Sold Mercedes 300td Estate-SOLD!

[dome]

Well, now that the Porsche has finally sold it was time to rearrange the fleet. As good as the Skoda has been I fancied a bit of luxury, you know things like windows that work? Time to hammer a bigger estate over it...

The Scorpio that I posted about previously never happened-it was too much money just to get it on the road needing a windscreen and a VIC check as well as probably 4 new calipers and welding.

However a large veg munching estate was on the shopping list. I was sidetracked by an Audi S6 4.2V8 running LPG which would have been a nice way to cart bikes around but the seller never answered his phone so someone beat me to that. As there was no working diesel Scorpios for sale anywhere in the country I decided to go for a w210 Merc 300td,

I looked at one in Edinburgh (still on Gumtree) which wasn't bad but with only an MOT til May at £1600 it was too much. I had spotted anothe car on ebay that looked promising with the same miles but MOT'd til December and a lot cheaper but the seller never responded to my email. After the Porsche went and with the Skoda hopefully off to a new home shortly I needed transport. After a phone call it turned out it was still for sale so on Thursday night I ventured to Alloa to check it out.

It was for sale by a trader who let me get it up on the ramp-no rust underneath which was nice. With a bit of haggling(the fact he was off on holiday soon helped) a deal was struck.

No collection thread sadly, he delivered it home there and then and I ran him back home in the Skoda.

Here's some pics from his ad.









The ad mentioned full service history and he wasn't lying-there's absolutly loads including a bill for a full respray for £2750 in 2008 and £1500 to fit the Merc Sat nav/TV nonsense-which has a knackered screen It was registered overseas first (it's a German built car which I was told is good for these-still needed a full respray and two wings though...) then came to this country where it was owned by a company in London for many years before doing a Volvo and heading North.

It drives well but as always needs a fettle so off to get some bits. Here it is amongst some Mercs of a similar size...



I was at the commercial side as the had a part on ebay I needed. Then off to the proper Merc dealers for bits to change the transmission fluid-sealed for life my arse. I need to buy a dipstick first as these don't come with one-just a plug over the end of the filler cap which has been sealed since 1999

This afternoon was spent washing the thing inside and out-it was dark when I finished so no pics but I'll get some tomorrow. Here's the colour of the water that came out of the carpets though...



Off mountain biking tomorrow so it'll get a decent run and I'll get some pics

[Lord Sterling]

Welcome to the Merc Estate owners club. At least you got a full set of floor mats!

 

Shame the Scorpio didn't work out, what's it's fate?

[dome]

I tried to phone the Scorpio guy a couple of times-the first time was to say i wanted it! He never answered or got back to my messages so I don't know. If anyone's interested I have the details...

[Lacquer Peel]

Shame about the Scorpio, but this is probably a much better option.

I would like one but their propensity for galloping rot puts me off - a shame, as the mechanicals seem unburstable.

[cort16]

That s6 is back up for sale

[KruJoe]

Good work. Looks like you've snagged a nice one.

 

Must try harder on the bucket shot however. Should we ask Beko to give you some pointers?

[DodgyBastard]

Looks a lot less hassle than the Scorpio, there was loads of interest in it from the banger cunts on facebook, some of them started a bidding war on it offering to give £300 for it.

Must resist... I'm trying to not buy any more cars and just look after the ones we've got.

[dome]

That s6 is back up for sale

Arse. Well he had my number and email but all I got was a text saying it'd gone on Thursday morning. Probably fucked anyway

[dome]

Looks a lot less hassle than the Scorpio, there was loads of interest in it from the banger cunts on facebook, some of them started a bidding war on it offering to give £300 for it.

Must resist... I'm trying to not buy any more cars and just look after the ones we've got.

If you were to get it and wanted a hand resurrecting it give me a bell...

[dome]

Some more pics of it while its still shiny...

 

 

 

 

 

And inside, not a massive fan of the colour but it's growing on me.

 

 

 

Giffer owned going by the stickers, guess which one I added...

 

 

 

 

And the engine room

 

 

 

So that's her. Not quite as exciting as some recent purchases but once this has been fettled and is happy on veg I can feel another toy coming on to keep me amused.

[320touring]

Looks a good un!

 

Love the 'gods waiting room beige' interior-looks wipe clean too-you can eat eggs with impunity:)

[JohnK]

Like this a lot. These Mercs have never been on my radar but I may need to reconsider.

[2MB]

Can't see veg being an issue, these OM6xx engines seem to lap it up. Having said that, my fuel pump has just started weeping from the top, which I'm hoping is just a case of swapping 5 o rings over to ones that don't get disintegrate

[wuvvum]

That does look in rather better nick than my one.  I bought a gearbox dipstick off eBay - just over 6 quid delivered.

[spike60]

If you think it still has 1999 gearbox oil in it's probably worth changing it. There's a good guide on the MB Owners club forum, I did my CLK and it stopped it randomly dropping out of 5th. I've looked at these for a while but all the ones I see are made from Ryvita  and barnacles. Yours looks smart!

[dome]

Well, this escalated quickly. My last post on here was on the Sunday morning after picking up the car on the Thursday night. Took it to Glentress in the Borders mountain biking and all was well, took it to the pub that night and had Mrs Dome chauffeur me home and then took it to work on the Monday. No bother.

 

Monday night however was a different story. Firstly it wouldn't start-I had parked it on a hill and knew about these things ability to drain the fuel back to the tank so it didn't concern me too much. Eventually got it to fire and drove it home noticing a slight misfire on the way. Once home I popped the bonet and let it idle while I checked the fuel pipes for air leaks. The next thing I knew i was engulfed in a massive cloud of steam followed swiftly by a bing of the low coolant warning. This was not good.

 

Knowing full well what was happening I let it cool down, topped up the water and fired it up-a geyser ensued from the coolant reservoir.

 

Arses. 

 

Shitty weather and work commitments meant it was two weeks before I could start on it. Parts were accrued, swearing was done and the trader who sold me it eventually coughed up £150 as compensation. Trading standards said I had a case to return the car or get him to fix it but the reality was it would have dragged on for fucking ages and wasn't worth the hassle. 

 

Work was begun.

 

A ginger was involved-used for the dirty tasks as he was expendable

 

 

I love it when zip ties are a necessary part of a repair-keeping the timing all correct

 

 

A collection of parts was accrued.

 

 

Behold my shafts. 

 

 

This stage was reached fairly easily but then it all went wrong.

 

The timing chain has a plastic guide which is held into the head by two pins-these pins need to be removed leaving the guide attached to the block. The first one came out easily by extracting it using a bolt(it is threaded at the end) and a collection of washers/socket to pull it out. The second one had oher ideas as it had seized into the head and sheared off the bolt . We then drilled, tapped, and tried again. Nothing. We had to give up for the night by that point but my (t)rusty ginger associate came back along a few nights later and again we tried-nothing. Eventually I managed to get it out the following night-3 broken drill bits, 3 sheared off bolts and a fuckload of swearing later and the fucker was off and in the boot of the Skoda.

 

Worst thing was I missed a Scotoshite meet due to this fucking thing. I rewarded myself with a donner pizza though once the head was off....

 

 

Head off and into the machine shop to get tested-turned out it had gone porous and couldn't be repaired. Joy.

 

Of to Upullit on the Saturday and a head was liberated from a 300td in there-two guys who were scavenging the same car watched as I had the head off in record time in a howling gale-"Have you done that before?" Yes, oh yes... Timing chain guide was destroyed leaving the pins in the head and once home they were successfully pulled out-easier the second time round....

 

Unknown quantity though, I took a punt on it despite it looking like this when i found it...

 

 

Back down to the engineering place and this head one was a good one. passing the pressure test.  I didn't want to put it on and find stem oils were knackered-it was also pretty manky looking having sat for a while and had a fair bit of carbon in the ports. After it passed the pressure test i gave the goahead for a refurb and came back a couple of days later to this.

 

 

That's more like it!

 

Easter weekend and 4 days off-by the end of the Friday I just had aux belt and radiator left to refit. By Lunchtime on Saturday the fucker fired up and purred, well growled. These are meaty big old school diesel engines and sound lovely. A water leak meant I had to take the inlet manifold back off but once that was fixed I was happy. I've given it an oil change and done about 40 miles so far and it all seems leak free and performing well. Now I can go back to the list of things from when i first got it nearly a month ago, oh and maybe actually drive the thing... 

[HillmanImp]

Well done, I would have probably got my money back and sacked it off and bought something different as I have no sense of adventure.

[PiperCub]

^^^ Likewise.

[Lord Sterling]

Bloody hell Dome! Thats some work!

 

I reckon most people would've sacked off the car and got thier money back, so well done on persevering. At least your car is back together, mine probably still isn't but it will be!

 

My cap is duly doffed.

[Morgan84]

I would have wanted more compensation than that, but full marks for persevering with the car; these are a lovely car Keep the underside pipes and bodywork well rust proofed and she should last a while

[dome]

Thanks guys. Sadly money back wasn't an option, not without a lengthy and costly battle. Safe to say don't buy a car from Don Motors in alloa...

[Pete-M]

They're great cars. Mine is also V reg but a 320 cdi face lift job.

 

When I saw the first pix of yours I did a double take at the reg.

[messerschmitt owner]

I've the 3.2 turbo - do these really run veg?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Now that is seriously flipping impressive. Nice work!!!! NUFF RESPECK!!!!!

[Lacquer Peel]

I've the 3.2 turbo - do these really run veg?

It's the old 3.0 TD, still quite powerful though, 177bhp IIRC.

Great work, I'd have lost patience with it.

[skattrd]

I've the 3.2 turbo - do these really run veg?

 

Not the cdi common rail engine.

 

The earlier 250 and 300 OM605/6 do though ... but saddle tanks and o rings can cause issues.

[forddeliveryboy]

I've the 3.2 turbo - do these really run veg?

 

Not if it's a modern injection system (probably with an 'i' on the boot) instead of the whacking great inline piston pump on the side of the block.

 

Having said that, there was a blokey on the vegoildizzler forum a few years ago who joined up asking why more people weren't singing the praises of modern Mercs on vegoil - he had a two or three year old one which he'd run on 70-80% rapeseed oil for a year and a half, no probs - starting from sub-zero on the stuff. People were surprised, to say the least, perhaps the MB systems are better than on cheaper cars. The cost if things went wrong could easily be £thousands.

 

Having said that, it was only discovered that the pre-PD VAG TDis were happy on high %s of veg when the cars got so cheap it was worth a go. Many modern systems would run veg if the viscosity was within tolerance, which means starting (and stopping) on diesel and heating the veg first. Fords seem to be the cars which universally object, unless prehistoric.

[messerschmitt owner]

Not the cdi common rail engine.

 

The earlier 250 and 300 OM605/6 do though ... but saddle tanks and o rings can cause issues.

that's what I thought - mine is a 198bhp cdi and I thought it was a big no no. The cdi must have come in about 2000 so that's no fun - I think my UMM has a bosch pump though!

[320touring]

Good effort!

 

I'd huv rammed it rate up his jacksie.

[billyboy406v6]

Great save, always wanted one of these, where did the zip tie and bungee cord tip come from ?