Hello MB owners ! I'm hoping to be one myself in the next few months and want to find an affordable running older diesel (early 80's seem to be what I'm looking for ). I want to save money!! A friend of mine has finally talked some sense into me . He drives an 82 or 83 240D as well as an Isuzu pup which he runs on veggie oil that he filters . He has a very ample supply and will sell me filtered gallons for $1 each . I currently drive an 04 Sierra Denali with quadrasteer that I will not part with (if you've ever driven a QS vehicle you would understand) but I need to save money so the MB diesel seems like the way to go . I'm amazed at how many I see with 200K to 500K miles on them . I know a friend of a friend who wants to sell their 82 300D with 322K on the clock and it's now sitting in their garage being held for me at this point . They aren't advertising it and aren't in a hurry so I'm doing a little investigating for now . This particular car has been well maintained and they have receipts going back almost 15 years and she's in great shape . So my question is what to look out for . My biggest concern is the transmission . I know these engines are built to last but automatics don't go 500K do they ? Well , looking forward to learning more on here and thanks in advance for replies .

 

The 240's are ok but lack power... I have an 83 300 D Turbo and it is a workhorse built like a tank with minimal maintenance. I will never sell it... LOL

 

The one with 322K is an 82 300D turbo and they want $2500 for it .

 

That's a pretty decent price..

 

[quote=ForcedInduction;126575]Thats a very high price. For that many miles, the price would have to be $1k less to be "decent". $2500 will buy a nice one with 100k less miles.


Your friend doesn't have any sense. Thats like asking a homeless man for real estate advice. Raw vegetable oil is one of the worst forms of abuse you can do to a diesel besides running it without oil.


How many gallons will you have to "save" with to cover the $1000 cost of a proper 2-tank conversion (single tank "conversions" and blending are downright stupid) or the $1300 injection pump the vegetable oil will kill? How much money will you save after the fines if the state finds out you're running illegal fuel, not paying your road tax and have a non-DOT/EPA approved fuel system installed in your car?

Vegetable oil is a terrible way to save money, like buying a motorcycle just for the 60mpg. It kills good cars, its illegal, its polluting and you're not actually saving any money. $2500 will buy over 1,000gallons of gas for your GMC. Even at 15mpg thats 16,094 miles of driving to recoup the initial price of the car. Add in the cost of the conversion, repairing the parts the vegetable oil destroys, general age/mileage repairs, normal maintenance and your time to do all that (or a mechanic's) and you'll end up with several years of driving before you will just break even!

Vegetable oil does not burn completely and its dirty. It coats the combustion chamber with carbon and sludge (injector pictured), sticks the piston rings causing low compression, contaminates the engine oil, has food fats and acids that no amount of filtering will remove, congeals at temperatures well above freezing, makes the car smell like a burning McDonald's fryer and spillage is inevitable and a royal pita to get out (both from the interior and paint).


Biodiesel was developed specifically to address all those issues. It burns clean, it doesn't leave residue behind, doesn't need to be heated, doesn't need any kind of conversion, its legal and it has established production quality standards.

ForcedInduction,
Thanks for your reply . This all sounds like good advice and is one of the reasons I joined this forum . I realized that there were probably pitfalls to what my acquaintance has been telling me. I am actually looking for a second vehicle and have gotten interested in having a mercedes diesel due to their reliablity and efficiency . Even if I were paying full price for diesel , I'd be getting close to twice the mileage . I realize that I wouldn't realize any saving initially as well but I would save $1200 /yr on my truck insurance by not using it as my primary driver .

So you mention the cost of a conversion plus parts destroyed . If I do a conversion , wouldn't that prevent the parts from being destroyed ? Could you provide information on the cost of a conversion ? I probably wouldn't even go this route at this point , especially on an older car like a 300D and would just use diesel but I"m just trying to get some numbers in order to make an informed decision .
As far as what you're saying about spillage etc , I've certainly seen that with this person I know who is doing it - it's all over the back of his Isuzu . It's not something I would want all over my Mercedes . Why does WVO make the rings stick - I was surprised to hear that ? Does it leave some sort of varnish behind ?

 

How long or within how many miles of driving, using SVO/WVO, does it take for the engine and components to shows signs of damages from using SVO/WVO?

The reason I am asking is because those I know using SVO/WVO all rave about how great it is for the engine and much better then diesel. Even site on the Internet boast the same claims; so I am guessing that using SVO/WVO damages the engine slowly, leading to the assumption that it is not damaging the engine; but in the long runs shorten the engine's life.

 

advice: avoid WVO, recommend biodiesel

WVO will completely coke your injectors over time and result in repairs which will far exceed the fuel savings, so WVO is a win-initially / lose-ultimately game.

biodiesel, on the other hand, will completely clean your entire fuel system (so be ready with a couple of filters if/when you start running it in a used engine). the cetane level of BD is lower than regular #2, so your mileage and power may decrease. the other issue to be aware of is the fact that BD has a higher gel temp., so it is not recommended to run in cold weather.

just my $.02.

j