1992 Mercedes 300d W124 Body With Om602 Engine on 2040-cars

VIN: WDBEB28D4NB798774 Year: 1992
Make: Mercedes-Benz
Model: 300-Series
Options: Sunroof, Cassette Player, Leather Seats
Safety Features: Anti-Lock Brakes, Driver Airbag
Drive Type: Rear wheel
Power Options: Air Conditioning, Cruise Control, Power Locks, Power Windows, Power Seats
Mileage: 102,000
Exterior Color: Gold
Interior Color: Tan
Warranty: Vehicle does NOT have an existing warranty
Number of Cylinders: 5
Trim: Leather trim

Condition: Used: A vehicle is considered used if it has been registered and issued a title. Used vehicles have had at least one previous owner. The condition of the exterior, interior and engine can vary depending on the vehicle's history. See the seller's listing for full details and description of any imperfections. ... 

For sale is a 1992 Mercedes Benz 300D.

The pictures say alot, but not all, about this car.

You will notice from the pictures, that they paint is hideous on this vehicle. This 300D has been an Arizona car it's entire life until I bought it. It then became a Southern Utah car. I live in the north eastern corner of the Mojave desert, still arid with only an average of 22% humidity. The Original paint on the car has weathered it's existence in the blazing sun of the southwest USA. The cars paint needs to be refinished to bring it back to it's glorious state. The original paint coupled with the miles for the year ( LOW - under 5000 miles on average) is the reason that I am selling the car in it's current condition. I had plans to drive this car for many , many more years, but alast the wife says it must go. She wants me to have something more family friendly!?! So what the boss says, happens.

A little history of the car.

• I bought it from a family that resides in Arizona. I bought it not running and not having been driven in at least 3-4 years most likely more due to the low miles.
• The son had bought the car and been deployed in the military, is my understanding. The mother decided to drive the car and that is when the catastrophic event occured. for one reason or another the engine overheated and the head had to be replaced. She bought the new Head and put it in the Trunk. That is when she parked it for years and I eventually stepped in and bought the unruninng sun baked car from the family.
• I put the car on a car hauler trailer and pulled it up to St George UT, where I reside.

The following are items that I have done and inspected on the car. My intentions were to drive this car for many more miles so I was not afraid to put money towards it. I have found that Mercedes of this era are fairly easy to work on, especially for what you get in return.

• I bought a head gasket kit, a Victor Reinz gasket set. I had the head tested for trueness and for leaks and cracks before I installed the head.
• I completely rebuilt the topend of the motor including honeing the cylinders ( which still had the factory crosshatching on the cylinder walls). Installed the new pressure checked head. Installed the camshaft and timing chain.
• Reassembled the entire motor with new gaskets and fuel lines as needed.I also replaced the fuel filters in the engine compartment. I replaced the fuel line coming out of the fuel tank and connects back to the steel factory lines. The Injectors are replaced with Monarch injectors, the only brand still made in Germany. Bosch are now made in India. All new glow plugs were put in their place. A new Pre Glow plug relay was installed. The fuel injection pump was reworked as the orings at the 5 fuel line connection points were shot.
• The Air filter was replaced.
• The motor oil was changed.
• The thermostat was replaced
• The Transmission filter and oil were changed. The transmission pan gasket was not changed. It leaks now. A new pan gasket has been purchased and is included with the car.
• The drive shaft rubber couplers have been inspected and are not in need of replacement at this time.
• The rear differential oil has been checked and is up to par.
• I installed a new battery
• The rear muffler hangers were a little suspect. I bought the upgraded ones and installed them. They are now new.
• After the inital start up I have replaced the radiator. ( see items car still needs for explanation.)The Radiator in the car is new within the past month.

At this point I decided to get it started. I initially cranked it over multiple times by hand to make sure that I did not have any interference in the motor. Once that was confirmed, I bught five gallons of diesel and put the new fuel into the empty tank. With the new battery in place I cranked it over. It did not start right away, probably due to the valvetrain requiring oil pressure. It did start and the valves ticked for a little while but after 15 or 20 minutes of running it began to smooth out. I took the car out for a test run and the trans shifted great and smoothly.

AFter I had the major mechanical items resolved in this car, I focused my efforts on the body mechanical functions. The following is a list of items that I have inspected or otherwise fixed.

Starting at the front;

• The front bumper was dangeling on the left front corner. I found out that the left bumper bracket had come unattached from the cover. I refastened it and installed the bumper bracket onto the bumper slide correctly. This resolved the unsightly front cover issue. It still has a couple cracks in the lower edge, probably from parking curbs.
• The hood is missing a safety catch release handle. The safety catch is there and working. I bought a new through the grill release handle, but I have not put it on yet. The hood is also missing the insulator pad on the under side. I bought a new one of these and have not put it on either. The paint on the exterior of the hood is peeling.
• LET IT BE KNOWN THAT THE PAINT ON EVERY EXTERIOR BODY PANEL NEEDS TO BE REDONE. Most is due to the sun baking the paint so much that the paint and or the clear coat has given up. It looks good from thirty feet. At night. With your eyes closed.
• The front fenders are not terrible. There are some dents on the right front corner, above the factory air duct that is cut into the passenger fender on these diesel cars.
• The windshield is BRAND NEW. It was cracked and rock chipped bad, so I replaced it.
• The front and rear doors are all there. I do have a used driver side mirror that will go with the car. The power windows work and the power window switches all work perfectly. All four doors open and close as designed. They close perfectly. All the glass is good and intact. There is aftermarket tinit on the back windows. The driver side rear door window tint will either need to be scrapped off or replaced. All the power door locks work effortlessly.
• The 1/4 panels are in great shape, other then the paint.
• The trunk lid is in great shape.
• The tailights were replaced with used ones. The sun must have had it's way with them. They were sun rotted. I replaced them with some factory used ones.
• ALL THE EXTERIOR LIGHTS ON THE VEHICLE WORK AS INTENDED. EVERY LAST ONE.
• The Horn works as intended.
• The front struts have been replaced with KYB brand.
• The front strut mounts have been replaced
• The brakes did not need any attention. They operate flawlessly.
• The tires were completly seperating and dryrotted. I replaced the factory rims with the pictured factory 18 inch Mercedes rims and tires. They fit perfectly and they required a little modifying of the body but NO cutting. I think they look great! IMO
• The rear struts seem to test ok so I have not replaced them.

The interior of the car is in good shape for the year. Not perfect but in good shape. Here is a list of items that I can think to comment on;

• The seats are in great shape. The drivers seat has no rips or tears in the seat or the back. The drivers head rest has a tear in it. I have another seat back with a head rest on it that will go with the car.
• The passenger seat was misdiagnosed as having a bent seat back. The previous owner had taken this advice and purchased a used seat back with the same color leather / leatherette. I have this and the seat back will go with the sale of the vehicle.
• The back seat is in good condition. There are no rips or tears. A pen was just magically writing on the back seat, says my seven year old. There is one blue ink line on the center section of the rear seat. The seat was initially taken out of the car to clean under the seat. It has been reinstalled.
• All of the door panels are in good shape.
• The dash is in good shape. There are no cracks in the black dash top pad. It is not a cover but it has been covered by a dash mat which saved the dash from cracking, IMO.
• All of the wood  in the car is in great shape EXCEPT for the center console. I started to peel the clear varnish off. The wood is still in great shape. I had plans to refinish it or to buy some carbon fibre sticker material and wrap the entire console in it.
• The dash center console is cracked in one place. The crack is in the tan part of the dash.
• The Sunvisor retaining clips are both broken. They need to be replaced.
• The center arm rest is still intact but the piping has some cracks in it, probably from the intense sun.
• The carpets are all in good shape. There are no floor mats or additional rubber mats.
• seat belts all operate as designed.
• Airbag is still in tact and appears to be the original unit.
• The radio works. All four speakers work
• The lighter works
• The glove box light works.
• The interior lights work. The rear light did work but it has now stopped. I have not inspected this but the bulb is probably bad.
• The rear head rests do NOT work. They are in the upright position and I have not investigated why they do not work.
• The sunroof does not open. It never has since i have owned the car. I have not worried about this that much.
• The rear antenna does not operate.
• All of the mirrors operate
• The insturment cluster operates as designed.

The car need's the following;

• The entire body needs to be repainted. There are a few dents that need to be repaired but the car is SUPER straight. I don't see any signs of major repairs. This is the only positive of seeing the paint in it's current state, you would be able to see any prior repairs. What you see is what you get. I am OBVIOUSLY not trying to pass off a bondo hog.
• The Radiator cooling fan needs to be installed. I have the fan blade and fan clutch to be ireinstalled. I did install this once and I thought I had tightened it enough, but I did not. The fan assembly bolt allowed the entire assembly to work it's way loose and wipe out the radiator while breaking the old fan blade. SO, I bought a new Nissen radiator and a used fan blade and clutch and new bolt. I have them and they will go with the car. I attempted to install the used fan clutch assembly but I believe the old bolt did some thread damage to the water pump. I have wired up the A/C fans to run full time when I turn a switch on. This keeps it at the perfect operating temperature, just above 80c.
• The A/C works but it needs something done with the air circulation system. The blower motor works. I think that that the A/C control unit or in other words the unit at the center console where you adjust the temperature and the function of the blower motor needs to be replaced. I bought a replacement control unit, but have yet to install it. I called a mercedes dealer and verified what the most recent control unit shows to have been superceded to. Then I bought one of these units. It is included with the car. As far as the A/C sysytem itself, I replaced the desicant dryer the pressure switch and the expansion valve. While all of this is done in 134A refrigerant I also had to suck the A/C refrigerant out, held the system under vacuum to insure that there was no leak in the system. Then once I verified that the system held a vacuum, I replaced the items and recharged the system. I KNOW the refrigerant in the system is new and up to snuff. 
• The transmission has an issue. It requires me to manually shift the transmission with the shifter in the center console. To expand on the status of the transmission, the transmission shifted all by itself after I got the vehicle running for the first time since I owned it. It kept shifting greatly until about a month ago. The transmission does not down shift by itself. For example, if I am running along at 40 mph and I floor the accelerator it does not down shift. If I need to down shift I need to manually put the shifter into 3 rd gear from D rive. Once I have passed or gotten past the obstacle I return the shifter to D and it smothly shifts into final drive gear again. The transmission works fine going down the freeway. I believe the problem is the kickdown actuator that is mounted on the drivers floor under the fuel pedal.
• The drivers seat worke fine on all adjustments. The passenger seat appears to operate on all front and back operations. The seat bottom does not appear to move up or down. Other than that the passenger seat operates fine.   

So the car as a whole is not bad. There are some issues that I have tried to be truthful about in my above BOOK of a sales brochure. YES the paint finish on the car is TOAST. No the car has not been worked and reworked and reworked. What you see is what you get. IMO it was well worth it for me to invest a little time to get the body and paint looking perfect on this car. A car that is hard to come by anymore. 36 MPG's without a car payment. These cars seem to run forever if they are taken care of. That's what I planned on doing, taking care of this car and driving it for quite a while. But as I have stated before what the BOSS says happens! It will be a great car for someone.