i recently aquired an85 merc 300d i know nothing about this car what are the pros&cons ive already figured out one of them hardly any of the buttons work a/c heater sunroof buttons and none of them light up one does though thats how i know they are supposed to

Welcome!
First, unless you are across the pond, around here a Merc is a Mercury. You have a Mercedes, a Benz, a Mercedes Benz .........
Second, on your key board, down under the "K" and "L" are punctuation marks, like the comma and period [, .] They are your friend, and more importantly, for anyone reading your post they are their friends.
The climate control buttons have a type of fiber optic cable behind the dash that plugs into the buttons. There is a main bulb in the dash that provides this light. Do your dash lights work?[instrument cluster] If they don't work either then search "rheostat". You will find how to solder it.
What is your location?
Again, welcome!

__________________
Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

Jimmyyousurearehardtopleasewantingallthosepunctuationmarksandstuff.

ill improve my spelling how hard is it to fix the sunroof ?thanks for the info. ill use benz from now on.yes my gauges work . I live in stockton california

Depends on what's wrong with it. Often times the cable that goes to the motor in the trunk gets clogged up, that can be cleaned out, but it's bound to be time consuming, and messy.

__________________
83 SD

84 CD

You crack me up, Jimmy!

Seriously, good grammar and punctuation does enable much better communication.

Now that your balls have been sufficiently busted, welcome to the diesel forum!

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

the motor for the sunroof whirs but the top doesnt move where is the motor located how does it work ? is it driven like a window regulator ?
the front end is wearing out tires weird and quick . the passenger side tire is only wearing on the out side the insdide of the tread is brand new . the driver side is not worn in any specific place but it is wearing out wrong i dont know how to describe what its doing.but this car drives good doesnt wander or pull .i think it could be the sway bar bushings.what do you think

The sunroof motors are in the trunk. Good luck with that. The one in my wagon is manual, but it was a ***** to get back in correctly once I had gotten the gaskets replaced. Adjusting it to close up flush took a lot of fiddling around.

Sounds like you have some worn out front end parts or at least misalignment as far as the front tires go.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

If you're not familiar with these cars or haven't done much wrench turning before, you might want to take it to a good independent Mercedes mechanic and get the equivalent of a PPI. Have them provide estimates for the work that needs to be done. Ask them which of the items are essential/safety related and which are simply comfort items. It's easier to learn how to fix things if you know what's wrong.
Most items on these cars can be fixed without too many special tools, provided you are armed with good information from sources such as the Factory Service Manual and already covered topics in this forum.

__________________
1985 300D cali 190K

http://mercedes.thatchermathias.com/mw300d.jpg

Here I go giving advice on an electric sunroof when all I've ever had are manual. But I have heard a ton about a fiberous gear in the sunroof motor housing that strips out. You hear the whirring of the motor turning but the gearing coming off of that is fubar. This can also indicate that it was having a hard time opening and closing prior the the gear stripping. This may give you something to search for until somebody with actual hands on experience chimes in.
Good luck with all that!
As stated above, I hope you took my knad busting in stride. It's what we do here, and if it's terminology, I'm required by law to "help get that right"......

__________________
Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

1. i am a very good at wrenching on cars
2. i however know little about benz's but i learn quick
3. money is an issue
4. i thought about experimenting on the cars at pick n pul
instead of messing up mine so when i do work on mine i know how to do it

Front end work isn't known as being real cheap, but if you can do most of it then the cost of parts won't kill you.


An excellent idea! I did that at PNP when I was having to access the sunroof drains under the headlinger. For $2 bucks, or whatever your cost is, it is $$ and time well spent and great practice for many activities.

__________________
Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

Um . . . Jimmy are you saying that actual experience is a prerequisite of dispensing advice?

Uh oh! Maybe I should quit posting stuff . . . . I once overheard my daughter telling one of her friends, "Dad knows the answer to just about everything. Most of the time he's just making it up, but he always has an answer . . . "

Kids!

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

the parts are free my uncle has another one that he said we can take parts off of . how much$$$ do the bushings cost?
it's amazing the crap you find when cleaning old cars.

i think found whats wrong with the passenger side tire the tie rod bolt needs to be replaced