Just bought an old 300SD from a Benz enthusiast (she just got a 2 year old S550, and owns a '69 220D that still starts on the first turn). It was her daily car had 277k miles on it, but was taken routinely to get oil done, and whenever the car squeaked to one of the better mechanics in the area for over 15 years. She couldn't take care of 7 cars with the purchase of the new S550, I paid $2500 for it. Replaced air filter mounts (2 were shorn in half...) and vacuum valve levers, because it jerks out of first. That didn't totally solve the problem but I still love it. The alternator died, and I replaced that. My next move is valve adjustment, diesel purge and injector-return line replacement, and perhaps fuel nozzle replacement. This winter I'm going to replace the timing chain.
It recently(as in today) started leaking oil fairly badly from the oil cooler hoses. I know this is a very expensive repair, and I'm really not sure I can do it myself...question is do you think I can, and is it worth it to stop this leak? Today It left about a <10" diameter puddle after sitting for 4 hours.
Also the engine coolant was absolutely disgusting...I changed it today (I had a very tight budget when purchasing the car) It was really dark and dirty...didn't appear to have oil in it...or feel like it when I stuck my hand in it was a uniform feel. I noticed today though after putting new coolant in (I didn't do a full flush for fear of creating too free a flow too quickly for the parts that were used to working hard...) that my turbo seems to work better now. I'm guessing this is because the turbo uses some of the coolant to cool down the air going to the engine if I recall correctly. So I'm more than pleased with that.
Love the forums been searching and reading through them since I started looking for an old diesel back in March. I think I got lucky with this one. Has some bad rust spots, on the bottom, but the whole interior was just redone within the past year, and the A/C compressor was just recently replaced, and the brake booster was replaced as well so most of the expensive repairs are done except for the looming transmission rebuild. All the windows work well, the sunroof worked well for a week but now it's gotta be done manually...bummer...new CD-playing radio but the wiring in the back speakers was done poorly, I don't really care about that but it's always nice to have good sound, to be honest though I usually just listen to "Sweet Mercy."
It recently(as in today) started leaking oil fairly badly from the oil cooler hoses. I know this is a very expensive repair, and I'm really not sure I can do it myself...question is do you think I can, and is it worth it to stop this leak? Today It left about a <10" diameter puddle after sitting for 4 hours.
Also the engine coolant was absolutely disgusting...I changed it today (I had a very tight budget when purchasing the car) It was really dark and dirty...didn't appear to have oil in it...or feel like it when I stuck my hand in it was a uniform feel. I noticed today though after putting new coolant in (I didn't do a full flush for fear of creating too free a flow too quickly for the parts that were used to working hard...) that my turbo seems to work better now. I'm guessing this is because the turbo uses some of the coolant to cool down the air going to the engine if I recall correctly. So I'm more than pleased with that.
Love the forums been searching and reading through them since I started looking for an old diesel back in March. I think I got lucky with this one. Has some bad rust spots, on the bottom, but the whole interior was just redone within the past year, and the A/C compressor was just recently replaced, and the brake booster was replaced as well so most of the expensive repairs are done except for the looming transmission rebuild. All the windows work well, the sunroof worked well for a week but now it's gotta be done manually...bummer...new CD-playing radio but the wiring in the back speakers was done poorly, I don't really care about that but it's always nice to have good sound, to be honest though I usually just listen to "Sweet Mercy."