My brother may be buying an '82 Mercedes 300D...

Found this for $1000 firm on the local Craigslist this morning.

Mind you, my brother -was- shopping for a '91 BMW 318is, but he's in serious need of a "winter beater" in the short term and he's always wanted one of these W123's. He could've had the '00 New Beetle TDI I found recently, but since he's resolute on the not-driving-a-New-Beetle thing I bought it myself.

Obviously an '82 300D is an archaic old beast compared to the modern VW TDI, but y'all being a semi-comprehensive diesel community, what do you think?

Can any of you recommend a good online resource/forum for these cars?

Roadfly.org possibly?

Peachparts shopforum for a forum, autohausaz for parts. There are some basic things to check before purchase, comprehensive threads can be found.

Great hobby and with a large investment and ongoing cost in time and money it might even be great transportation. It will not be cost effective transportation.

http://forums.mbworld.org/forums/index.php?

Great winter beater if you but snows on the rears. The will burn almost anything. At 25-28mpg they are not very economical if you are burning pu mp fuel.

If "winter" beater is the goal, make sure the interior heater actually works, as many Mercedes this age have failed HVAC systems.

Ah, PeachParts is familiar territory to me thanks to a miserable $400 '72 280SE 4.5 that tried to bankrupt me and kill me on alternating afternoons (fascinating thing to have the throttle linkage stick at WOT)

This may actually be off the table as my brother's fiancee fell in love with my '00 New Beetle TDI at Thanksgiving today and now they want me to find them one.

That's how it goes...

Not very good in the snow. More of a hobby car.

I never had a problem driving a W123 (both 300D and 240D) in the snow.

A little saying I picked up from the peachparts forum:

"There is nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes."

Tell your brother to read up on those forums, and good luck.

I also have a 1987 300D Turbo

I almost bought a 240d 4 speed before I picked up my TDI. The first car I really worked on more than just fluids and filters was a Mercedes 115 chassis diesel.

btcost said:

<SNIPPITY, BLA, BLA> I also have a 1987 300D Turbo

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Say, didn't I ride in that one, IIRC????

The thing with these old Mercedes is that they're old. A cheap $1000 Mercedes may run but might need a ton of work to keep it on the road. If it's just a winter beater, he may end up spending unnecessary amounts of money keeping it on the road because he won't be driving it year round. RUbber wears out when the car sits and collects water and dust. I've had to repair almost every piece of rubber on my 300D and I was driving it every day up until a month ago when I got my Jetta back on the road. It cost me $2000 in mx this year. However - I am fully expecting it to not cost more than oil and fuel for the next few years. If only driven a few months a year, that equation may not work out.

They are not the most economical machines but they're awesome to drive and easy to work on. Since I got mine 2 friends of mine have bought their own because they're such cool cars.

TWHansen said:

Found this for $1000 firm on the local Craigslist this morning.

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I owned an 85 300D for 10 years, great hobby car.

All old MB diesels are $5000 cars at least. Either one pays $1000 up front and then invests another $4000 into it to get it in decent shape, or one pays $5000 for one that was properly maintained and is already in decent shape.

If you find any evidence that it was molested with SVO/WVO, walk away quickly.

TWHansen said:

Found this for $1000 firm on the local Craigslist this morning.

Mind you, my brother -was- shopping for a '91 BMW 318is, but he's in serious need of a "winter beater" in the short term and he's always wanted one of these W123's. He could've had the '00 New Beetle TDI I found recently, but since he's resolute on the not-driving-a-New-Beetle thing I bought it myself.

Obviously an '82 300D is an archaic old beast compared to the modern VW TDI, but y'all being a semi-comprehensive diesel community, what do you think?

Can any of you recommend a good online resource/forum for these cars?

Click to expand...

peachparts has taken over from the mercededsshop name.

flat out great knowledgeable folks and whunter is well versed on many different mfg'er platforms. great areas for discussion. he needs to go to the diesel discussion group. when i had my 3 mbz this was a great source of help to repair stuff just like here. my wife and i bought a 240 from oldnavy. his did not come with a block heater. took a shop 8 hrs to get the plug off to install it. he should find someone to help him look for a car or perhaps buy one from that group and not from craigslist. undercarriage may be rotted from rust.

yes i agree....no such thing as a cheap mercedes..

Most everything has been covered here. Shop Forum is the place for these cars. My father-in-law has an 82 300D and I have done extensive work on it.

Of course you have the turbo as an additional part to fail. The 82 doesn't have hydrolic lifters so you will need to perform routine valve adjustments. IIRC they didn't get hydrolic lifters until 85. Also, IIRC valve adjustments are at 15k intervals.

On the HVAC you want to see if it was converted to 134a and if it needs work. The vacume system is another place to pay close attention to. EGR valve, auto climate control, door locks, transmission, all runs off vacuum. The first sign of vacuum issues is a transmission that bangs gears.

Do some searching over on the shop forum but I tend to agree with what others have stated. This is a hobby car and will not be the most economical choice. Also keep in mind that a car of this age may require suspension rebuild and/or have rust problems that need to be addressed. Generally speaking 75% of the value of the car tends to be in the condition of the body and interior. If the A/C system is shot then that $5000 can be a very conservative estimate. Depending on what you do yourself or if you need to take it to a shop the cost to properly repair a neglected vehicle can run up to or exceed 10k. Once you get above 4 or 5k you really aren't going to get that money back if you decide to sell.