I just bought a 1993 300sd. It rides and drives great but does have 180,000. My wife drives a clk430 and i came across this and thought it would make a good road car. I have looked threw the forum and there is not much good said about the 3.5 motor. Have i bought the wrong car? It is also a security model so it is bullet proof. I thought this was kind of cool. If you have opinions or sugestions let me know. thanks

 

Known as the "rod bender" and possibly the worst diesel MB made. That said, not all of them went bad. Lots were replaced with crate motors with updated rods. Books and records are im[portant to understand its history. Monitor oil consumption.

The W140 is a great platform, lots of folks have dropped a 3.0L lower end in when they blow.

 

I bought it threw an auction with no records. The motor looks new and very clean. I am going to ck with my local dealer to see what has been done. So as far as you know there were replacement lower ends by the factory? If the rod problem was fixed are there any other known problems? thanks

 

Other than teh weak rods they were fine. Bad rods resulted in ovaled out cyl walls and major oil consumption before complete destruction.

MB repalced longs blocks under warranty and sometimes goodwill.

Check your VIN and note the engine number ti came with. Hopefully the engine number doesnt match........http://old.mbclub.ru/mb/vin/?lng=eng

Again, not ALL of them failed.