Last week, I had an all-too-brief chance to finally get some work done on the 1983 Mercedes. I actually hadn't laid hands on it in nearly six months. It's not that I haven't been busy. After I installed the used engine in 2012, I wasn't able to stop the unexpected leaking. So, this spring I made the decision to replace the Vanagon's head gaskets. As I've never done the job before, it took quite a while to get that done. But, I've been happy with the results.
After that, I had summer to contend with, which included a business trip and a vacation far from home. When I got back, I picked up the 1979 Mercedes parts car, which I spent six weeks or so working on and taking apart. When I was done with that, I had to deal with the unexpected steering rack failure on my wife's daily driver, which led me to decide, ultimately, to replace the car, which is what brings me to where I am now.
The obvious choice would have been another Subaru, but that's not really an option anymore, as far as I'm concerned. My relationship with the Subarus started with my 1994 Legacy L. I bought that car with 204,000 miles on it and drove it (with basic maintenance and a few repairs) for four years and nearly 90,000 miles until I sold it in favor of my (far less reliable) 1990 Volkswagen Jetta diesel (big mistake). Since then, my wife and I have had many Subarus, several of which have been amazingly reliable. However, and this is only anecdotal gut instinct, I think that Subaru may have made some sort of production change in the EJ22 engine. My 1994 Subaru was insanely reliable, and never burned or leaked a drop of oil. Similar story with my wife's 1993 Legacy L and her 1993 EJ18 Impreza.
However, as the first generation cars became scarce, we moved on to the second generation Legacies. My 1995 EJ22 Legacy L burned oil and eventually all but lost compression in cylinder 2. Although I compression tested my replacment 1995 Legacy L Outback (EJ22 again) at time of purchase, cylinder 2 started showing some symptoms this summer. Lately, it's been behaving itself. So, even though the engine and transmission in my wife's 1995 Legacy are healthy, I don't want to take a chance on another unknown Subaru that will be almost guaranteed to have serious rust issues.
So, I did some research and narrowed the list of potential replacement cars to older Toyota Camries (just seeing them on the road around here suggests to me that they don't have as serious rust issues as the Subarus), which are known to be reliable, and on the recommendation of a friend and former Volvo mechanic, old Volvo 850's or S70/V70's. As we like station wagons for their utility, combined with the fact that at this age, there's little if any price penalty for a station wagon, I opted to limit my search to 850 and V70 wagons.
I even considered the Volvos way back in January when I was shopping for a replacement car for my old 1995 Legacy. But, I couldn't find a good one back then. I've been looking for a few weeks, and finally bought THIS:
(it even came with snow tires)
It needs a boatload of maintenance and a few repairs, but looks like a solid base for a daily driver that I should have on the road in a few weeks. THEN, I'll be back to working on the 240D, unless there's another unexpected interruption.
So, I've been delayed in getting back to working on the Mercedes. I've been putting the Outback together, but mostly have been delayed by weather. It's snowed pretty much every weekend for the past month. But, I try to do at least a little something each week.
So far, I've done the following:
transmission fluid flush
changed front differential fluid
changed spark plugs
new air filter
new PCV valve
fixed interior lighting
installed stereo from my old car
fixed/replaced broken/missing interior trim
replaced missing alternator tensioning assembly
replaced accessory drive belts
replaced valve cover gaskets
replaced vehicle speed sensor 2
replaced battery
I still have a few more items to take care of, but the weekend weather has slowed me down significantly. But, I'm daily driving the car and am getting closer to having the car caught up on its maintenance items. Once that's done, I'm getting back to work on the diesel.
Here's a few pictures of this weekend's work (the speed sensor replacement):
I'll leave you with a few videos I've done of some repairs to the Outback:
I've been away from the Mercedes project for a few weeks now. The daily driver Subaru took a turn for the worse and lit a fire under me to get a replacement car sooner rather than later.
I hadn't seen any promising Toyotas or Hondas in a while. I came to my senses and pretty much scratched Volkswagens off the list after I went to see the Jetta that wouldn't start. Pretty much every Volvo I looked at needed a lot of expensive work. I even got to the point where I was considering rear wheel drive Mercedes, just to have something reliable.
Well, as I said, the Legacy kept getting worse. The check engine light was constantly on, and blinking with alarming regularity. Plus, the engine's idling was getting even choppier, and I believe it was using oil at an increasing rate.
Two weeks ago, I saw an ad for yet another potential replacement car - a 1995 Subaru Legacy L... Outback. This was a 2.2L car with an automatic transmission. Based on the ad and a phone conversation with the seller, it sounded like the car was in decent shape. So, that Saturday morning, I packed my wife's car with an assortment of tools and we drove an hour to see the Outback.
It was a first-year Outback and even the same Mica Ruby color as both our other Legacies. It wasn't perfect by any means. It was wearing beat-up alloy wheels and had a green hood from an old fender bender, and had bumps and bruises all over. Plus, it was sitting on an ugly set of beat-up alloy wheels. But, my philosophy is that an old Subaru should look used, much like an old truck. The interior had been cleaned - something I hadn't seen in a used car in quite some time.
The car started right up and sounded pretty good. The test drive went pretty well, so with the seller's permission, I pulled out the spark plugs (old, worn-out, and nearly seized into the cylinder heads) and ran a compression test. Compression was healthy across all four cylinders, so we made a deal and I drove home in my new daily driver.
I spent most of the rest of the weekend swapping parts over from the old car, starting with the correct Mica Ruby hood and my wheels. Then, I put the old car up for sale on Craigslist. Unfortunately, with winter weather and street parking bans, I had to get rid of the old car quickly. In its condition, the only interest I had was from junkyards, and for a lot less than I wanted. But, the car was getting needier by the day. At the last moment, a co-worker who was painfully aware of the car's mechanical condition showed interest and I let him have it for scrap value. He intends to repair or replace the engine. So, the old car will live.
I've been driving the "new" car pretty much every day and handling maintenance and repair items as time allows. New spark plugs are now installed, which is a good thing, as the old ones were worn to twice the recommended gap. I also flushed the transmission, which made a big improvement in the way the car shifted. I'm still trying to properly dial in the fluid level, but it's close now.
Overall, I'm happy with the new car. Once it's caught up on needed repairs, I'm going to move back to the Mercedes project.
My last blog post was around Christmas. To recap, the misfire problem on my 1995 Subaru Legacy (which I thought I'd fixed last Spring with a new cylinder head...) returned in late December. Rather than throw parts at the problem again, I opted to cut straight to the heart of the matter and run another compression test. My P0302 code was caused by low compression in cylinder 2. Cylinders 1, 3, and 4 tested OK.
More accurately, the low compression was causing (over time) carbon buildup in cylinder 2 that in turn interfered with combustion. I bought some Seafoam spray and fogged the engine through the throttle body. I ended up doing this several times. In the end, I probably ran a can and a half through the engine. Just after Christmas, the wife and I took my car to visit my family (200 mile trip). The Legacy made it there without a hiccup, but the CEL came back on while we were there. Thankfully, it didn't blink - it just went on and stayed lit. I had my scanner with me, and once again - P0302.
We made the return trip a few days later. The car drove OK, but I had a few seconds of blinking. Once we got home, I put a can of Techron in with the next gas fill-up, and once again, cleared the codes. I've been driving the car for over two weeks now, and although for some reason the car isn't yet showing readiness, there are no pending trouble codes, and that's in around 1,000 miles of driving. So, in the end, the Seafoam and Techron cleared out the carbon buildup.
The car is perfectly driveable, and I've always known to keep the oil level in check. But, now that I know for a fact the engine is less than 100%, I think it's time for me to move on. The car still has some life in it - a lot of life, probably. But, I want something a bit more hassle-free for the long distance driving I do.
So, I decided to start looking for a new (to me) car. My first choice, obviously, was another EJ22 Subaru Legacy, or perhaps another EJ18 Subaru Impreza. Of course, it didn't take me long to realize that both are an endangered species at this point. There are very few left in the northeast that aren't overpriced high mileage rustbucket. So, I decided to expand the scope of my search for the first time in years to include other makes and models.
My first instinct was to stick with the Japanese cars. So, I started searching for 1990s-era Hondas (Civic and Accord) and Toyotas (Corolla and Camry). Among them, my top choice was the Camry. I quickly learned that most of the for sale by owner ads for the Japanese cars are run by shady small-time car flippers and dealers posing as private sellers. I've been in that situation before - that's how I ended up with my current Legacy.
I test drove a Camry, but it turned out to be a dealer posing as a private seller, so I walked on principle, even though the car seemed OK at first glance (I had reason to suspect hidden problems). Note to that particular dealer - if you want to describe an interior as "mint," take the duct tape off the dashboard first.
I even (against my better judgement), went to check out a 2000 VW Jetta. But, at $1200, it wouldn't even start for a test drive.
I've been keeping an eye out for Toyotas, but a co-worker actually clued me into another car to keep on my radar - 1990s Volvo 850 and V70 station wagons. I've always liked Volvos, but we haven't had a decent one in the family yet. But, I did some reasonably intense research and liked what I saw. The Volvo shot to the top of my list.
I've test driven 2 850s already. I'm still considering the first one, but the second one had too many problems. I have an appointment to test drive a 1998 V70 also, which is essentially a lightly-updated 850.
Even pushing 200,000 miles, these cars feel about 10X more solid than the Subaru Legacy, have a good reputation for reliability (overall, with some well documented problems and fixes), and most importantly, are well within my price range. For the cost of a rusty Legacy, I can get a much nicer Volvo. So, that's what sold me, and that's what I'm looking for.
Of course, if the right Legacy, Impreza, or Camry comes along at the right price, I'll probably jump on it.
Well, it looks like this may be the beginning of the end. If you've been following along, you know that I replaced the cylinder head in my 1995 Subaru Legacy daily driver earlier this year, which supposedly cured a misfire issue I;d been having.
As of this past week, the misfire is back, unfortunately. The car threw the same P0302 code again. I did a compression test and verified that I have low compression in cylinder 2. This is the same test I did back in April. I had meant to re-test the car after replacing the cylinder head, but never got around to it. Earlier this year, cylinder 2 clocked in at around 70 PSI. This time, it's showing around 100 psi, which is still bad compared to the other three cylinders, which are showing 165, 165, and 160.
I'm not 100% sure why the misfire took so long to return, but it may be because I cleaned the carbon buildup off the cylinder 2 piston when I replaced the cylinder head. To buy myself some more time, I ran a can of Seafoam through the car this past weekend and replaced the spark plugs. As it is, I think I'll get through the winter (most likely with the check engine light coming on at times). But, come springtime, I'm hoping to be driving the Mercedes project, and hopefully can start looking for a "new" daily driver.
I was hoping for more miles out of this car (I've put around 45,000 very well maintained miles on the car as of now). But, the car has never run quite right for me. I'm guessing that cylinder 2 has been problematic for as long as I've owned the car, most likely due to mistreatment by a previous owner.
Because of the car's overall poor cosmetic condition, including rust, a rear suspension crossmember that's suspect, an aging transmission, an already-patched gas tank, a leaky cooling system, and numerous other issues, it's probably not worth it for me to try and replace the engine, and rebuilding it is out of the question. So, I'm most likely going to end up replacing the car. With what? Time will tell.
As of my last post, I had just gotten my daily driver Legacy back on the road after a cylinder head replacement. All went well there, and the car has been back in daily service, seeing around 90 miles per day since then.
So, now that I had transportation again, I decided to get back to working on the Vanagon again. I spent the next few weekends working on it, starting with installing the flywheel on the new engine. Eventually, I got the engine bolted into place and installed.
Finally, last weekend, I got the engine to start, albeit briefly. It doesn't seem to be getting fuel, so I suspect that either the fuel pump went bad from sitting dry for six months (I drained the gas tank when I put the van into storage), or there's a blockage somewhere. I need to do further diagnosis.
But, here's a video of it starting on starting fluid (sounds pretty good for an engine that sat for at least a year and a half):
I would have done more diagnostics this weekend, but I was busy with something else... As you may remember from previous posts, I've been looking for a new car for my wife for quite some time now. I finally found it, and it's something familiar:
No, you're not looking at my 1995 Legacy. This is my wife's... 1995 Legacy. Actually, the only difference between the cars is that hers has an automatic transmission, fewer miles on it (115,000), and has a working air conditioner. I didn't buy the same exact car on purpose. It was just the first decent 2.2L Legacy I've seen in my price range in a while. I've been buying tune-up and repair parts all week and will be working on this car shortly. Once it's done, I'll be selling the 320,000 mile green Impreza.
When we last left off with our intrepid blogger (yours truly), I spent the past winter driving a 1990 Volkswagen Jetta Gl diesel. If you read my last blog entry, you know I didn't enjoy it one bit. I was going to hold off selling it until spring, but I just reached my limit with the car's issues, and decided to sell it and take my chances finding a replacement car.
I was on Craigslist within an hour of selling the Jetta. I got a lead on a low mileage Subaru Impreza in Connecticut. I called the seller, and very shortly was on the road to go see it. The Impreza was an hour away from me, and I had cash in hand from the sale of the Jetta. Unfortunately, I was only five minutes away from the Impreza when the seller called me back to let me know it had been sold.
So, after wasting a bunch of gas, I turned around and headed home. I checked Craigslist again, but nothing suitable showed up. The next day, after I got home from church, I hit up Craigslist again and found another candidate. This car was also an hour away, but in the opposite dircetion, in Lynn. I called the seller, and pretty soon, I was on my way to see it.
Before I knew it, I was outside a dirty mechanic shop in Lynn, which was shockingly busy for 4 PM on a Sunday afternoon. Shortly later, the seller showed up. It was around this time that I realized that this was a small time car dealer, and not a private seller. I've only ever dealt with private sellers before, and if I'd known this was a dealer, I never would have made the trip in the first place. But, since I made the trip, I figured I'd check out the car.
We walked half a block down the street to a dirty storage lot. There, along with other cars, was a maroon 1995 Subaru Legacy. 5-speed manual transmission, EJ22 engine, AWD - just the configuration I was looking for. So, I checked it out.
The ad said that the interior was clean and that all the car really needed was a new rear muffler. I opened up the car and found that although it had been vacuumed, the car had been smoked in and the upholstery was dirty. The body was fairly clean and straight, so I started it up. With a rusted out rear muffler, it was loud, but ran OK. I had nothing to lose, so I took it for a test drive. The car seemed to run OK and track straight.
I thought about it, and knew the dealer was asking too much based on the car's condition. I also knew that because he was a dealer, he wouldn't be too flexible on the price. I offered $200 under asking price, and he agreed. We did the paperwork in the back of the aforementioned busy shop, and I was out of there shortly. I would have passed on the deal entirely, but this car was configured and optioned the way I wanted it, and I was having a hard time finding a comparable car. So, I figured I'd just deal with any issues the car had. Aside from condition, this was exactly what I was looking for.
I had driven there in the Vanagon, and now I had two cars to get home. Luckily, I had a plan. I put my plates on the Subaru and drove it a mile to the Lynn commuter train station. From there, I walked back to the shop where I'd parked the Vanagon. I got in and drove it to my office in Cambridge. From there, I took the red line (subway) into Boston and caught the evening commuter train out to Lynn. I picked up the Subaru at the train station parking lot and started on my way home. On the drive out of the city, I noticed that the Subaru's CV axles were clicking. So, I knew I had to replace those along with the muffler.
(actual video of the rotted muffler)
(video I did, after the fact, of replacing the axles)
I took the train back into the city the next morning and drove the Vanagon home. I ordered the muffler and axles for the Subaru, which arrived in around a week. I replaced those, registered the car, and put it into commuter service.
Of course, as luck would have it, on my way home the first day driving the "new" car, the brakes failed, due to a rotted out rear hydraulic line. I had to go back to driving the Vanagon until I could fix the brake line the following weekend.
When all was said and done, I replaced the rear brake lines, front CV axles, tie rod ends, and steering rack rubber boots. A couple of months later, I did a full tune-up, as I had no service record on the car. That included spark plugs, wires, pcv valve, all hoses, belts, fluids, water pump and timing belt. Here's another long video of all that work:
Although the car needed a lot of catch-up maintenance, I knew how to do all the work, as this car is, mechanically-speaking, nearly identical to my old 1994 Legacy. So, it was time consuming, but not really challenging. So far, I've put around 10,000 reliable miles on this car and am pretty happy with it. I've long since given the interior a deep cleaning, and have only a few minor outstanding items to fix.
As per my last blog entry, I now had the ever-reliable Subaru, the Vanagon, and now the 220D project. Even though the Mercedes wasn't driveable, it was mine. So, naturally, I was feeling pretty good about myself.
I spent whatever weekend time I could working on the 220D, knew the Vanagon was staying pretty reliable, overall, and the Subaru was going to run forever... or so I thought.
One morning, in October, 2010, I started the Subaru. I thought a heard a noise, momentarily, like a slight grinding or scraping. It was subtle, but went away immediately. I didn't have any time to fuss with it, so I left for work, as I always do. I got on the Masspike, put it in fifth gear, and started cruising.
About ten miles down the highway, just before the exit for route 495, the engine suddenly hiccuped, and lost power momentarily. Once again, I didn't worry too much about it. Then, a few seconds later, the engine shut off completely. I was in the right lane (thankfully) and coasting at 65 miles per hour. I flipped on my hazard lights and coasted to a stop in the breakdown lane.
I checked the first, most obvious thing - the fuel gauge was still rearing 3/4 full. So, I wasn't out of gas. I tried to start the car again, to see if the shutdown was a fluke. The starter cranked OK, and sounded more-or-less normal, but the engine just wouldn't catch and turn over. I figured I most likely had a dead fuel pump, and called AAA.
To their credit, they had a truck out to me shortly, and since the dispatching tow company was near where I lived, they agreed to tow me home. I was already late for work, so I parked the dead Subaru and hopped in the Vanagon. That evening, I began diagnostics to see if I could figure out why the car wouldn't start. I even went so far as to pull the OBD I blink codes and try and make sense of them.
After a few weeks of trying, with no results, and winter fast approaching, I realized that I needed to replace the Subaru. I didn't want to do it, but I needed something that would handle winter travel. A 180 degree spin off a road lightly-covered in snow a few years earlier convinced me to never drive the van in the winter again. As always, I took to Craigslist to try and find some new wheels. Of course, this time, nothing suitable was showing up in my price range aside from a mechanically-solid Subaru with a DANGEROUSLY rotted body.
I expanded my search to the Samba. If I couldn't find a Subaru, I would have happily settled for a car like my old Golf. Immediately, I saw something even more interesting - a 1990 diesel Jetta. According to the ad, the car had some problems - mostly cosmetic - that I thought I could handle. After a few emails and phone calls I was off to Connecticut to see the car.
It seemed a little rougher in person than I thought it might be (mostly interior stuff), and the paperwork was questionable, but I decided to take it for a test drive. I thought about it, made an offer, and soon, I was driving home in my super high MPG Jetta GL diesel:
For the most part, I thought the Jetta just needed a little bit of exterior cleanup and new carpeting. Yeah... not quite.
Shortly after I bought the Jetta, I did get the Subaru running again (perfectly, I might add). So, I had too many cars. I opted to keep the Jetta, which had 100,000 fewer miles on it than the Legacy. I sold the Legacy just as winter was beginning.
(final parting shot of the Legacy)
Before I go any further, I just want to preface the rest of this by stating for the record that I don't think the guy who sold me the car had any idea at all how badly it would shake itself to pieces in the coming months. The guy who sold it to me had owned the car for a year or so but hadn't registered it, though he'd done some work on it. Nevertheless, he hadn't actually driven it any real distance.
The second day I had the car home I changed the oil, not knowing how old it was. When I was done, I took the car for a quick test drive, to find out that the alternator belt was squealing like a bastard. The next morning, on the way into work, the belt broke one me a block away from the house. I ended up replacing that belt four or five times in the four months I owned this car, even going so far as modify the belt drive to try extend belt life. No go.
If that were it, I could have lived with it. But, in the four months I owned the car, I had to replace the following (in no particular order):
screaming speedometer cable
CV axles
shocks (all four corners)
carpet (car came without it)
radio
thermostat
engine air intake tube
numerous alternator belts
more that I can't remember
battery
(new alternator tensioner pulley)
(alternator belt drive modification - new roller bearings to compensate for belt deflection and to ease belt tension)
(shiny new CV axle)
(new CV axle installed)
(rebuilding one of the front struts)
(rebuilt strut installed)
Keep in mind that I had to do all these repairs outdoors, in Massachusetts, in the dead of winter, in sometimes single-digit temperatures in the dark.
(how the Jetta spent a big portion of the winter)
The final straw for me was when the front left wheel bearing toasted itself. It still rolled, but the wheel had a half inch of play when off the ground. I got fed up and didn't want to fix that also. I ordered the part, but sold the car (and then sent the new wheel bearing to the new owner). I had the car up on Craigslist a short while, and came down in price very quickly. As I told the buyer - "I just wanted the Jetta out of my life." I'm usually never that blunt and never negotiate so freely, but I wanted the Jetta gone.
For the record, I told the buyer everything I knew about the Jetta, from what the person I bought it from told me, to every repair I did on the Jetta, to everything I knew that was wrong with it. Whenever I sell a car, I give full disclosure. It usually helps me sell a car quicker and at a higher price, I think, than sugar-coating it.
Even though it got 50 miles to the gallon, I'd spent all the fuel savings on new parts, and had to do all the repairs myself, to boot. I hope the Jetta behaves itself better for the new owner. This is the first time I sold a car without having a replacement already lined up. As such, within minutes of it leaving the driveway, I was on Craigslist. Inside of 36 hours, I was driving my new car. See the (coming soon) following blog post for more on my current daily driver - another Subaru.
Here's some videos I took of the Jetta while I had it:
I debated doing a blog entry on this one, as I don't actually consider it to be my car, but since my name's on the title, and it has a story... I guess it belongs here.
Right before I sold the Rabbit, I was poking around on Craigslist again (see a pattern here yet?) and I saw an ad for a $250 1993 Subaru Impreza listed as a parts car. I was very happy with my Legacy, and didn't need another car around, but I was curious as to what a $250 Subaru would be like. I figured that there was a 1 in 100 chance the car was worth a damn. I didn't contact the seller for a few days, but in the end, I sent off an email to the guy and we agreed to meet at his house.
The ad said that the Subaru had a dead alternator. The seller told me that he had AAA try to jump start it but the tow truck driver told him that the alternator was bad. I got to the seller's house and saw the Subaru sitting in the driveway. It looked like it had been parked in one place most likely for a few months, though the inspection sticker was six or seven years out of date. As best I can figure from the looks of it, the Impreza spent most of that time in the seller's garage. It was far too clean to have spent all those years outdoors.
The right front fender was dented and there was a dime-sized rust spot over the right rear wheel well, but other than that, the car looked very nice. The seller told me that he'd taken it off the road when he'd started working from home years earlier and had only used it occasionally to haul a few bags of trash down to the neighborhood dumpster. I think he mentioned that the car hadn't been started in months.
I popped the hood and took a look. It was filthy, but everything was there. I turned the key - nothing. Completely dead. I pulled the battery out of my Legacy and hooked it up the Impreza. The car cranked, but without much fanfare. Eventually, it did start. The car sounded horrible at first. It stalled, but I restarted it. Eventually, the idle smoothed out a bit and the car sounded a bit better. I asked if I could take it for a spin around the block. I put the car in "drive" (automatic) and it didn't budge. After abusing the gas pedal a bit, the car did move forward a bit under its own power.
From its behavior, I believe, to this day, that the car hadn't been started or run in YEARS, not months, as the seller told me. I think he was mistaken, not lying, for the record. Either that, or I misheard him.
After a few cycles of driving a few feet, stalling, and restarting, the car did eventually stay running and make a loop around the block. I immediately noticed that one of the CV axles was shot. When I parked the car back at the seller's house and shut it off, I could hear the radiator boiling - not a good sign.
Still, the car was clean. I offered $100, and we settled on $175. I called a tow truck and had the Impreza dragged home.
I got to work almost immediately. The gas tank was almost empty, so I made two runs to the gas station with my 5 gallon gas can in the trunk of the Legacy. I filled the Impreza up and added a can of fuel system cleaner. Less than an hour of idling in the driveway, and the Impreza seemed to be running normally. The boiling sound went away on its own. I think it may have been a temporarily stuck thermostat.
I replaced the CV axle (the first one I ever replaced) and gave the car a much-needed full tune-up (plugs, filters, timing belt, water pump, coolant, ATF, etc). When I was done, I was amazed at how it turned out. It was a very presentable little car and ran almost like new.
After daily driving the Impreza for a few weeks (out of necessity, due to a broken transmission in the Legacy), I turned the Impreza over to my wife to replace her decrepit 1993 Legacy. In two years now, the Impreza has been nearly trouble-free. Aside from some basic maintenance (brakes, etc), and having to take the car in to get one of the rear wheel cylinders replaced, it's been very reliable and has covered over 50,000 miles in that time.
I made it through the winter of 2006–2007 easily, thanks to the Subaru. Originally, I'd planned to more or less garage the Legacy when spring rolled around and go back to primarily driving the Mercedes 300SD. I did stilll drive the 300SD, and the Vanagon (to a lesser extent), but I found myself putting the most miles on the Legacy. So long as I kept up on the oil changes, the Subaru just kept going, and didn't seem to be showing any signs of mechanical deterioration, aside from wear and tear items such as brake pads. I liked the way it drove, so I just kept throwing more and more miles at it.
I remember one Friday afternoon, in the summer of (I think) 2007, leaving the city in the 300SD on my way home from work. I did still drive the 300SD to work sometimes, especially in the hot weather, as it had a working air conditioner. Anyhow, I was heading through the Fresh Pond area of Cambridge, in stop-and-go rush hour traffic, when I hear a siren. A police cruiser was pushing through the traffic. Very quickly, it was right behind me. There wasn't much I could do. I was already in the right lane, but the cruiser kept blaring its siren and honking. I pulled as close as I could to the curb, just inching along, when I heard a loud POP! I'd torn the right front tire's sidewall on the curb.
I inched the 300SD around the corner, cursing the loss of a relatively new tire, and got my spare and jack out of the trunk. After fighting with severely overtorqued wheel lug bolts installed (unbenknownst to me) with an impact gun when I'd had my brakes done, I finally got the tire changed. It was just a tire, but from that point on, I realized that if I kept taking the 300SD into the city, it would get destroyed piece by piece. The car was too nice for that. My parents had long expressed an interest in the car, and I decided I'd finally let the car go to them. It would be garaged and well taken-care-of.
This left me with two cars. Granted, that's most than most people have, or can even understand having. Still, my connection to Mercedes diesels wasn't going to fade that qiuckly. Of course, being a car nut I always had my eye on Craigslist (and still do) to see what would pop up. Very soon, I found a 1985 Mercedes 300D advertised as having running problems.
I went to see the car, which was in South Boston, near the airport. The interior was in pretty good shape, but the car needed some bodywork. It did start, but didn't run very well. The car stalled and died just trying to cross a parking lot. The seller's asking price was $1500. In that condition, I offered $500. The seller was motivated and we settled on $750, which included a tow out to Worcester courtesy of the seller's AAA membership.
The car arrived in Worcester and I got to work immediately, replacing tune-up items in hopes of finding the running problem. I don't have a picture to show you, but I tell you - I have NEVER in my life seen an air filter so dirty. Just replacing it and the fuel filters made a big difference. The car's top speed went from around ten to seventy-five or eighty.
Although the AC was broken, I loved driving that car. The W123's handling is unmatched, and this was the first one I'd driven with an OM617 turbo engine. The huge sunroof made up for the lack of AC.
The car passed inspection, and I drove it as I worked on it. First up was all the mechanical stuff. I replaced most of the filters and fluids, including the transmission fluid and filter (made a big difference in the way the car shifted). After that, I did a valve adjustment, which was a new thing for me. This restored the car's performance to like-new. The last remaining item was the fuel lines. The injector leak lines actually failed on me one day - spectacularly, I might add. Quick sidebar on that - I'd taken a vacation day from work to do some work around the house. While out to lunch, I noticed diesel pooling under the car. The injector leak lines were badly rotted. I called around and found that the only place with the proper lines (locally) was the Mercedes dealership five miles away.
Luckily I got there, got home and replaced the lines, and had just enough time to wash up before heading out to the premiere of the Simpsons movie.
Once all the mechanical items were done, I cleaned the car up and did the bodywork. Then, a funny thing happened - I realized that I'd ended up with a car worth a lot more than the $750 I'd spent. Even with parts and materials, I was in for less than $1500 total. It was then that I got the wacky idea to see if I could sell the car for a quick profit.
As always, it was time to go back to Craigslist. I'd only had the car for two months, and I really did love it, but a quick profit was irresistable. I listed the car at $3500 and a few days later sold the 300D for $3200. Sometimes I still do miss the 300D, but I knew, even then, that it wouldn't be my last Mercedes.
This past winter, I found this car on Craigslist for sale again. Apparently, I did a good (enough) job fixing it up, as it's still on the road nearly four years later.
