Disappointment

[FIND]

So anyways, I've always been a fan of those early 80s Mercedes Diesels. I don't know how many people here are familiar with W123s, but anyways, I finally found one that looked like it was in great shape locally that seemed like a reasonable price. It is only 2 and a half hours away, so I figure great, I'll have a look, probably buy it, and nerd out on it for a while.

It's a little dirty and the paint on the hood is bad, I'll admit, other than that, dream come true. But I slow myself down a bit, and start thinking rationally again. I had talked to the guy quite a bit over the phone about the car, and I thought he had been pretty straight forward to me, but I thought he might have left some stuff out, and there were a few little concerns I had. Plus, seeing the tires, I couldn't help but wonder why they were so badly dry rotted.

So, I start asking him more questions. Turns out he had the car for 5 years now, and he only drove it when he first bought it, for about 500 miles, then parked it after it had been next to a house fire that melted some of the trim on the side, some of the tint in one window, and cracked the windshield. He was planning on fixing it, but..... Little more than half a tank of #2 diesel, probably half of that was water...... I tried getting some information out of him on its maintenance history, since it did have 260,000 miles on it afterall. Those OM617a turbo-diesels last forever, and are nearly indestructible, but there is still basic maintenance they need. He had no clue about it, other than the services that were written in the owners manual for the first 140,000 miles. No idea if the timing chain had been changed, no idea if injectors had been changed. You don't want to know what the coolant looked like.....

Anyways, talking to him originally, sounded like a car I could pick up and drive home. I offered him a thousand bucks and said I could come back in two days with a truck to tow it. He declined, I told him call me in the spring when he still has it.

I can't help but feel my day was wasted.

/rant

 

[Frogman]

The diesel in the tank is likely still good, so long as the fuel cap is sealing properly. No other way for moisture to get in the tank, really. Sure, evaporation canisters, etc, but those have check valves on them.

And yes, it does look like it's in bad shape. But you can get an oil sample and send it off to get it analyzed. You would be amazed what an oil sample can tell you. I highly recommend Blackstone Laboratories. I spend a couple of grand a year with them on samples for various engines. And I get the 18 dollar per sample price, not the 25 dollar price.

You can find out when the tires were made (and likely installed soon thereafter) by reading the date code on the tires. That will give you an idea of how long the tires have been on the car. Rotted, I understand. But it's another clue to this car's past.

Timing chain and injectors are easy to check if they have been changed. Look for socket marks on the nuts and bolts associated with such operation(s).

 

[FIND]

Nah, nothing looked like it had been opened up in the engine, then again it would have been hard to tell as long as it had been sitting, diesel fuel smelt horrible, tires were from 2002, last time the oil was before the guy bought the car in 2005. I just wasn't gonna take the chance with the car, could have been too much of a money pit. PH of the coolant was way off and it looked like death. The guy only wanted $2050 to begin with, but that was just too much for it. You can get good clean running ones for $1800 or less. They are just rare in my area. Either way, I didn't feel like picking up a potential money pit. I can keep looking, not like I need the car immediately.

I was a diesel mechanic for around 10 years, I still have half a dozen oil test kits left. My supplier sold them for the price of the test, I mail them in with the return address on it, they send me the analysis.

I did also look at a pickup on my way home, then "test drove" a mustang to cheer myself up.

 

[k9t8m]

I run into that crap all the time.

MY girlfriends mom is kind of down on her luck and she started having issues with her s10 blazer. so i looked at it and decided the best thing to do was to sell it and find something more reliable since she didnt have the money to put into the blazer to make it run better.

i found a mini van with low miles for sale that the guy said "no body damage or rust" and ran perfect. He told me the interior was clean and i was getting a hell of a deal since he needed the money.

So silly me, I drive 100 mi to look at it and its a complete turd. Tires are dry rotted, almost every panel is a different color from previous repair, rear bumper is all smashed up, headliner is wet, carpets wet and moldy, seats stained, reeks of smoke, one of the windows doesnt roll down, 5k mi over on his oil change, etc.

So of course I was immediately pissed. I wasted almost 2 hours driving to look at it and its not even remotely how he described it.

No big deal, you cant win them all.

The best part is he text me and says he goggled my phone number and sees I have had quite a few cars for sale, which is true. He accuses me of trying to sell his van for a profit after I already told him the van was for my girlfriends mom. Of course I deny it because its not true. He starts threatening me and calling me all these names and says hes going to come burn my house down.

I couldnt believe it. All this for a $2k car.

On a positive note, we did buy her a van last night and she loves it.


okay you can have your thread back now lol.