I just bought a automatic 1981 240D today for $700. It's not in the worlds best shape but I think that's ok. It doesn't have a right side mirror (which is factory I believe) and the left side mirror has missing glass, which I don't think should be too much of a issue. The gauge cluster is also kind of funky, the needles tend to bounce and the odometer reads 206k. The engine has recently undergone some maintenance with new seals, and the guy I bought it from has receipts from a lot of the work he has done.

The bad is that someone at some point messed with the vacuum hoses and it has caused some issues. The windows are manual and there doesn't seem to be power locks, but the transmission acts weird. It will occasionally shift perfectly fine, and I've gotten it up to what I believe to be top gear (fourth gear?) but the majority of the time it just doesn't want to shift. There is no issue with down shifting, and the down shifts are actually pretty smooth. It's just up shifting that is the issue. Shifting from first to second is no problem, but 2nd to 3rd tends to be unreliable at best. But when it shifts there's a slight jerk but there is no sound, like what I am use to hearing when a car has a bad transmission. There's also that the car seems to be rather sluggish. I believe the issue is caused by improper vacuum routing (the previous owner was kind of guessing based on his newer 300TD station wagon) or just simply old vacuum lines. The vacuum lines are one thing he said he honestly had not replaced.

I'll be uploading photos tomorrow most likely showing some of the vacuum lines specifically. There are lines that just have bolts in the end of them and he said they were like that when he got the car. Thanks for the patience guys, and I look forward to spending a lot of time on this forum trying to get this car up to par!

 

I'll work on that as soon as I can. Thanks for the tip. Currently I just need a vacuum diagram to sort out what the previous owner did to the routing..

 

O.K.;

There's much you need to do , begin by buying at least 20 FEET of the correct sized METRIC vacuum hose and begin replacing any hose you can pull off without needing to twist and pull it .

There are some up under the dashboard too .

It will need a valve adjust done when the engine is STONE COLD and it requires two specially belt 14MM open end wrenches, easy to make if you have access to a welder, they're also sold for about $75 the set, not as good as the home made one though .

If you're handy with tools you'll soon have a sweet running if not vry fast car that will take you anywhere .

I don't know if I have the correct vacuum diagram, it's the same or '82 & '82 models .

Maybe look at the sun valley MB transmission site, they used to have vacuum diagrams because folks always mess with them not knowing what they were doing .

I know a very good indie MB mechanic who's factory trained in N/E Los Angeles, I don't know where you're at .

Yes, it has vacuum central locking but guaranteed at least one vacuum chamber is leaking so just cap off the YELLOW plastic pipes under the hood for now, once you get the tranny shifting & HVAC sorted out i can walk you through the central locking, .

WELCOME TO THE ASYLUM ! .