Guess what I'm going to look at today
 

A 1995 E300D. 40,000 miles to be sold by daughter whose mom recently died.

Does the diesel have the same wiring harness issues as my late, lamented E320?

Yes. For a 40k mile E300D, you need to look for issues related to stagnation. You'll need fluids changed, tires, etc. Also, the big three on the w124 is the wiring harness, transmission failure before 150k, and evaporator leaks.

Crap. The wiring harness is what killed my last one. I'm familiar with the awful expense of the evaporator. Transmission failure is that the valve issue I dimly recall reading about? Upgrade the valve and no problem, valve fails and you're screwed.

Bot, it sounds like it would be a good deal if they offer to pay you a couple thousand to haul it off. That should cover one or two of those potential problems.

They sure do LOOK good, though!

I would LOVE to have a properly-sorted W124 diesel - what an awesome combination of handling, fuel economy, and style!

Another thing you can put in your "box of fears" is that the engines in those cars CAN have problems with glow plugs that get stuck badly enough that one or more snap off when removal is attempted. It doesn't bite everybody, but it can be miserable when it happens.

Some owners recommend additional preventive maintenance to avoid this; you can read all about it on the Diesel Discussion if you buy the car.

I don't know what they're actually getting for them, but I see a lot of pretty stout asking prices for low-mile examples of that model.

How much B? from my shopping experience proper 1995 diesels sell for more than early w210's.

We had to replace the harness on my wifes 95 300D. We bought it with 61k on it and it now has 93k or so. Other than that no issues.

What is this valve on the trans that was mentioned?

With only 40k on it, the only issues would be related to under use.

Once those are sorted, it would be like starting out with an 8 month old German taxicab, with miles that low on it.

It is probably worth the gamble if it checks out and is not a victim of rust or a refugee from some freeway pileup, if the price is reasonable (and prices are VERY robust for MB diesels like this one.

The W124 is the last of the E class cars with unarguable QC and build quality

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong here, but my understanding of the wiring harness problem is that it is related to the M104 and M120 (which is just two M104s joined at the crank in a V) engines. I didn't think it was found on other engines.

Not sure if it is a recurring problem in the 124s but my wifes went out because there was a short somewhere that if the car got wet by rain or car wash, the A/C would cut out till it dried out a bit. The harness was replaced over a year ago and we have not had a problem with the A/C or anything else since.

buy it.. then you can post more in Diesel Discussion thus insuring your post count will be above Hatty's

Asking $9K. I think that's firm as the owner is in no hurry to sell. Mom -> nursing home with Alzheimer. Daughter likes her 240D and is selling Mom's E300. Mileage is actually 38.7K.

Buy it if you don't mind putting a couple grand into it at first, it's probably needing some stuff that will show up once you start regularly driving the poor thing.

I agreed to buy it. Clever me, I'm buying while the market is in free-fall.

Per advise, I'm going to change all fluids & filters on purchase. I looked at all of the hoses & connections I could see and saw no indication of leakage, so i don't think it has any other issues. Also, the wiring harness is pliable, not flakey. I checked eBay and a couple of online car places and i couldn't find a car with similar mileage. But the lowest mileage cars were in the 80K range and were asking over $11K.

Shoot, looks like I could turn-around and sell it at a profit without even putting it in the shop.

B