1991 Mercedes Benz 350SDL

This beautiful car was the daily driver of a Kansas VW/Audi dealer. He donated it to the local Catholic church and was registered to the Priest of the parish. I've got service records to substantiate this. When the Priest died. the dealer got the car back. and I bought it from him. via Ebay. in May 2005. with 181. 00 miles. The car was in absolutely great condition. especially considering the mileage. I've still got a paper copy of the eBay ad. This body series was made from the early 1980's. as the 300SD/SDL. ith a 3 liter diesel engine. then Mercedes upgraded the car to a 3. 5 liter engine for the last 2 years. 1990-1991. renaming it the 350SD/SDL. They were great cars. roomy. great handling. great fuel efficiency (24-30+mpg on diesel). and plenty of power to go up any hill. with the turbocharged diesel. Unfortunately. the 3. 5 liter engine had a design flaw. bending connecting rods. and causing catastrophic engine failure. I bought the car knowing this; I had researched the issue. and the solution is to replace the 3. 5 engine with the earlier 3. 0 engine. which didn't have this flaw. In July 2005. the engine blew. and I found a '87 300D motor that had 90. 00 miles on it and had it installed. at about 210. 00 miles on my cars odometer. At the cars current odometer reading. doing the math. the newer 3. 0 engine had about 245. 00 very easy miles on it. nbsp;with oil/filter change done religiously every 5k. As far as power between the 2 engines. the specs for the 3. 0 engine actually has more horsepower than the 3. 5 engine it replaced. and it has plenty of power. If you know anything about how these diesels drive. they won't win a drag race. but will pull strongly all the way to top speed. I drive very gently. for the best mpg. and it's driven no more than 60-65 on the highway. and I get a minimum of 24 mpg combined city/hwy mileage. and frequently more like 25 or 26 mpg. overall. The cars fuel tank hold approx 26. 5 gallons. and can go upwards of 700 miles on a fillup; no other full size sedan does that. I could go on and on about the car. but basically. I planned on keeping the car forever; I've addressed every mechanical need over the nearly 11 years I've owned it. Though the front seats weren't bad at all. in Jan/2012 I spent $2000 on new front seat Leathers; they are essentially new still. the horsehair pads underneath were still in great shape. and the seats remain very comfortable. The electric seat motors for both still work fine; the switches controlling the seats are a little fussy. but still work in all directions. The electric sunroof transport mechanism was rebuilt maybe about 2005. and the sunroof works perfectly in both positions. We converted the A/C to R-134 years ago and rebuilt the climate control computer about 6 years ago. The climate control works great. Every couple of years I need to recharge the A/C. but that is to be expected and the A/C is very cold. and the heater will bake brownies in there. at full blast. All the power windows work well. the drivers power mirror works. I have an aftermarket Kenwood Excelon stereo installed; it automatically recognizes an iPhone and is setup for hands-free. as well as being XM and Pandora ready. The speakers always sounded GREAT. so I just assumed they'd been replaced with aftermarket ones; last year. we took off one door panel and found that they're the original equipment Mercedes speakers. Quite some time ago. I had original euro Bosch glass headlight lenses installed; they look great and don't have any sort of stone chips or cracks. All the instrument panel gauges work; the gas gauge. when it gets down to about 2-3 gallons. nbsp;drops the needle to the post. but it was that way when I bought the car and it's such a minimal issue that I've never had it worked on. The cruise control amplifier was rebuilt by Peter in Morro Bay. Ca (known coast to coast for this) early on. but just recently the CC stopped coming on. Could be the underhood part; haven't needed it. so haven't had it looked into. In about 2005. there was a dime sized area of corrosion under the rear window rubber. I had connections in the car industry. and ended up having the car shot in a really good. 2 stage paint job. Color sanded after that and it still looks great. other than 2 small areas of corrosion again under the rear glass. I always park in the rear of parking lots. and never in tight spaces; there's a total of about 3 parking lot dings on the car. otherwise the car is completely straight. I powder coated the wheels in Mercedes Dove Grey. (factory color) and they look like new. No curbing or rash. The tires are in fine shape. In 2009. I electively asked my mechanic to do a front to rear evaluation of the car. We ended up refurbishing all of the rubber components of the front suspension. It it solid and tight. BTW. these cars have an extremely tight turning circle. completing a U-turn in spots a Honda might be unsuccessful in. The car was maintained by a local Mercedes only shop and all work was done there. I've got receipts for most all. Various repair work done: Purchase 5/04 181. 00 miles 3. 0 Engine 7/05 210. 00 Complete Front Suspension rebuild 2/09 252. 00 Rebuilt cylinder head. valves. nbsp;glow plugs 11/09 262. 00 Rebuilt Injection Pump 12/11 295. 00 New Front Seat covers 1/12 Steel Fuel Lines 5/12 Alignment 12/12 325. 00 Climate Control Vacuum motors 4/11 New Mercedes Battery 5/2012Repaint Front/Rear bumpers. color and clearcoat 9/2011 4 wheel brakes/ New front rotors 5/13 335. 00 miles In about 2011. the transmission was acting up so at approximately 300. 00 miles I had my Mercedes mechanic install a German rebuilt unit. Unfortunately I've been unable to locate the receipt. and my mechanic has retired and closed shop. Again. all work was done at Star Automotive. in San Luis Obispo. The transmission has been trouble free. As is. hopefully apparent. I have attended to everything this car has needed. and was planning on keeping this car as my daily driver. as it is just wonderful to drive. but plans have now changed. We have decided to buy a big. rear engine. diesel pusher motor coach. and full time in it. We need a car that can be towed behind. and this car certainly doesn't fit. So. it's up for sale. There is one thing that will need attention. not right away. but in the future. The radiator has plastic tanks on the side. common in most vehicles. The seams have begun to seep. There is NO coolant leaking. and none needs replacing. but the seams are just starting to show the moisture. Mercedes used Behr radiators forever. and Behr no longer makes this radiator. Luckily. a custom radiator shop. in New York. WizardCooling. com makes the exact. replacement unit. On Wizard Coolings website. it's under the 1987 Mercedes spec. but I have researched this and Mercedes used the exact same radiator. and the same part number (MB p/n 126 500 53 03) for the 300 and the 350 model cars. Wizard currently charges $699 for the all aluminum radiator. Should be a pretty easy replacement. This is such a nice. elegant example of totally solid older Mercedes cars. I hope someone takes it home and keeps enjoying it. On Feb-23-15 at 19:48:36 PST. seller added the following information:One last thing; with all the typing above. I forgot to mention. the car has a small oil drip. as do all of the older diesels. I have a typical oil drain pan that takes care of it. On Feb-24-15 at 15:34:53 PST. seller added the following information:One more last thing. The drivers seatbelt warning buzzer (when the key is in the ignition) doesn't buzz anymore. On a positive note. the central locking system works fully. nbsp;and the fuel tank is completely full.