Originally Posted by WhoWhat (Post 2223838)

Was it cold when you started it? If he had just run the engine for a while or maybe drove it around, the oil pressure might not peg at start up. Normally, however, it should peg up to 3 every time.

That temp is pretty high too, although it might run a bit warmer in AZ than up here in MI. The price still seems a bit high - doesn't seem like this thing is super well taken care of...she looks nice though.

I'd talk him down a bit.

Originally Posted by Shawn T. W. (Post 2223835)

I pulled up the seat covers, but did not take them off, that is how I know about the rips they seem to be a shade darker than the rear seats . . . I did not take a picture of them though . . .

My main concern is the tranny . . . if you look in the one photo, it shows the black engine oil dripped down the bellhousing . . . but the tranny pan does not have that same color oil, unfortunatly I did not swipe it to see if it was red . . .:rolleyes: Do you think maybe the input shaft is leaking?

It also has a new rad, and yellow coolant!

After we left there we saw this . . .
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s.../77300D022.jpg

Originally Posted by LUVMBDiesels (Post 2223880)

Oh BTW you have the Evil Servo type climate control in that car...

Think $400 - $600 for a new servo

Originally Posted by Palangi (Post 2223884)

Looks like homemade glow plug wiring...

Originally Posted by LUVMBDiesels (Post 2223896)

I am not familir with that system, but I would guess that there are vacuum pots under the dash that open and close the flappers.

Originally Posted by Oracle12345 (Post 2223909)

you are gonna have a very messy upper oil pan leak to take care.
Whoever does that upper oil pan is in for a lot of work and a big mess. I used engine degreaser too, but that put a didnt in that thick crude. also looks like the radial seals are leaking too.

Originally Posted by Shawn T. W. (Post 2223916)

Is the "upper oil pan" what I would call a "valve cover"?

What/where are the "radial seals"?

Originally Posted by Shawn T. W. (Post 2223903)

I also liked the Finny, but my wife . . . not so much . . .she likes the look of the 123, even better than the 210 which surprised me!

Originally Posted by Shawn T. W. (Post 2223823)

Today I went to inspect a few cars:
1st on the list was a 77 300D
2nd was a 81 300SD
3rd was a 85 300TD

I ended up only getting to see the 1st one as the others fell through on meeting me!

It shows 246k on the odo, but about 6 years ago his daughter cooked the engine to well done, and he replaced with a used engine . . . the oil cap just barely rocks on the cover when it is sitting there . . . Started in less than 2 sec once it had a 10 sec glow, ran smooth and quite quiet at idle, but I noticed that it took another 10-12 sec for the oil presure to come up on the gauge, is this normal? The odo appeared to work (it changed about 3 miles during my test drive, which seems right. Before I left I reset the trip meter, but the last 2 digits did not reset, it had 9.3. After my test drive it only had 9.5! Is this normal for the trip to die before the odo?

The drivers rear and pass front windows have issues . . . the front seats have been replaced, but are bad enough that the drivers has 2 rips about 8" long and both fronts have covers on them, the dash has a carpeted cover on it, I tried to peel it up, but it had velcro and some glue!?!

The doors all lock & unlock with the, he still has the original key, and service records for the last 10 years he had it, he got it from his Father who passed away, who had won it a few years previous in some gambling game . . .

I tried to look under the floor mats carpeting to see the floor, but could not figure out how to get it up, I thought it was just laying there, I did poke & prode but it seemed solid, the rest of the car is solid with just a tad of surface rust in the hinge pockets . . . he had the car painted about 2 years ago . . . he drove this car for awhile himself, then let his three children drive it till they got out of school . . . it has been rear-ended twice, once recently, but no damage to it other than a cracked tail light which has been replaced! The other veh was towed from the scene & totaled!:D

I took it for a drive, it seemed to have decent power (more than I expected!), handled well (last year he had the front end rebuilt!:D) braked well, seemed to run smooth, after I pulled out of the development temp was up to about 130 degrees so I floored it, and I could not see any smoke from the mirrors! Shifted smoothly too!:)

Anyways . . . I have a few more questions, and lots of pictures to go with them! You like pictures right?:D

Does this look to be sagging in the back, it is slightly up hill, but look at the rear wheel well . . .



It looks like the tranny is leaking, but it could be from the engine, what do you think? is it serious, or is that just rust preventative!:rolleyes:






Some of the engine . . .





Is this the "normal" amout of blowby oil in the air filter?


When I 1st looked at the primary filter, i thought it looked good, I guess I did not look too close . . . when I downloaded it onto my computer I see little black flecks it it, do you think it has fungus among us?:eek:


Is this the bleeder that is leaking in the upper right corner, wish I had brought my ramps with me so I could actually get under it, oh well, next time . . .


Is this common for the molding to shrivle up on the door piller?


What kind of A/C does this have? It does blow cold, but . . . only out the side vents, and defrost . . .:confused:


I found this linkage on the engine side of the IP near the back that has a ball on it but no socket . . . what is it for?


What do you see that I didn't?

He is asking $1900 for it by the way, but has been for sale for a month or more . . . he is selling it because his kids all have atleast one veh each, and his HOA doesn't like him cloging up the street!

Originally Posted by strelnik (Post 2224073)

Overall a nice car, but one with some expensive fixes or time consuming ones, if you do them.

Baseline stuff like oil, etc is routine, but the oil leaks are not. They will take you LOTS of time, if you do them right. They would have cost more than the car is worth to fix. vWhich is why he didn't do them

Print out portions of this list and let him know some guys have seen your photos. 1500 cash in hand or walk away, unless you want to pay too much and start your mechanic's apprenticeship at the bottom.

There are other Benzes in the world. The 230S finny is proof of that.

Originally Posted by Shawn T. W. (Post 2224126)

I have pulled & rebuilt motors before, for myself & a paycheck, but . . . like you said there are quite a few other options out there . . .

I made up a check list.
He was quite surprised when I got out my clip board and blue nitrile gloves . . .

Originally Posted by Shawn T. W. (Post 2223823)

I took it for a drive, it seemed to have decent power (more than I expected!)

Originally Posted by Squabble (Post 2224132)

it's a great looking car and all, but i'm writing because it reminds me of my '81 NON-Turbo 300D. it took me about 3 months to get over the joy of the car and become severely frustrated with the lack of power, pep, and pick-up. i would pull out onto the road with cars coming a quarter to half a mile away and would only be at 45 mph when they would be up my a$$ beeping at me and forcing me to pull into the shoulder to let them by. my two cents, if you want it, is to hold out for a turbo model, they're all over the place if you're looking. but, maybe that's okay for you, there are a lot of people on this forum with non-turbo models and 240D's that swear by them. just something to keep in mind before the checkbook comes out.

Originally Posted by toomany MBZ (Post 2224137)

I'm thinking upper oil pan or rear engine seal, as mentioned quite involved. Maybe a front seal too.
The floor mats do just lift up, there may be some snaps too.
The windows are a fuse issue.
A bit of oil in the air cleaner, no big deal, same with the flecks in the primary fuel filter.
Does appear to have a leaking brake bleed screw.
A dash cover is just that, I'm sure it's cracked and ugly underneath.
You can remove the vinyl attempting to dress up the top of the door frame, you can see, it's painted the same color as the rest of the car.
And yes, the dreaded servo heating system. The center vents open only at certain settings.
I can't tell what that "naked" ball is for, post a pic further away to give a better perspective.

Originally Posted by toomany MBZ (Post 2224190)

I have turbos, which means I have different linkage, does it have an emergency stop lever? Try to see where it goes down to, but it seems to be the manual shut off. See the red STOP lever in the pic.
The windows have power so you'll have to go inside the one that grinds. You can take the switches apart, if you're careful, clean 'em up and see if that helps.

Originally Posted by toomany MBZ (Post 2224508)

Okay, that bolt is located on the IP.
In the pic, again turbo, you may be able to see that bent lever on the right just in front of the oil filter canister. I goes to the VCV, round white plastic thing, the other end goes down to the lower part of the IP, I have no idea what it is, or does.

Originally Posted by unkl300d (Post 2226125)

My '79 300d does not have that valve or linkage.

I wonder what year the engine is?
Also the mileage on it.

I'd pay like $800-$1000 for it because eventually you'll need a tranny rebuild if its the original and basically it has a swapped engine and other swapped parts..

body rust?
Half axle boots in good shape?:)

Originally Posted by mrhills0146 (Post 2226758)

If you can be certain that there is no rust on that car, it would be very well-bought for $1,500.

Check the following places:

Wheel wells (obvious)
Rear passenger foot well
Base of rear window, can be very hard to see just under the gasket
Around the trunk seal
In and around the water drains under the hood hinges
Around, under, and behind the battery - do lots of checking here - remove the battery to get a good look

Run the car through a car wash and see if there's any water in the passenger floorboard, it will start in the front and eventually pool into the rear footwell. This water can come from numerous places, most common is around / under the battery.

Other than that I don't see any show-stoppers. For $1,500 you can probably get a car you can drive every day, and that's saying something. Budget $2,500 per year for maintenance and repair as she is more than a quarter-century old.

Originally Posted by JimmyL (Post 2226966)

I wouldn't over think the 300D too terribly much. It looks clean, has little blowby, and believe it or not, that new rear window seal is a huge plus.
We aren't talking about a huge sum of $$ so I think it is a very worthy car. Of course I'm quite the fan of the non-turbo engines.
Tranny ain't that big of a deal as you can just swap in a used one. They aren't a large failure item.......

Originally Posted by Shawn T. W. (Post 2227181)

First of all I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to this forum!:thumbup1: You have been very helpfull!

I have one question that has gone unanswered, that I woke up in the middle of the night with . . . When I started it, it took over 10 sec for oil presure to registar on the gauge, is this normal? I know it has a mechanical gauge, and I haven't had one for many years now, my memory seems to fail me on this point, (well others too:P)

Originally Posted by Oracle12345 (Post 2227723)

Sounds like a gauge issue or an oil pump. My oil pressure gauge wouldnt read for about 3 or 4 seconds then I put in a oil pump with lesser mileage when I did the upper oil pan and it went away.

Originally Posted by Shawn T. W. (Post 2227837)

It pegged to 45 once it moved, and it stayed there, even when warmed up (180F) at idle I now think this is strange . . . I wrote it in my report/inspection, but just hit me now!

Originally Posted by Oracle12345 (Post 2228094)

you also could have a heavy oil in there like my po who put in 20-50 in to cover up the oil pan leak...

Originally Posted by mrhills0146 (Post 2228218)

It is a $1,500 car. If it's not rusty, buy it! That is a great deal. For $1,500 it is not going to be perfect, but a real oil pressure problem on a 616 or 617 is so rare you have nothing to worry about.

Don't get paralysis by analysis. If that car is not rusty you'd better buy it or I will.

Originally Posted by unkl300d (Post 2230938)

Yeah the oil pressure should register faster upon start up.

It ought to register a bit lower after the oil is hot and at idle.
So maybe the oil pump is iffy.:)

Its good that you are observant !.