Ok, first let me apologize for asking newbie questions. I hope that doesn't upset too many. Personally I drive a 2003 VW TDI wagon that I run on BioDiesel and currently and brewing my own (high quality too but this another discussion on infopop). Ok but now the wife wants to get a diesel car and were are looking into old mercedes. So we have been looking at cars in the Greater Los Angeles Area and have found a few we like but I would like to understand a little more that we are getting into.

One car was a 1980 CD with 268k. The transmission was amazing on this car. Interior was on the very decent side. It had been repainted from white and not too well, but not too bad either and the body looked good. AC was cold. The only thing else that bugged me was that it was not a Turbo. So the first question on this car is can a Turbo be put on it and if so, what kind of price in general terms are we talking about?

I will put this here although it is a different car. 1979 300D with and 1982 Turbo diesel engine (172k on the engine) and a rebuilt transmission. The main problem on this car is that the AC does not blow and apparently needs a recharge. My guess is that the thing leaks so basically what I am trying to figure out is what to look out for in AC units and possible costs.

Last, a 1985 Coupe with 275K but a slipping transmission. How much to rebuild such a transmission?

Thanks
Doug

 

1. You can't put a turbo on a non-turbo engine. But you can put a turbo engine in a non-turbo car. Expect the cost to be anywhere from $500-$1,500. depending on the cost of the donor engine and assuming you do the work yourself.

2. A/C costs vary widely depending on the problem. Where/why does it leak?

3. Why is it slipping? It may need a rebuild or only a simple repair. However, it's usually much cheaper just to change it out with a good used transmission.

 

I am debating buying a car that has been in an accident that has/maybe had a good engine or buying a rebuilt one on-line with a warrentee. But there is a list of things that have to be done to validate the warrentee that I am guessing are going to be very expensive. Any thoughts on how much this should run. Whether I should buy the re-built one, the whole car for parts and take that engine (but then I would pay for taking an engine out as well as putting a new one in.) Do you know a good guy that wants to do this work on the west side of LA?

 

Thanks for the quick answer. I just bought a crashed model of my same car to steal it's engine. It is supposed to have a re-built engine 10k miles ago.