12th Jun 2012, 09:19

I too just purchased an '80 300SD, and most of the faults are identical. This old beauty seemed to have been well cared for most of its life, and very little of it was winter driving, so the body is excellent.

Under the hood the engine runs a tad bit rough. Going to spend some $$ on new injectors, but for the moment I'm giving it diesel treatment in the fuel on each fill-up. Already noticed some smoothing of the engine.

The Heating/AC system is a mess. The control with all the vacuum hoses no longer works, and so I opened it up and adjusted the valve in the bottom so I'd have some heat. The heating system in the cabin only gives defroster heat, but that is sufficient in the summer as I've no intent to drive this baby in the winter. Did find an on-line mechanic who offers a valve setup to remove the present valve and install a simple valve with a control that goes into the cabin. $75.00. For me this will be adequate. WNY does not need much air conditioning; the heater is more important.

Had to replace the front brakes, including rotors, pads, calipers, and sensors. These had been neglected by the previous owner. Also replaced all the tires.

The control for cruise doesn't work. Must replace the module under the dash.

The key would not shut off the engine. I found that drivers door lock mechanism was leaking vacuum. I plugged the hose to it, and suddenly there was sufficient vacuum to shut off the engine. Must learn more about the vacuum system.

Aside from this the only really ugly item is the front passenger seat, which seems to have been attacked by a knife.

All in all, this baby can fly on the expressway. I've clocked 28 MPG when I purchase diesel on the Reservation, but sadly at the regular gas station, the mileage drops considerably. Obviously the quality of diesel varies. No fault of the car. At the Res I save about $.70 a gallon, but it is about 40 miles away.

Now the icing on the cake. I purchased this car for $1,500. I'll spend about $1,000 additional on it, and have a lovely summer car. Sadly, our winters are tough, and there is lots of salt and other chemicals applied to the roads that eat up car bodies.

I've had many Mercedes before, and enjoy this one very much.