Yesterday I brought my "new to me" manual 190D home. The car had zero rust and the engine had been rebuilt by a Mercedes dealer a short time before.

The engine ran great. I was surprised that I was cruising 70mph and only pulling 3,000rpm. From what I have read I thought the engine would be working a lot harder.

The problem that I had is that I lost a lot of brake pedal. The pedal would almost go to the floor and then felt like I would hit something hard. The car would stop then. I tried pumping up the breaks before I would stop, but that did not seem to help. When I got home bled the brakes and it did seem like I could pump up the brakes and as long as I maintained pressure the pedal would hold. After letting of the pedal and driving a while the old symptoms would return.

I thought I would try replacing the master cylinder and the cost shocked me. $241 at fast lane. What is the difference between the 83 300D ($85) and the 190D($241). I keep reading about ABS, but I find it hard to believe that a car with manual seats and manual door locks would have ABS.

Are there different versions of the 190D or does my 1984 190D definitely have ABS? Is ABS brakes a lot harder to trouble shoot? What have I got myself into? I love the car. I can run 75 to 80 mph on the freeway with no effort (smooth a silk) and it seems to have decent pickup (better than 40mpg).

I know I got a lot of questions and I guess questions I should have asked before I got the car, but it’s my car now and I’m got to get this 190D working right. This is the most informative site, but I have not hit upon a lot of the 190D stuff. I didn’t figure it would be more complicated than my 83 300D. I think I was wrong.

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83 300D
84 190D