What to look for?
03-01-2006, 04:56 PM
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What to look for?
I'm considering getting an older model MB Diesel and I want to know what to look for. I'm thinking early to mid 80s S-Class. I'm just beginning my research.
Thanks for any input you have.
Thanks for any input you have.
03-01-2006, 05:42 PM
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1987 300SDL aka the "Money Pit"
If you are looking for a diesel MB head over to Mercedesshop.com and click on the diesel forum. Do a couple of search's and sit back for a few hours worth of reading.
To boil it down without typing several pages, look for one in the best condition. Maintaince history and condition are everything at this point in the game. 90% of the W126's left are rolling junk ready to be crushed in a couple of years. You need to take your time and find a good example.
Also if you don't plan on doing a large majority of the repairs and maintaince work yourself I'd look for a newer model. These are old cars and you can rack up bills really fast going to a shop for every little thing. If you do everything yourself figure about $2k+/- a year to keep one in good shape. For a shop figure $300-$400 a month +/-.
Any perspective car have a shop that knows them well do a PPI. They will give you a good third party point of view. Take a 300SDL for example I looked at a few weeks back. Within 20 minutes I found about $2k+ worth of stuff it needed. To someone who knows nothing about these cars it ran and drove pretty good.
If you want an S class diesel from the 80's you are limited to the W116 or the W126. W116's are very cool cars but rusted like crazy. I'd only consider one from a dry state like TX or CA. I think 1980 was the last year for them. From 81-85 you had the 300SD. From 86-87 MB imported the SDL. And at the end of the W126 production run you got the 350SD/L in 90-91.
All of these cars have their good and bad points and all of them are fine over the road cars. If you are on a budget think 300SD.
To boil it down without typing several pages, look for one in the best condition. Maintaince history and condition are everything at this point in the game. 90% of the W126's left are rolling junk ready to be crushed in a couple of years. You need to take your time and find a good example.
Also if you don't plan on doing a large majority of the repairs and maintaince work yourself I'd look for a newer model. These are old cars and you can rack up bills really fast going to a shop for every little thing. If you do everything yourself figure about $2k+/- a year to keep one in good shape. For a shop figure $300-$400 a month +/-.
Any perspective car have a shop that knows them well do a PPI. They will give you a good third party point of view. Take a 300SDL for example I looked at a few weeks back. Within 20 minutes I found about $2k+ worth of stuff it needed. To someone who knows nothing about these cars it ran and drove pretty good.
If you want an S class diesel from the 80's you are limited to the W116 or the W126. W116's are very cool cars but rusted like crazy. I'd only consider one from a dry state like TX or CA. I think 1980 was the last year for them. From 81-85 you had the 300SD. From 86-87 MB imported the SDL. And at the end of the W126 production run you got the 350SD/L in 90-91.
All of these cars have their good and bad points and all of them are fine over the road cars. If you are on a budget think 300SD.
