I bought my 1982 300 TDT in 1993 with 144,000 miles (231,000 k) on
it.  It ran pretty good, but had a little blow by.  Blow by is an
indication of how well an engine has been maintained.  It happens when
the valve guides or rings or both are worn.

You can easily check for excessive blow by.  With the motor not
running, loosen the oil filler cap on the valve cover.  Then, either
start the engine yourself or have someone else do it.  If the valve
cover opening starts to look like a wildcat gusher in the movie
"Giant" you know the engine has problems.

I have the wagon with the hydraulic load levelers in the back.  As
long as you change the fluid and filter in the system annually they
seem to last forever.   Shortly after I got my wagon I drove it
through the very rugged and remote Saline Valley in Death Valley
National Park.  Midway through on a day when it was 125 degrees F I
realized that all the fluid had leaked out of the system.  I should
have just filled it with motor oil, but, stupidly, I filled it with
brake fluid (I happened to have extra of both with me).  The seals and
gaskets in the system are not impervious to brake fluid, I learned to
my great regret (ruined $1200 worth of parts).  Then for a time,
before I figured out the seals problem, after I drained the system I
refilled it with the very thin hydraulic fluid Mercedes sells for $20
a liter.  The system takes 4 liters or so.  The fluid level kept going
down in the hydraulic system and the oil level in my engine kept going
up.  Eventually I figured out that the hydraulic fluid in the load
leveler was leaking past a seal in the pump into the engine oil.

So I was running my engine with very thin oil that was partly
hydraulic fluid.  So I started using engine oil in the hydraulic
system, figuring that at least that way I was just leaking engine oil
into the engine.  I ran that way for several years.  Eventually I
replaced the pump on the load leveler.  But I didn't go back to
running the Mercedes hydraulic fluid.  I run regular petroleum based
Automatic Transmission fluid and it works great.  I am not sure how it
would do in -25 weather, but here in the Eastern Sierra where 0 F is
about as cold as we get it works fine.  If it's that cold my old
engine would not start anyway.

But my main point is this; my engine, which was probably not terribly
well maintained for its first 231,000 kilometers and ran for several
thousand miles on thinned out oil in the hot desert, just finally went
to the remanufacturer, about 12 years after the first leaking into the
engine from the pump.

I got 396,500 miles (638,000 kilometers) out of it.  I will get more
out of the remanufactured engine if I live that long because I will
change the oil every 2000 miles (3200 K) from day one.  And this is
going to be like a brand new engine because I am having them sleeve
the block and put in standard pistons.

If you can find a wagon, go for it.  They are great and I can stretch
out in the back to sleep and I am 6' 2" tall.  I have the 7 passenger
model and with the hydraulic load leveler the car rides level and true
if you have one person and the same with 7 in the car.  But save some
money and use automatic transmission fluid in the load leveler!

On May 27, 4:44 pm, "-->> T.G. Lambach <<--" <"T.G. Lambach at
NoHamorSpamcomcast.net"> wrote: