[Vwdiesel] 1996 Mercedes R300 diesel

[Jim Arnott]

I'll share what I know about Mercs.  Out in front of my house resides  
a '92 K-Mart Special.... er, 190e.  2.6 gas. 158k miles. Mercedes  
'entry level' back in the day.  Picked it up from the local boneyard  
for about nothing.  It ended up there because it had a bunch of little  
problems.  Leaks a bit of oil, there's evidence of a bit of oil in the  
coolant expansion tank, it lights the check engine light every now and  
then, etc, etc, etc.

The big reason for 'junking' it turned out to be a leaky waterpump.   
Fixed now.  By a friend and me.  I'm retired professional mechanic,  
friend is currently employed as a professional mechanic.  Water pump  
wholesale cost was a bit over a hundred dollars.  How long to R&R?  
Seven long hours. Book time is eight. That means that had I hired it  
done, the cost would have been a minimum of $1,000.  Book value on the  
car ain't much more than that.

That being said, there is a support community out there, but you will  
find then a bit 'different' than the VW community. I'm still on their  
mailing list, but I rarely post as there's really no point. You'll be  
able to google your answers faster and without the BS. And of course,  
if you think a Bentley for your bus is expensive....  Wait 'til you  
see the price of Merc shop manuals.

But.... When I get tired of poking around in my diesel westy, it's  
nice to have a rocketship available.  And it's really pretty.

Good friend drives mid-eighties 300 TDs.  Bulletproof.  300-500k mile  
cars. Three miles to get up to highway speed.  But bulletproof.

Jim

Oh yeah.... Mercedes list: Kaleb Striplin http://www.okiebenz.com

Funny folks.  Frequent flamefests and politically/sociologically well  
to the right of the Bush family.



On Mar 18, 2010, at 7:43 PM, Doyt W. Echelberger wrote:

> Hello Bill,
>
> I want to echo what Brian Decker has said so well, and add that I  
> sent a
> longer reply to your personal email address. But publicly I want to  
> suggest
> that you spend whatever is necessary up front, before you settle for  
> the
> car, to have this potential money-pit  professionally evaluated by a
> well-established Mercedes dealer. If you can't afford that, then you  
> can't
> afford to own this car....IMO.
>
> I say this because you will probably have to go to such a dealer  
> anyhow on
> a fairly regular basis to get the level of support that such a car
> requires....especially at first, when you are getting it ready to  
> drive
> in  a safe and reliable manner.
>
> I haven't found the same level of do-it-yourself information  
> available for
> the Mercedes line compared to what is available from the VW-Audi
> community....things like the family album and the on-line forums. And
> independent mechanics generally can't match the dealer-available  
> diagnostic
> tools.
>
> If the present owner won't cooperate by allowing you to pay for a  
> dealer
> work-up,  ask him why not and listen with a skeptical ear. And tell  
> us how
> it goes from there. You have posed a very interesting question and I  
> want
> to hear more about how it evolves....because I am doing much the  
> same thing
> and it is real lonely out here.
>
> Doyt Echelberger