Mercedes 240D

[Simon22]

Just bought it this week. 1981 240D, with a manual! Only 78k miles.

I'm a college student and I work part time as small engine mechanic, so I don't have a lot to spend on cars, but I think this will be a keeper! I've been looking for a manual diesel Benz for a while.

Comments welcome! Here are some various cellphone pics I took when I bought it. There is a little rust on the trunk, but I can't find any on the rest of the car and it's supposedly lived in TX its entire life. The interior is beautiful.

 

[AC1DD]

Congrats on a nice find!

That is a pretty rare stick model even when they were new.

 

[Lolvoguy]

If I were you, my first order of business would be to address that rust ASAP!
Also, isn't 78k miles kinda low to have that much rust? Was the odometer messed with?

 

[skyactiv]

Very NICE find! Those are a 180 in terms of reliability vs a modern Mercedes. It basically has the reliability and million mile plus capability like a semi.

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by Lolvoguy
If I were you, my first order of business would be to address that rust ASAP!
Also, isn't 78k miles kinda low to have that much rust? Was the odometer messed with?


Remember this car is now nearly 40 years old! Some parts of TX do have winter weather and they do salt there.

 

[Nick1994]

Nice car, I'd love to have one.

 

[Astro14]

One of my favorite cars. I inherited my father's 1981 240D when he died in 1991. A manual. With power windows.

Rust killed it, 8 years later, with only 235,000 miles on it. Huge parts of the floors and structure under the rear seat were simply gone.

Your car will run forever, if you can keep the rust under control. Have it checked carefully. Check for leaking seals around the front windshield and rear window.

Congratulations, Charlotte.

 

[THORROMIG]

Congrats on the classic!!!!

 

[bullwinkle]

Nice car! I would look for another trunk lid for it, looks like that's the only bad part. Very reliable, but not very fast-might outrun a loaded dump or concrete truck, but not much else.

 

[DallasTexas]

Charlotte congratulations. Join Peachparts Diesel forum, lots of experienced help there.

 

[DallasTexas]

Originally Posted by AC1DD
Originally Posted by Lolvoguy
If I were you, my first order of business would be to address that rust ASAP!
Also, isn't 78k miles kinda low to have that much rust? Was the odometer messed with?


Remember this car is now nearly 40 years old! Some parts of TX do have winter weather and they do salt there.

Very little salt if ever used in North TX. My 2006 CDI still looks good with metal parts still look like factory fresh.

 

[hemitruck]

Very cool car for your school years.

 

[Simon22]

Is some surface rust really that concerning? I see a lot of old trucks in my area with terrible paint and none of them seem to be rusting. Thankfully there's no rust anywhere else; I climbed all over the rest of the car and knocked at the underside with a hammer, and it was all solid. Would it be possible for a shop to use matching touch up paint and fix that spot? I'd like to have it looking nice whether the rust gets worse or not.

It is pretty slow. Built in ticket prevention! I've had faster cars before, and they were all cop magnets. But it holds 70 on the highway just fine. Also, just today I was checking out the throttle linkage and discovered so much slop that the lever from the injection pump isn't even opening all the way! There's a little rubber isolator in there that is rotten and stretched, and when I replace that I bet it will be even faster

. After that I need to find a service manual somewhere so I can fix the cruise control.

I will definitely be taking it to school with me. I will be like one of the rich kids, driving a Benz.

 

[Simon22]

Also is changing the oil with Rotella T4 15W40 a good idea? The previous owner said he used full synthetic 5W30 and that sounds waaay too thin to me.

 

[wings&wheels]

congrats! great car.

 

[loneryder]

Originally Posted by CharlotteB
Also is changing the oil with Rotella T4 15W40 a good idea? The previous owner said he used full synthetic 5W30 and that sounds waaay too thin to me.

+1 on the T4

 

[eljefino]

I had a couple of these... a 240D just like yours and a 300D with 2x the hp!

Get yourself a valve cover gasket-- the old one will be dry and crunchy. Adjust the valves. You'll need 2x 14mm wrenches, one probably ground a little thinner on the open end. Lots of power and smoothness is usually found by doing this. When the VC is off, put a wrench on the crank and check for timing chain slop. Changing both fuel filters is often-required maintenance. The oil filter is a treat, just wait until you see this contraption. I ran Mag-1 5w40 and the turbo was faster to spool up vs 15w40 but still got 1.5 Bar of pressure at hot idle. You have no turbo, of course, but could still find use in the premium oil if you choose.

That battery looks a little small, so when its replacement comes check to see what the correct one is.

The odometers break all the time on these-- there's a chance if you run a Carfax, you'll cry. But the condition of the car is what matters.

The brakes were a hot mess for me. 240d had a sticky pad that was mechanically hung up on its pins due to rust. Just had to file down the high spots. 300d had a bad master cylinder that wouldn't let fluid back up, so it was dragging the brakes slightly. Cooked both front calipers. Hoses were $4 on rock auto last time I checked, a good maintenance item. When they fail, they tend to boil fluid and you lose pedal.

My seat had a broken spring, so I stuffed a pool noodle in there.

The power window switches are rebuildable at home so you can clean the contacts. Just watch the springs and bb's inside-- they fly off. In a pinch you can swap driver and passenger sides, like to get a window up that's stuck down in the rain. Edit, you have crank windows. Sweet!

The steering box will be loose-- they all are-- they tighten by turning the big bolt on the box counter-intuitively counter-clockwise. There is only a limited amount of CCW available before you're just grinding the box to dust inside-- but it'll feel tighter then!

 

[MCompact]

Very nice! When I started my first job after college in 1983 I had a 1973 Bavaria. I can forgive a car of most anything but being boring. Enjoy!

 

[wings&wheels]

One other thought. I cant tell from the pics, but if it has its sealed beam headlights, replace them with quality "E Codes"; European spec Hella or Cibie H4's (avoid the knock off's). You will be very happy with the difference at night. Enjoy the car.

 

[MCompact]

Originally Posted by wings&wheels
One other thought. I cant tell from the pics, but if it has its sealed beam headlights, replace them with quality "E Codes"; European spec Hella or Cibie H4's (avoid the knock off's). You will be very happy with the difference at night. Enjoy the car.


Agreed; since about 1977 every car I bought that had sealed beams got a set of E Code Cibie or Hella headlamps. Even my 19 year old Wrangler.