FS - 1985 300TD euro in central PA - $2000 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

pizzachef · #1 07-13-2013, 12:33 PM

After long consideration, I'm putting my 300TD up for sale. We've got a new baby, and there isn't enough time to keep up with the maintenance. Also, I've done a lot of work to the old wagon for the 6 years that I've owned it, and I don't have a garage. And that's getting old. I realize the responsible thing would be to buy a house with a garage so I can care for the benz properly, but that's not in the cards right now

So on to the car...its got 352,000 miles on the odometer and runs great. I bought it with 295k, converted it to run VO, and ran it that way for about 3 years on road trips. Around town trips were never long enough to switch from diesel. I got tired of spending my weekends filtering oil, and cleaning up spills in the basement, and changing fuel filters on the side of the road in the snow, so I removed the VO conversion. I pulled the injectors to clean them and possibly swap them out for rebuilt injectors (if necessary), but they looked brand new. So I put them back in and the engine still runs like a champ.

The car is a european model, so it has the small bumpers, power windows in the front and crank in the back, and other weird things. The headlights must have been swapped for US spec ones when it was imported.
Just renewed PA inspection last month.

Compression - I have not measured it, but on a cold winter morning, it starts pretty easily after glowing.

Oil - I've run Rotella since owning it, and the last two years I put Synthetic Rotella because I didn't drive it much. No big leaks, but it does have a drip here or there.

Rust - No grossly, body-parts-replacing rust yet. But it does have a small spot here and there. The rear hatch was replaced when I was rear-ended just after buying the car, and it has the worst rust. Still not huge, it could probably be arrested but the rear window would need to be removed to do it right. Might be easier to find a whole new hatch in a few years when this one starts to get beyond repair.
UPDATE - after giving the car a good walk-around, I noticed some rust on the drivers door near the bottom is bubbling out a little more than I remembered. You can see it in the first pic.

Body Leaks - No water ingress in the passenger area, but the rear cargo area gets wet when it rains hard. The replacement rear hatch never did seal just right after I installed it. There are slotted holes in the strut brackets and I played with sliding it back and forth in the slots to adjust the sealing, but it still leaks. A new hatch seal might work.

Brakes are good, replaced about two years ago and not driven much since then. It has ABS, but the mechanic had to use heat to remove the old rotors and it ruined one of the wheel sensors, so now the ABS light is on. A new wheel sensor will make the ABS work correctly.

Some of the "enhancements" I've done:
-Installed fast-glow plugs when I first bought the car, and the new style relay that keeps them glowing for 30 secs.

-E-code 7" round headlight housings (for H4 bulbs) from rallylights. They're WAY better than the sealed beams.

-Boost pressure gauge, voltage gauge, and a spot for a third gauge.

-New cruise control amp (CC works)

-Replaced vacuum fittings, vacuum locks work (except front passenger door actuator hangs up and doesn't fully lock/unlock). The rest work (even the fuel door)

-Keyless doorlocks (solenoid on the drivers door).

-Put in ES-12 (Envirosafe) refrigerant and the AC works okay. There is a leak somewhere and it looses refrigerant over time. I didn't top it off at the beginning of this summer, so it only blows luke-cold currently, but I have several cans of ES-12. Its compatible with R-12, so if you wanted to suck it out and fix the leak, you could put R-12 back in.

-Front seat covers (original driver's seat has a tear in the base, passenger is ok, just faded.

-Comes with a set of 4 tires on steel wheels. One of the tires has an egg from hitting a bad pothole and needs to be replaced. Have only 3 chrome benz hubcaps and only 2 of them are painted to match the car (the third has no paint, all chrome).

I'll add more if I think of any.
To contact me, please email me through the forum email system. I don't check PM's everyday, so email is better.

pizzachef · #2 07-23-2013, 10:11 AM

Wasn't getting much interest here, so its on craigslist now.
1985 Mercedes 300TD Wagon euro

AwfulMechanic · #3 07-28-2013, 03:57 AM

Extremely well written post man.

pizzachef · #4 07-31-2013, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AwfulMechanic

Extremely well written post man.

Thanks! Hasn't enticed a buyer yet though

NCfriend · #5 08-01-2013, 07:05 PM

So being a euro, is the engine NA or turbo? I have seen both on this model.
Any idea what differential gear ratio would be?

Detailed pics on the rust, true front seats and some engine shots always help.
Pic of these winter steel wheels

How is the front end suspension, SLS rear and steering play?
List any major services and fluid flushes.

Just sharing my thoughts and hope to help you sale; if someone else buys soon, then I will no longer be tempted!
This should have already sold

And for those of us with "unique interests", do you still have the VO kit to include?

pizzachef · #6 08-06-2013, 10:12 AM

Its a turbo, and I thought I had posted a picture of the engine bay, but I guess I missed it. I don't really know what the diff. ratio is, and I don't have a working tach to try to figure it out. The dash originally had just the large clock, and it quit working. I replaced the electrical bit to fix it and that only worked for a short time, so I installed a clock/tach but never could get the tach working. I have a new pickup/sensor but I can't get to the screw that holds on the old one, so I never got to install it.

Good point on pics of the rust spots, that should be shown. The front and rear suspensions are in good working order, and the SLS works. I've had about 50 gallons of VO in the back and the car didn't sag.

The steering play does not seem excessive, but its not what I would call tight. I don't have another car to compare with though. My mechanic tightened up the steering box a little, but he said you should only do that once.

Thanks for the input, I'll get some more pics posted and some service history details.

Oh, and I sold the VO parts a while ago when I removed them. Those are very popular! It was a frybrid kit.

pizzachef · #7 08-11-2013, 01:48 PM

As promised, some close up pics of the rusty areas. I've also included some of the underside to show the fairly good condition under the passenger compartment.

Driver's side rear jack point

Driver's side front jack point

Driver's Door

Passenger side front jack point

Passenger side rear jack point

Passenger side

Drivers side