My Dad bought a Champagne on Maroon 87 300E with a bad head gasket that had been babied by the previous owner. The dealership that maintained the car said the engine was seized. None the less, it was the head gasket. My Dad fixed it and it stayed in our family until two years ago along with the rest of the 300E's.

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Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

Note aside, how can someone get away with such a misdiagnosis?

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[GONE] - 1995 Mercedes E300 Diesel - 130k miles - Smoke Silver (702) over Mushroom leather (265) - Bladder blasting, coast-to-coast work machine.

Mine was a 91 560SEL. Great car, cheap to run except fuel.

Wife hit a deer, repaired it. Trans went out about 6 months later due to clogged trans cooling line related to the accident. Sold to a mechanic. He put in another trans and sold it. That trans lasted a few weeks.

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'07 Yukon 2500
'13 Subaru Outback 3.6R
'13 Orbea Carpe 9-speed

Currently Benzless
Formerly: 300TD, S600, E55, 560SEL

---= The forest breathes, listen.
-Native American elder

Well I'm not quite sure. This was before I was born and the story came from my Dad, and well his mind wasn't what it was after the accident. Not sure if the story is "100%".

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Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

Mine was a 77 280E, I wish I had never sold it, it was the greatest car I ever owned. Sold it at 350,000 miles back in the 90's, who ever bought is probably still driving it.

1979 300SD with a blown engine. I got a junkyard motor for it. I sort of stumbled across that car, never having really considered getting a Benz. I enjoyed the hell out of the 300SD, but the rust was getting to it pretty good, so I let it go. That was my introduction to the OM617 motor, the best motor ever put in a car, IMHO.

Mine is in my signature. The W202. My Father stumbled across these cars all cheap with problems where the owners sold them to him for a bargain and he'd work on their other Mercedes for a side job. He stumbled across the '97 C230 with a bad transmission. It was towed into the shop and he rebuilt the transmission, fixed the slow oil leak and other annoyances. Now it drives like a dream. It was garage kept it looks like almost. Now the thing to do is to get a battery in it and new tires. Back up to Sam's Club in a few months.
Also, what should I check on a car that has been sitting for 3 years? Thanks. I know the fluids are all dirty and need to changed, the tires are dry rotted, the battery is bad etc... What else though? Appreciated.

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Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

I'm driving it. I picked it up for $100. It was sitting in a company parking lot, unused, for years so I went in and asked the owner if he wanted to sell. He said, "I don't know. Take it for a ride and let me know what you think." So I did, told him it ran pretty good. He said, "How about $100?" I said, "Sold!" Long story short, I was looking for something to dabble in WVO/SVO/homebrew biodiesel. He bought the TD new for his wife, she drove it for 5 years/100K when it was time for a new TD so it became a shop vehicle. Except nobody wanted to drive it because it was slow, smelly and they had to wait (gasp) that 5-7 seconds for the glow cycle before turning the key. So it sat and sat and sat. It had 106K on it when I bought it 5 years ago (so after his wife was done with it, it had 6K miles put on it over the next 21 years).

Then I found this place, started to learn about these cars, decided I didn't want to subject it to VO and gained an appreciation for vintage Benzes. So much so that when time (read kids move on ) and money (read kids move on ), I'd like to get a nice condition turbo 123 or a 124 to play around with.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

1961 220b. Miss that one even more than I miss my old Dodge pick'em up. And almost as much as I miss my 1961 Rambler Classic Deluxe.

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1961 220b: first project car - sold.
2000 CLK 430: first modern Benz - sold.
2001 CLK 55: OMG the torque!!! - sold
1972 280SE 4.5: Baby Gustav
1991 300TE 4Matic: Gretel the Snow Bunny - sold
1978 300SD: Katz the Free Man - given away
1980 Redhead: Darling Wife

'83 300D. Bought it for $800 in 2005. Still got it.

I started liking diesels several years before that, realized I didn't need or want a 3/4 ton pickup, but I wanted to stay with RWD. FoMoCo wouldn't build me a diesel Crown Vic, so that left options pretty limited.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.

My first Benz was the one in my sig, a used '62, 220sb, stick. I still remember well the instruction of the dealer who was showing me the controls:

[insert thick German accent]

"Ze fuhrst sing you do ven you get in ze cahr iz turn on ze radio.....LOUD!"

ME: "Why, that?"

HIM: "Zis vay you don't hear ze noize from ze air conditioner."

Another laughable memory: A year later the car need a valve job. The labor rate IIRC was about $6.00 an hour.

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62 220sb
67 250S
72 280SE 4.5
74 280C
77 300D
82 240D
85 190E 2.3
86 300E RIP 12/28/09
85 300SD
92 300D 2.5
00 E320 Current
Over 1,000,000 miles in Benzes, Since66

....and a whole passel of BMW 2002 and Tii

1962 190c Great looking ivory body with very rusty floors. navy interior with a large white steering wheel. four on the tree stick.

One of the best investments I ever made automotively.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

89 300e. Bought it with 156k, just hit the 200k mark 5 years later. I have quite possibly spent 10k rebuilding that car. Ill probably spend another 10 on it. I just cant bear the thought of getting rid of that car.

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Eugene

10 E63 AMG
93 300te 4matic
07 BMW X3
14 Ford F-150 Fx2

1982 300SD.

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1984 300SD Orient Red/ Palomino
1989 560SEC
2016 Mazda 6 6 speed manual
1995 Ford F-150 reg cab 4.9 5speed manual

During the early 1980's I was dating wife #1 and her roommate had a late 50's 220S that her grandfather had given her. It had not run in awhile so I asked her could I have a go at getting it going and she said sure. Got it running and drove it from Atlanta to Savannah one week. To folks that are unfamiliar with this route it is interstate all the way and around 250 miles. Man, that jewel drove out good at 80 mph and if I remember correctly returned around 28 mpg IIRC. I was very impressed with my first MB experience to say the least. Unfortunately the wood on the dash was used up pretty well and I was naive enough to go to the Atl MB dealer and inquire on pricing for a new dash. Keep in mind that this was around 1984. I had the opportunity to pick it up for pretty cheap and looking back on it I wish I had.

The first MB I purchased for myself to use as a daily driver was a 1995 E320 that I purchased in 1999 and drove until I sold it to a fella forum member. I had purchased a black 85 300D that I replaced the E320 with.

I am of the opinion that the "feel of the drive" is the same for the older models. Can't really say that with the rack and pinion steering on the newer cars.

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Jim