Listen for things that don't sound right, feel for things that don't feel right and look for things that don't look right.

When you change the oil, look around underneath to see what might be falling off. Pull and pry on things to see what might be loose.

If you do this, regardless of what kind of car you drive, you will multiply the reliability factor greatly.

Best of luck,

Thanks for all the great replies. This is what I hoped to hear, frankly, after all the reading I've done on here. I just needed a little reassurance, because I made the mistake of letting my wife pick up the car from the shop that did the inspection. She got a little scared off when the mechanic started wagging his finger at her about how old the car is and said "your husband better get his pencil out" to start tallying up the costs if I wanted to keep the thing running after so many years.

But I think the mechanic had a bias against something this old, and maybe was just trying to give her a worst-case scenario, guessing we can't repair our own cars. Well, I've been doing my own car maintenance for over 20 years, and I won't let a mechanic touch anything I own unless there is no other option. This car is solid as a tank, as the inspection proved, it just needs to have some routine maintenance and some wear items fixed. We both love the classic looks of the car, and the solid feel it still has after 23 years on the road is truly amazing.

By way of comparison, I just gutted and rebuilt an '83 Chevy Malibu wagon, and after fewer years and less miles, that car was a basket case compared to this 300TD.

I feel a lot better now!

My '80 300TD is a nearly daily driver since I got it last October. The odometer died at 277,000; I don't know when that was. Someday I'll fix it according to advice I've read here. On May 1, I added 5 gallons of filtered fryer oil to the tank 3/4 full of #2 diesel, 5 more this morning. So far the only thing I've noticed is a better smell, not like French fries but kind of a cooked oil smell. I plan to keep adding WVO and no more dino until something happens that I don't like, maybe hard starting when cold. It gets real cold here at night, maybe even down to 50 F... I inspected one injector before the WVO. It had just a light coat of carbon on the face, easily scraped off with a fingernail. I took pictures for comparison later. Probably someday I'll put in a heating system; I've been researching this for some time and decided to start by blending. I'll post results here.

The thing about these diesels is that once they are on the road and running, they just don't seem to want to stop. Just walked in the door from a 200 mile trip in my '87 SDL. Just like every other time I drive that car, I come away thinking that there just cannot be a better highway car built. At 75 to 80 mph it is just getting started and I feel ( and have done it) that it just wants to run all day.

Even with over 230K miles, I trust this car more than my wifes 3 year old van.

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Alan Hamm
'87 300SDL 277K Miles
'89 560 SL 68K Miles

Can a 23-yo Benz diesel be a reliable daily driver?
My newest Benz is 20 yeas old and my oldest 29 so yes! Properly maintained, of course.

Would you use it to take the family on a weeklong driving vacation?
Have to, they're the only cars I own.

Would you feel comfortable having your wife take it on a weekend trip alone to visit friends?
SWMBO's 300D ride is reliable as the sunrise. It is my job to keep it that way too. Additionally, my daughter is away at school with the oldest in the fleet, a '75 model 240D.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

I have a 83 240D which I purchased a year ago and have since fallen in love with this vehicle. I currently have driven the car for 27,000 reliable miles so far and would not hesitate to drive it across the country.

My God are we married to twin's???

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'10 Chrysler T&C Stow-N-Go White. Grandpa's ride.

'13 Chrysler 200 Touring Candy Red. Grandma's ride.

Age and cunning will always over come youth and vigor.

My 80 300CD takes me 75 miles one way to work. I've hopped in it and gone to see my folks in Arizona many times, about 700 miles , one way. Air still works, cruise control is iffy.

If I want to spoil my self I hop into my 81 300SD. Everything works in it.

Right now the CD is in the body shop. Second time it's been rear ended. Second time the insurance totaled it. Second time I bought it back. This time the rear glass is coming out for a new seal. Phil said he'd drop ship it to th body shop tomorrow or by Friday at the latest (way cheaper than MB...and it is a REAL MB part, no tax and no shipping....BEAT THAT!).

These things are the best kept secret yet!

Ernie

The w123 is one of the best built and longest running MBs.

Mine (1983 300CD) has 485,000+ miles on the original engine. 28k miles a year since new, I am the second owner.

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Current Stable:
1994 S500 v140, 210k miles, white with grey.

Former Mercedes in the Stable:
1983 300CD Turbo diesel 515k mi sold (rumor has it, that it has 750k miles on it now)
1984 300CD Turbo Diesel 150 k mi sold
1982 300D Turbo Diesel 225 sold
1987 300D Turbo Diesel 255k mi sold
1988 300 CE AMG Hammer 15k mi sold
1986 "300E" Amg Hammer 88k mi sold (it was really a 200, not even an E (124.020)
1992 500E 156k mi sold
etc.

I drive my '85 300D on a daily basis and I have learned to love this car. I was a bit impatient with its few problems that it had in the past but it was because I was a fool and didn't know how to fix them right. Its only been out of commission because of my inexperience with M-B diesels and even then it was never more than a day. With the patient help from the forum members I've got it running like a Swiss watch now. I hardly ever turn on the stereo any more. I enjoy listening to the engine so much now when I drive now that it's music to my ears.
One thing though, I'm not sure if I would take it on a long distance trip because the seats are just too uncomfortable and the cruise is dead. Maybe if I got some good sheepskin covers and a got CC amp then I would go for it.

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

Yes

Yes

and Yes

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Mr Goodfahrt (pronounced FAIRT... means "good trip" in German)

1982 300D Turbo Pastel Gray (off-white) 200k+(?)
newbie but willing

Yes, My wife's '82 300D (non-turbo) has recently had a younger motor, not because of the blow-by, which that motor had, but because she knows that the motor she now has puts out a good 10HP more than the old motor. (it is a "one in a million" motor. The mechanic (mercedes specialist) for the first owner could not explain why this 300D outperformed all other 300Ds - he even bought it off the 1st owner)
The only things that have stopped the car are fuel filter problems, and tank screen problems.
I have a CLEAN tank out of a W123 gasser to drop in, when the tank gets low - probably this weekend.

My '84 300D (non-turbo) has been running on biodiesel for 3 years and has had all of the crud cleared out of the tank by the PO.
I needed to replace the Left fronmt ball joint recently, came to light as tyre wear, when I bought the car.
I use it as my weekend car, as I am required to drive a company car during the week.
I would drive either of these, or the '80 300D across Australia and back, should I wish to go East on holiday again.

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Tony from West Oz.
Fatmobile 3 84 300D 295kkm Silver grey/Blue int. 2 tank WVO - Recipient of TurboDesel engine.
Josephine '82 300D 390kkm White/Palamino int.
Elizabeth '81 280E, sporting a '79 300D engine.
Lucille '87 W124 300D non-turbo 6 cylinder OM603, Pearl Grey with light grey interior


Various parts cars including 280E, 230C & 300D in various states of disassembly.

Yup, out of 2 cars (73 280SEL 4.5 and 84 300TD) the 123 is the daily driver. It has been from VA to NH, VA to Little Rock, I have put about 45k on it in the less than 2 years I've owned it.

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94 E320
71 350SL

My 83 300TD has 189,000. I got at 179,000. I use it as a daily driver with no problems. I feel safe in it because I am. I have no problem letting my wife drive it. Some days she prefers it over her Camry. I'd take it cross country in a heartbeat. NJ to FL, no problem. I even hauled a new swingset for the kids. With it's long roof, a pickup truck would have been the only other thing to do the job.
The only thing I would suggest is to make sure whoever drives it besides yourself is properly trained in it's operation, re: glowplugs before starting, buying diesel, how they accelerate differently from most cars, using the lower gears at low speeds, even in an automatic for longer life, the fact that the car is heavier and longer stopping distance...the fact that the headlights don't go off automatically :p

I've heard many stories of stereotypical wives taking out these cars for a quick errand and doing some damage because they weren't told about certain things.
I.E.

"I kept turning the key and pumping the "gas" ,but it wouldn't start!"

Nothing against stereotypical wives, mind you. I have one myself and love her deeply. Couldn't imagine life without her. But, I still don't want her to ruin my car.

If the car sounds good, looks good, and has been checked out by an MB indy mechanic, I say go for it. Between a good car to start out with and this forum, you'll be set!

Besides, our old 300TD wagons are head turners.

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85' 300D No inspection, No registration fees, Cheap insurance
"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're going to see some serious %$&^."

The '83 240D auto for over ten years, the 300CD my woman drives daily, and the "new" '81 240D manual is now in daily rotation. The nicest, most reliable cars money can buy. My life goal has become to own more diesels than the Union Pacific.

The CD has been the only problem child...figured out that clouds of smoke on startup / acceleration are from the fact that my "sweetie" drives it only 10 miles a day, and soot builds up in the turbo if the thing isn't given its legs now and again.

No problem with these cars for 10 mile daily commutes, errands, or thrice weekly 100 mile round trips to Baltimore. From the number I see daily in the Washington DC suburbs, a lot of other people have no problem with these cars as daily drivers either.