Hello all, I finally think/thought I found a TD I want to buy! Let me say right off the bat, its the first MB TD I''ve ever driven. Its a 84 300D, 136K on it, all original, one owner car from Florida. No rot, one small spot of scale rust on the driver''s door starting to come through a bit. All original paint and never been in an accident. All the power windows and doors work, the sun roof works, as he just replaced some of the faulty vacuum pieces. The car also has new brake lines and a new master cylinder. The underside of the car from what I''ve seen from lying on the ground is rediculously clean. The guy who owns it is the son of the original owner who passed away. He has every piece of paper that ever came with the car, including the original bill of sale. Sounds perfect, right?

Here''s a catch, or at least I think so:

The "guy" is a used car dealer. That makes me nervous enough. When I first started the car, the first thing I did was check for blow by. When I took off the oil fill cap, the blow by was very similar to this video. Almost non existant, perhaps a tiny wisp of smoke, almost undectable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4puPoZpdJQA

I then took the car down the road and onto the highway. The thing stops and rides pretty amazing, given its age. It accelerated nicely, although I had to put the peddle down 3/4 to the floor for it to really "get up" (remember, its the first one I''ve driven, so that may be normal?) . It cruises along nicely at 70-75 with no problems that I saw/felt. Temp was good, oil pressure was pegged at 30 every time I got on the gas.

Once I came back to the lot, I again popped the hood and removed the oil fill to check for blow by. It wasn''t quite as bad as this video, but it was definitley noticable.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEwqp...eature=related


I''m a little confused, as I would think that it should smoke more when the engine was cold and the pistons and rings weren''t fully expanded/sealed than when it was hot. The owner claims that''s from the car sitting, and will "go away" in a couple of days of driving. While I don''t know much at all about turbo diesels, I do know a bad ring seal is a bad ring seal and shouldn''t "fix itself". The car didin''t smoke out the exhaust when it was started or running. At least not anything abnormal from other diesels I''ve seen.


What do you guys think is the issue? The guy says he''ll warranty the engine and trans, as he''s personally driven the car to Florida twice (has 80K on it when he got it). He also claims I can take the car anywhere I want to look at it (or he''ll put it up on his lift) to check it out. I was skeptical, so I walked away for now. I started a new job and don''t have hardly any time to get the car to my mechanic to do a compression test on it, but I don''t want to get burned if it could be something major either.


What does the peanut gallery think?

 

Blowby can depend on a variety of issues like the quality of oil being used and valve adjustments. If the car is well cared for, buy it and if you take excellent care of it, it will last forever.

 

Its a one-owner car, yet the used car dealer has put 56K on it since he had acquired it? How long has it been on the lot?

 

No idea...


Not sure what you're getting at.

 

Hard to say. On Ebay I have seen 30 year old cars that looked pristine and others that are really trashy. The history of the car and the condition will tell you what to expect.

 

What is the asking price? I wouldn't go by any amount of smoke that comes out of the oil cap. Smoke coming out the tail pipe is what you have to worry about and you said it doesn't smoke there. Sounds good to me. an 84 300D is the 617 engine with a turbo, You have to mash the throttle to get them to move, once the turbo kicks in then it really goes (around 3,000 rpms). You're not going to go much faster than 80mph but top speed is not the allure of these cars. They have a classic timeless look, they last forever, and it's a huge heavy comfortable safe car that gets around 30mpg. There is no down side to that.
The big thing to check is the rear control arms where the shocks and springs mount. Check for rust, if those are solid and the engine runs good and trans shifts good, then I'll buy it if you don't.
I've owned 4 W123 chassis MB diesels and I want more. My 300SD (same engine in a W126 chassis) has 395,000 miles on it and is still going strong. So what's the catch?????

 

That catch is once I rode in a SD, the D's look and feel like dooky....


Bought a 1987 SDL last weekend (picking it up today) for $3000 with 5 boxes of spare parts from a donor SDL. Rebuilt front end, Four new tires (plus 2 snow tires on different wheels). NO blowby, slight, and I do mean slight, smoke on start up (much better than blowby, btw) and it runs like a top.


Better car, same price. Can't beat it with a stick.

 

Well goodluck with your new car. Glad to see another Benz diesel stay on the road.

 

Take it to a Mercedes dealer or Mercedes-trained independent mechanic for a pre-purchase inspection (PPI). Probably more experience with cars these old at the latter.

 

Post pics of the new ride. Congrats.