The Mercedes Benz 300sd Experience.

Kinja'd!!! "sony1492" (sony1492)
01/04/2018 at 17:35 • Filed to: I like commas what can I say

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First it’s worth noting how much money I’ve dumped into this thing already. Bought it for $500, paid $51 for the paperwork, $55 for an oil change, $15 for injector cleaner, and $20 for a Primer pump. That’s a whopping $641 of former German Luxury.

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Note how the people who painted it sprayed over the rust

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Rusty rust

Rust is not visible except for a little in the engine bay and under this headlight. The car was resprayed at some point so I’m sure there’s more hiding under the surface.

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What do you do when you get an old luxury car? Spray-paint things of course, the light surroundings were off colored and cracking. The grey paint i have just happens to be very similar so from 40ft away it looks color matched. I’m sure anyone who knows about w126's will cringe.

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Some exhaust work was done recently, and the car was registered into 2019 (it didn’t have the sticker though)

On the first drive it would shift into 4th doing 20mph at full throttle. The transmissions vacuum actuated combined with a linkage to the “throttle”. The vacuum bit means that the health the motor effects the transmission too.

Cold starts were very bad with most of the cylinders firing and the motor would die if you didn’t give it a little throttle before it warmed up. Once warmed up the motor would shake violently at idle, but would be fine after 1000rpm.

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It’s clear from the smell inside, the oxidization, and leaves stuck by the windshield that the car sat for quite a while.

I changed the oil/filter, fiddled with the ALDA(pre boost fuel pressure), replaced some vacuum lines, adjusted the shift points, and fiddled with the idle and fuel linkages.

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New primer pump next to the old, And engine bay rust.

After fiddling with everything the car shifts smoother under most conditions, holds a gear when it should, once warmed up the motor shakes much less, and on cold starts it will hold an idle though it still has a miss for the first 60 seconds. But as far as I can tell it’s not uncommon on the higher mile diesels.

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And lastly the car would drain it’s battery over a matter of hours. I got a test light on there and found it to be the two electric seat relays. Since I don’t constantly adjust it I removed the relays and will now consider the electric seats another non-functioning feature.

The interior: Trust me when I say, it’s completely fucked.


DISCUSSION (11)


Kinja'd!!! dogisbadob > sony1492
01/04/2018 at 17:43

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When you replace the sealed beams, get the GE Nighthawk ones.

Would new relays fix the problem?

Looks rusty, but saveable. Krown is awesome


Kinja'd!!! JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t > sony1492
01/04/2018 at 17:43

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Kinja'd!!! AestheticsInMotion > dogisbadob
01/04/2018 at 17:46

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I have 7" round Nighthawks. Can confirm, they’re amazing, totally worth the high price


Kinja'd!!! AestheticsInMotion > sony1492
01/04/2018 at 17:47

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Didn’t even know you had this. Really makes me want to look for a <1000 car on Craigslist this summer...


Kinja'd!!! sony1492 > JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t
01/04/2018 at 17:51

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I’m definitely gonna try that


Kinja'd!!! No Prius Needed > sony1492
01/04/2018 at 17:54

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Any pics of the interior?


Kinja'd!!! sony1492 > dogisbadob
01/04/2018 at 17:56

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I’m not sure if a relay would fix the problem. I imagine it’s electrical because the likelihood of both relays failing for the same system is low


Kinja'd!!! sony1492 > No Prius Needed
01/04/2018 at 18:14

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Tach dosent work, no gauge lighting at night, RR door won’t shut unless you fiddle with it, drivers door dosent lock, driver door handle is about to fall off, dash is sunbaked, heater dosent work, driver seat springs are broken so it leans to one side and moves around, the gas pedal falls off occasionally, glove box can’t shut and is missing it’s wood trim, all wood trim is damaged or missing, and no radio.

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Kinja'd!!! sony1492 > AestheticsInMotion
01/04/2018 at 18:20

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Does Washington have emission tests? The biggest trouble ive had with the past few $500 cars was getting them to pass ca smog.(they didn’t and I had to sell them for no profit)


Kinja'd!!! fintail > sony1492
01/04/2018 at 21:31

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Cars this old are exempt from emissions tests, along with diesels.


Kinja'd!!! shop-teacher > sony1492
01/05/2018 at 10:02

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That’d be an amazing Gambler!