My 1979 300SD

[ziper1221]

Last weekend I bought a 1979 300SD for 1500$

The paint is not original, you can see the overspray up close.


Kind of a close fit in the garage, and some rust on the hood to take care of:


The carpet in the back window needs replacing, it is all nasty. Are those stock speakers? The first aid kit seems all original, and has instructions in German.


The seats are in decent condition, but the carpet could be replaced.


The dash is in pretty bad condition, but I dont want one of those dumb carpet covers.


A bit more rust.



As this is my first Mercedes, any suggestions would be appreciated. It seems to drive ok, although it wont go over about 75 mph.

[Squiggle Dog]

You have good taste in cars! I'm wondering if the hood has been replaced because 300SDs, as far as I know, all came with aluminum ones. It looks like someone did a quick respray in order to sell it, but it's definitely worth fixing (look at my paint--I probably have the worst paint of anyone on this forum). Those speakers are not original. They should be round. It sounds like your car needs the typical fuel filter changes, fresh fuel, and valve adjustments.

[nathan]

i dont think it was a full respray, or they would have gone over the pinstriping down the side?
wont go over 75mph? isnt that normal for a diesel?
good luck shining it up, hopefully it will provide you with reliable motoring and a bug for more mercs!

[TJ 450]

You can get the pinstripe from your local auto parts shop... It would have been applied after the respray I would imagine.

Tim

[Casey]

wont go over 75mph? isnt that normal for a diesel?

Not at all.  Even a 200D will do 84mph.  The 300SD is rated to do 103mph.  Change both your fuel filters and you'll probably notice an amazing difference.  Using a couple cans of diesel purge to clean out your injectors will help too.

[Casey]

I think your rear window seal is leaking.  You need to fix that sooner than later - I believe I can see delamination in the rear window already in your picture (any fogging or rusted defroster wires near the bottom?) and the cause of that is a neglected seal.  These windows aren't cheap new but you can sometimes find good ones used...sometimes...it's a very common problem.  When the rear window is neglected, you end up with a myriad of problems, including the rear window, but also deterioration of the rear seat pads, rusting of the rear seat frames, and rust to the chassis underneath the rear seat and/or floor carpets.  Pull out your rear seat (note the release switch on the front of each side) and see what things look like underneath...this will also be a great chance to clean out all the crap that's fallen into the seat crack over the years.  Check underneath the mat under the seat for rust, check the seat frame for rust, and check the condition of the pad above the springs (or is it gone and turned to piles of dust already?)...

You can see the rust I found under the rear seat of my el cheapo 300SD here:
http://forum.w116.org/test-drive/raptelan's-1979-300sd/msg97713/#msg97713

[nathan]

TJ,
you imagine wrong. the striping is the same as on the US classic centre white 6.9.
Raptelan, my G wagen used to only hit 125kmh (80mph?) when it had the 300 diesel in it!! sad to think a 200D would leave me behind!

interesting thing in pic i never noticed before. the flap lever for the middle vents is vertical between the air vents, not on the wood fascia as in our euro type 116s?!

ziper, with all the work involved, have fun driving the car for a while before you decide to invest time and money. 
regards
nathan

[Casey]

Raptelan, my G wagen used to only hit 125kmh (80mph?) when it had the 300 diesel in it!! sad to think a 200D would leave me behind!

I'd really like to drive a G wagen for a bit...just not enough to cough up the cash they go for...

interesting thing in pic i never noticed before. the flap lever for the middle vents is vertical between the air vents, not on the wood fascia as in our euro type 116s?!

That depends on the year.  This was the worldwide (afaik) standard for 1979/1980 W116's with ACC.  Older ACC cars did not have *any* flap lever, and the manual CC cars had it on the wood fascia.

[ziper1221]

Dang window regulator 

Is it worth buying a new one?



A little rust on the seat



Not much on the bottom, but I am afraid of pulling up the foam.

stuff about leaky window

I will not need to drive it for at least a year, so it should stay in the garage away from the rain while I work on it.



The engine is messy, dripping oil everywhere.




The only manual I have is for the 126, and a forum search gives nothing about valve adjustments.

Also, does anyone have information on converting the AC system over to r134 or something that still exists?

[koan]

The only manual I have is for the 126, and a forum search gives nothing about valve adjustments.

Covered in the library, 1979 300 SD, 617 Engine,  job 05-210, "Inspection and adjustment of valve clearance"

koan

[Casey]

That rubber L-shaped gasket on the top of the engine near the oil cap always ends up leaky when it gets old, and generally doesn't get replaced.  It's not a big deal but makes the engine a mess.  I need to replace a few of these myself...  Also that oil cap is definitely not OEM - I'm pretty sure I've got an extra OEM metal one if you want one...and I believe the rubber sealing rings on the originals can be replaced.

I'd try to find a new seat bottom frame if I were you, and transfer your existing pad/skin if they're in good shape.  The skins are not too terribly hard to remove but require care and there are wire ring/staple things you can't see underneath that bind the fabric layer to the pad on the edges to keep it stretched tight that I'm not too sure how to replace yourself yet - I need to find out as I intend on doing this soon...but an upholstery shop could do this for you professionally.

You might also want to check the condition of the upper frame of the rear seat.  It's held on by three bolts - one on each side of the car at the bottom, and one under the armrest in the center (you have to partially extend the armrest to get to it).  Then it lifts up off of brackets that secure the top, and pulls right out.

Window regulators can often be best back into workable shape, and yours doesn't look like it has any rust, so I'd try that first.

Valve adjustment is pretty straightforward and is the same on W126's up to 1985 but you'll need a set of feeler gauges and special wrenches to get to the adjustment bolts easily.  I've got this as it came with one of my cars - you can get an idea of what's needed and how it works from the pictures:  http://mercedessource.com/node/715  I generally like MercedesSource but I'm not sure why this kit is so expensive - you can find similar wrenches elsewhere or genuine Hazet ones if you want.

[ziper1221]

Covered in the library, 1979 300 SD, 617 Engine,  job 05-210, "Inspection and adjustment of valve clearance"
koan

Thanks.

Window regulators can often be best back into workable shape, and yours doesn't look like it has any rust, so I'd try that first

Even the potmetal ones? it has multiple cracks.

[Casey]

Even the potmetal ones? it has multiple cracks.

Hmm, I'm not sure.  Cracks doesn't sound good.

[ziper1221]

Does anyone know what this vacuum line does? It is skinnier than the rest. Also, a couple of the other lines are leaking pretty badly.

[Casey]

I'm not sure but I imagine all the vacuum connections should be well-documented in the service manual (available on this site).  I can take a bunch of pictures for you from my '79 next weekend...