Mercedes E300 Diesel?

notfarnow · 09-12-2006, 11:30 AM

Anyone have experience with 96+ Mercedes E300 Diesels?

Our current daily driver ('96 Jetta Diesel) has proven to be an unreliable #####, and I hate it. Great car to drive, terrible car to own. I bought it 2 years ago thinking it would be a 4-5 year car, but it's wearing me down. I'd like to get the winter out of it and then ditch it.

Next car has to be a diesel as well, so I'm very limited as to what I can get. After this car, another VW is out of the question. I really like the look of the 96 + Mercedes E300D, and figure it could be a good 10 yr car if taken care of. I'd really like a wagon.

I'm starting to see them for ~12-14k US, and it strikes me as a lot of car for the money. Anyone have experience with them?

Freybird · Freybird's Garage

I'm also leaning toward the E300 as my '87 300d is pushing 250000miles. I've had it for the last 70000 nearly trouble free miles. In all it still runs very well.
I'm interested to see more replies to this thread.

Porsche virgin · 09-12-2006, 12:10 PM

You may want to try to get some info on the below forum. I've tooled around there on occasion, as I'd love an all-wheel-drive diesel wagon.

Good luck.

http://www.mercedesshop.com/shopforum/

notfarnow · 09-12-2006, 04:49 PM

Hmm...

Here's a high-miler in PA:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/96-E300D-E300-300-DIESEL-HIGHWAY-MILES-WELL-MAINTAINED_W0QQitemZ270026037014QQihZ017QQcategory Z6335QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Although I'd question the reliability of the dealer:
"This vehicle needs nothing and is ready for the cross-country trip home."
Look at the tires!

Anyway, hopefully someone can chime in with their experiences.

Freybird; Is the 87 a 5 or 6 cylinder? My father has an 83 300sd and it's been a great car. I've done some work on it and really enjoyed it... nicely laid out, quality materials and good engineering. Plus, parts weren't really that much more than VW, which surprised me.

Porsche virgin, thanks for the link. I've spent some time lurking over there in the past. Lots of knowledge, but they seem SO partial to the make that it's hard to tell how objective they are.

ben parrish · 09-12-2006, 04:50 PM

My father has a 96 E300 Diesel with around 290k on the clock. Bought new and serviced according to schedule. Great car without a question. Make sure the wiring harness has been changed as the wire coating has a vegetable based covering that degrades over time by design??? He planned on getting 300k before buying another one; will be there in another 8 months or so. Rarely been to the shop for anything unscheduled. The idle sensor switch can fail for the a/c and cause a rough idle.
Mercedes diesels are wonderful and reliable cars. This is his fourth diesel from them. The old non-turbo ones were SLOW; anyone remember the 240D? Talk about a slow slug but you would get 300k out of them and keep on rolling.

notfarnow · 09-13-2006, 04:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ben parrish
My father has a 96 E300 Diesel with around 290k on the clock. Bought new and serviced according to schedule. Great car without a question. Make sure the wiring harness has been changed as the wire coating has a vegetable based covering that degrades over time by design???

Ben, was it the entire wiring harness that had to be replaced, or just a specific section? Also, is the '96 E300D a turbo? I read somewhere that they were only turbocharged from 98 on, but it seems to me I've seen 96 turbos online.

Freybird · Freybird's Garage

Jake,
The '87 is a 6 cylinder. I have read that it is less reliable than the old 5 cylinder. I cannot confirm this through my experience however. Only problem I've had was blown seal in the turbo which necessitated a replacement turbo.
On another note, I've heard that very few mods are required to convert a Diesel Benz to run on vegetable oil. (?)

chuckw951 · 02:32 AM

I have a 1995 E300D which has the same engine (OM606) as the 1996 model except with the older body style (w124). The 1996 models are the 210 body style.

Watch out for the glow plugs! With the OM606 engine carbon builds up on the glow plugs which means they can get stuck in the head. My shop was able to remove 5/6 glow plugs but then the 6th plug got stuck. Had to pull the head (and send it to a machine shop) to fix it correctly. Lots of labor involved $$$

But other than that it's been a great car. I get 32-37mpg consistently. I have 173K miles on my car.

One other thing about 1996-2000 210 Mercedes....occassionally the front spring perches rust out....big problem. There's more about these cars at:
http://www.mercedesshop.com/shopforum/forumdisplay.php?f=15

Here's a picture of my car's engine bay during the glow plug fiasco.