91 Mercedes 350SD

[JR2]

Any one know much about these?? I found one here in AK for about $5K. It will not shift out of first gear and the current owner says its a vac pump problem, easy fix. It has 165K on a new engine (warranty replacement for old engine that was prone to failure), the car itself has 260K on it. I think 5K is too high for a car with transmission problems so I will probably offer $2500 or so. My wife is going to look at it tomorrow and see how she likes the car itself... .



any one have any advice on this car?? Can anyone tell me anything I need to know about it?



Thanks guys, this car would be a daily town driver so my wife can park the Excursion she is currently driving.





John

 

[ezcurra]

If it's that easy to repair, why doesn't the seller fix it before putting the car for sale? I wouln't even pay $2500 for it as is.

 

[JoeBioDiesel]

Vacuum pumps on those can usually cause late/hard shifts, but not a 1st gear only problem. If it truly only has 1st and reverse then the trans is coming out to fix it. Have you driven it? Just want to be sure the 1-2 shift is just not very late.

Joe

 

[HoleshotHolset]

I'd avoid it.



The OM603 3. 5L I6 engine in that car has a very fragile cylinder head and a new one (if you can find one... ) runs very big bucks. The heads like to crack in the valve/pre-combustion chamber/injector area and lots of folks avoid this engine for that reason alone.



The 300SD's are very heavy/well built cars. They do come up for sale pretty often since parts are getting scarce and people's patience and willingness to pay a premium for the novelty factor is also getting slimmer by the day.

Mercedes-Benz W126 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Look for something with an OM617 I5 turbo diesel or an OM606 NA or turbo diesel (quite rare)... any of these engines are nearly bulletproof.



The only downside is that the turbo OM606 cars (in the US) have electronically controlled injection pumps (and transmissions) including our friend CAN-BUS. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if you're looking for simplicity and ease of turning up the wick, this isn't your bag. Swapping an IP from an older I6 TD would be the way to go... or just figure out how to swap out the governor housing on the newer OM606's IP... which is the avenue I may go down in the future.



On edit: Here's the "TDR" for older Mercedes cars - LOTS of good reading in there. There's even a "Superturbo" forum where folks talk about cranking the wick WAY up on the little Mercedes diesels. A cranked up OM606 with a bigger turbo and lots more fuel can easily put out 400hp at the wheels. Our friends in Scandinavia have done it time and time again...



There is a foreign site called Mersu Forums (or something like that) - but everything is written in the native tongue of our Swedish/Finnish friends across the pond - so the English section doesn't get much action.



Beers,



Matt

 

[JR2]

The car got sold before my wife got to go see it, sounds like it was a pass anyway.

Thanks for the info... I continue to shop.