1985 Mercedes Benz 300 SD Turbo Diesel.

[JasonCzerak]

I'm looking one of these. What can you folks here tell me about them? this one needs a brakes and from what the description says, a tune up (more fuel?!? ). 190,000 miles.

 

[WDixon27]

what ya need to know? i've been tearing them apart at the salvage yard i work at for a little over 10 years, and if i can't avoid it working on them too, generally not a bad car, i like the same year 300d turbo a little better as it's lighter slightly more simple with the same driveline, ask away and ill try to answer

 

[04 Diesel Power]

I just bought a 1992 300 D 2. 5 Turbo diesel, so far it has been a nice car. The car has 200,000 miles on it and drives great.

 

[JasonCzerak]

Well, took it for a test drive.



Issues:



Brakes were replaced, just not the rotors, still has a vibration, Assuming it's your typical warped rotor/not mating properly to the pads



Rust areas include from fender, mid doors and rear quarters. . little patches, I'm sure a little sanding and primer and it can be stopped in most areas. except for the 5x6" rust hole missing on the front... .



interior is missing the radio, funny, I just pull my entire 144db system from my jeep while in MI.



A/C blows "cool-ish". This will need a re-charge and leak fix



Throttle sticks, it's clearly a linkage issue. it sticks just past 1/2 throttle, you can pull up on the peddle with your foot.



the current owner would drop the trans in neutral and then pull up on the throttle, I'm sure it has hit 5-6000rpm a few times. I hit 5,000 while parked



It rides like a Benz, turns well, didn't take it on the highway, due to brakes and throttle issues



Most of these I'm comfortable with in fixing my self. however, the big one:



Harsh vibration all the time, while parked and moving. Not sure if it's a motor mount, or a tuning issue.



motor sounds good, not odd ball noises, definitely quieter then a 12 valve. Odd seeing a P-pump style pump with only 5 lines.



it does pull good once boost kicks in, then you let off and it grabs 2nd and it's a dog.



That's about all my first impressions.

 

[WDixon27]

lotsa lube on the butt load of ball and socket connections in the throttle linkage will most likely free up the throttle, look at the pivot point by the oil filter on the firewall and make sure it's not broken, ac, tons of blown vacuum servos under the dash can screw up the vents and hurt ac performance, if the evap is leaking it's about a 25 hour repair, plus a over priced factory evap (you really don't want to do that job again after cheeping out on a crappy aftermarket coil) it runs a metric R4 chevy ac compressor so it's a fairly cheep to replace when it craps, warped rotors are almost a fact of life, get new ones and good pads, they don't respond well to being turned, don't run those damned brake dust shields either, they only make the rotor turn into potato chips faster, get ceramic pads if you don't want dust, both motor mounts the trans mount and the two engine shocks are probably crap, let em go too long and it starts breaking other things from the vibration, usually the air cleaner T bracket which can be a pain to change, you can pep it up a little by adjusting the alda, it's the square thing on top of the pump and it has a set screw that may or may not have a cover on it, it's been a while since i messed with one, try turning it all of the way in and take it for a spin, more power off the line?! if so cool that was the right direction , it's like the star wheel on a 12v but i have yet to really make one smoke that didn't have something else wrong with it with the alda, most mercedes start off in 2nd gear but sometimes you get one that's adjusted where you can get it going in 1st, getting back into 1st while moving don't hold your breath, never really played with one a lot but i found some online stuff about how to bump up the pump fueling a little and it looked like a pain so i never did it, the lift pump is right on the side of the injection pump (the hand primer is on it and if it needs to be unscrewed to be used it's a piece of leaky crap, get the new one that you just start pushing) and the of valve is in about the same place as a p7100, a few tweaks here and there can help that turd get up and go, the pump runs off the timing chain so with 22 years of stretch it could probably stand to be bumped forward a couple degrees