car questions

[Freight_Train]

Gonna go check out a 300TD close by some time this week.They are asking $4200.210K miles,No rust,Runs good,nice paint,nice interior(no cracks on dash or seats per pictures),New CD player with 10 disc changer,new tires,new shocks,Trailer hitch.Only down side I really see is those butt ugly tractor lights.Can these things be changed over to the full size rectangular headlight setups?The outside is grey with tan interior.Wish it was something other than Grey but I can live with it.There is also another car on the west coast I am tracking on Ebay.Found out I can get a car shipped from the Gaybay to Birmingham alabama for $1100.Cheaper than driving the thing back and easier on my back and butt than a 30-40 hour marathon drive.

Are there any Benz diesels that are about equal to the size of a Ford Tempo,Chevy Cavalier/corsica?Thought about when I get myself out of debit a little seeing if I can get my grandmother into a diesel to simplify fuel around here(Biodiesel.Going to a seminar by Girl Mark next month in Atlanta!).Plus I would like to see her in something classy and stylish instead of these junkers(Had a Corsica now has a Mitsu marage).Be nice to have a fully self sufficent household.

 

[The Warden]

For your grandmother, there's the W201 190D...versions of that car were built between 1984 and 1989 or so. It's smaller than the W123, and supposedly reasonable on power. Only downside is that it'll have an aluminum head, so make sure she knows to NOT let the engine overheat. It's about the smallest Benz you'll find, unless you go back to the pontons and fintails of the '50's and '60's (with 40 horsepower engines and 4 speed column-shift manuals and couldn't get out of their own way if your life depended on it!)...

As for the 300TD...first, yes, the round DOT headlights can be replaced with square Euro light assemblies. Keep in mind that there are good quality replacements as well as cheap-o replacements that won't last very long (and are usually about half the price). Personally, I prefer the DOT lights from an appearance standpoint, but that's just me. Also, while I know wagons tend to go for a bit more than sedans, $4200 seems like quite a bit unless it's completely cherry. If the car has the 3rd rear-ward facing seat, that's a plus...the option wasn't very common, and is coveted by many people.

MAKE SURE THE REAR SELF-LEVELING SUSPENSION IS IN GOOD WORKING ORDER!! Unlike the 300D and SD, the wagon has a hydraulic suspension meant to keep the car level regardless of how much is in the back area. The system works quite well (and actually makes the car ride much better than any of the sedans, from what I've heard), but if there's anything wrong with it, it'll get real expensive to repair...and if it's not repaired, it'll look like the car's sagging at the rear all the time. I believe some people have retrofitted a rear suspension setup out of a 300D sedan into a wagon to get rid of the SLS, but I don't know how well that worked. There'll be a hydraulic pump as part of the cylinder head assembly, and there'll be an oil resevoir in the engine compartment, I believe, near the driver's side headlight assembly. Make sure the oil's reasonably clean...if it is, there's a good chance the SLS is in decent working order.

Personally, I like gray exteriors on these cars...I'm just sick of the Palomino (tan) interiors.

Hope this helps some...good luck!

 

[Freight_Train]

I don't think I will have to worry about her overheating the thing.Maybe clogging the exhaust since she drives about 20-25MPH everywhere but I could take it out for a 80-90MPH trip down the highway here in town to blow the soot out.Would get her a VW but I like the idea of a MB due to being a much stronger vehicle.

 

[The Warden]

I don't think I will have to worry about her overheating the thing.Maybe clogging the exhaust since she drives about 20-25MPH everywhere but I could take it out for a 80-90MPH trip down the highway here in town to blow the soot out.Would get her a VW but I like the idea of a MB due to being a much stronger vehicle.

She probably won't mind the lethargic power, then and these cars DO benefit greatly from periodic Italian tune-ups to clear all the soot and autolite out of the mufflers (pluralizing it was not a typo; actually, the 201 may be different, but my 123 has two mufflers AND a resonator). My fear of aluminum heads makes me suggest very strongly that you keep the cooling system happily maintained, but as long as you do that, the W201 is pretty indestructible. If power isn't a big deal, a 190D 2.2 (long story; check out the thread I put up a month or two ago describing the various chassis and engines) would be ideal, and are generally pretty easy to find...small engine, very good on fuel (mid to high 30's IIRC), and shouldn't have any problems.

 

[Freight_Train]

She probably won't mind the lethargic power, then and these cars DO benefit greatly from periodic Italian tune-ups to clear all the soot and autolite out of the mufflers (pluralizing it was not a typo; actually, the 201 may be different, but my 123 has two mufflers AND a resonator). My fear of aluminum heads makes me suggest very strongly that you keep the cooling system happily maintained, but as long as you do that, the W201 is pretty indestructible. If power isn't a big deal, a 190D 2.2 (long story; check out the thread I put up a month or two ago describing the various chassis and engines) would be ideal, and are generally pretty easy to find...small engine, very good on fuel (mid to high 30's IIRC), and shouldn't have any problems.

Thanks.Soon as I pay off my Credit Cards and get my own Benz I am gonna get her one.Only thing I worry about is her long trips consist of a 5 mile drive with 80% in the 2-3 mile range.Kinda a short drive for a diesel.Another thing I worry about is Fuel.I am gonna have to keep a sizable amount of Diesel around so I can refuel the car at home.I know first thing she will do.Heat to the Full service gas station(yea,we still have 2 of those here!!!) and get good ol 87 Octane.But keeping a 55 gallon drum around of straight #2 won't be too bad.This way I can mix up a winter Bio blend for both cars.

 

[Full Monte]

Also, while I know wagons tend to go for a bit more than sedans, $4200 seems like quite a bit unless it's completely cherry. If the car has the 3rd rear-ward facing seat, that's a plus...the option wasn't very common, and is coveted by many people.

Warden, have you been watching the prices of 300TD's in our area? They have been going up substantially. I have a friend who bought an '84 a few years ago for $2K and recently sold it for $6200, after putting 50k miles on it, and it wasn't cherry. He had fixed up the mechanical part pretty well though.

 

[The Warden]

Warden, have you been watching the prices of 300TD's in our area? They have been going up substantially. I have a friend who bought an '84 a few years ago for $2K and recently sold it for $6200, after putting 50k miles on it, and it wasn't cherry. He had fixed up the mechanical part pretty well though.

(2nd attempt; tried to reply yesterday and the window closed on me... school computers)

I haven't been following wagon prices over the past year...sounds like quite a jump, though. I believe, a year or so ago, you could get a wagon for maybe $500 to $1000 more than a sedan... I was talking seriously with someone who wanted to trade his wagon for my sedan a little over a year ago; now I wish I had decided to go through with it. *sigh* Live and learn, eh? The sad thing is, I compromised when I bought my 300D...I actually really wanted a wagon...

Freight, you can always get a locking fuel cap and not give her the key As long as you take the car on an extended drive from time to time and chnge the oil based on time and not mileage, you should be okay. As I mentioned earlier, periodic Italian tune-ups would be a good thing (just loan the car to Travis for a day )...but a 190D 2.2 should serve her quite well. Don't you just hate $$ issues? I'm actually credit card free and plan to stay that way, but I'm broke as a joke...once I'm out of school and actually making $$, things should get better, though

 

[towcat]

2.2 diesels are bad news.
2.5's are much better for a naturally aspirated motor in a 190 chassis, they run like a scalded cat. Gene Luo bought mime from me and his folks drove the tail off that car. I was really suprised he let his folks commute six or seven times from the SFbay area to Seattle, WA with it
he bought it understanding it was a clunker.....

 

[The Warden]

2.2 diesels are bad news.

Why? I know that they'll make anything except a 240D and a Geo Metro look like a NASCAR contender, but it doesn't sound like his grandmother would use the power a 2.5l 602 can put out. And, of course, the 2.2l 601 is just a 602 with a cylinder lopped off (actually, it's the other way around, since the 601 came out first)...AFAIK, there aren't any problems with them other than the inherent potential isues with the aluminum cylinder head (or is there something I don't know about?), and 190D 2.2's are more common than 190D 2.5's, so it would be easier to find one...

 

[towcat]

Why? I know that they'll make anything except a 240D and a Geo Metro look like a NASCAR contender, but it doesn't sound like his grandmother would use the power a 2.5l 602 can put out. And, of course, the 2.2l 601 is just a 602 with a cylinder lopped off (actually, it's the other way around, since the 601 came out first)...AFAIK, there aren't any problems with them other than the inherent potential isues with the aluminum cylinder head (or is there something I don't know about?), and 190D 2.2's are more common than 190D 2.5's, so it would be easier to find one...

tim-
let's just put it this way. The mbz shop I play at, the owner damn near leaped out of his seat when I showed up with the 2.5 on the deck. I got the car due to a hack butchering up the ignition switch assy(parts $150) I advanced the timing 2 deg and it made a night and day difference for the takeoff. If it was the 2.2, it prolly would have went to the scrapper around the corner from me. I drove it around for the summer and Gene was bugging me to sell it to him. I told him $1500 and he was back with the cash in less than five minutes. Most of the mbz techs at smythe don't warm up to the 2.2 whatsoever. they all got hot and bothered over the 2.5