Thinking of buying an '83 300SD for son to go to college
 

Hi,
Just joined, first post. Thanks in advance.

I'm thinking of buying an '83 300SD from a friend who inherited it from his father. The car's been parked for over 2 years. Here is what he described to me about the car.

It has about 100K mi & most things (a/c, windows, radio, etc) work. The main problem is the car would start to run rough at about 40 mph & would not go faster than that. He did not say what gear it was in at that speed. He seems to think the fuel line needs to be cleaned out because it's been sitting so long.

I've not seen it yet, but I would like to know what to look for when I go see & test drive it.

I've been reading some of the posts in the forum. Is it possible the car is in the dreaded LIMP HOME mode ? If it is, will there be an indicator on the dash ?

Thx.

The following statement is from the Mercedes W126 wiki:

"The transmission also featured a "limp home mode" in case of electronic failure."

Is there any truth to that, or the transmission is all mechanical (hydraulic) ? Or, maybe that statement only applies to gasoline W126 models.

Thx.

Change the fuel filters and the oil.. That car will run forever.. I have an 84 300sd and its a tank!!

Also do a Valve Adjustment.

I am glad you have had good luck with your SD.

But, I can't entirely agree with the "tank" comment as about 1 and 1/2 years after I bought my 84 300D the Rubber Bushings on the Lower Control Arms rotted out and cause the top of my wheels to tilt inwards and Inner Tire wear. I fixed it and the other suspension parts that needed replacing but my labor was free.

All the suspension parts and other parts that are Rubber and were stressed needed replacement (like the Motor and Transmission Mounts).

Replacing another rubber part/s like the Oil Cooler Hoses sometimes results in the threaded Aluminum Oil Cooler Nipple/s being stripped of some of the their threads. This happened to me on one of the Oil Cooler Nipples, it took out 3 Threads and I did not even feel it as I was using a long 1 1/16 inch combination wrench to loosen them.

Unless the College Kid has some skill with wrenching I believe he is better off with a inexpensive gas Car that inexpensive parts and less expensive Mechanics can fix.

If a person cannot do the Valve Adjustment they have to pay someone.

Then there is simple things like running out of Fuel or changing Fuel Filters. I have read where many people are asking for help on the various Forums as they can not successfully bleed the air out of their system and get their car started after that.

My conclusion is that if you buy an old Mercedes Diesel you need to take a lot of interest in the car and keeping it going and learning how everthing works on it.

Well I just bought an 85 300sd yesterday and got 40.9mpg on a 400 mile highway trip. It has a fuel starvation issue which I will have to address tho. Other than that it drives great but the seats are padded with cement.

I am going to have to agree with forced induction

Well I filled the tank until it was dribbling out over the gas cap, bounced on the bumper to burp the tank and the mileage was by the mile markers and it still came out to 40.9. The second fill up came out to 38 using the same procedure. Who know's.