Whoa, more good luck ! You must be fun to be around! I enjoy your writing so much, I wonder if it's your profession? If it isn't, perhaps it could be. Of course, since I own a 1982 300DT, ( Bruno ) your subject matteris also very pleasing...

Bruno was delivered in Alaska, and I have the orginal suede dealer case and log book to provehis322,000 miles. He too has excellent compression, which only proves the PO's gave him a lot of TLC. ( according to carfax I'm the third owner. The second owner only drove him a little over 3000 miles. ) Now if ol' Bruno had as few miles as your MBdoes, I'd be absolutely elated!

Also, regarding dieselgiant, ( Don't remember if it's Russell with two ll's or one l. ) I've spoken with him on the phone a couple of times andhe truly does seem to be an extremely decent fellow who has probably helped thousands maintain their old MB's.... He's certainly helped me... as I would never have cleaned the injectors and replaced the nozzles witout his pictorial.... Next is the valve adjustment...

I alsodo a daily scan of schumanautomotives.com where I'm known as bbbear. The forum is filled with very smart DIY'ers who exchange advice on a mulitude of subjects...Merely reading the posts iskinda' like going to an MB school...

Best wishes and highest regards,
charlie ( aka, bbbear )

 

Hello again,

Wow, thanks Charlie, for your compliments on my writing - do you really think I could do it professionally? I just like to describe things as they really happened; I put myself back in that situation or back in that conversation and recreate it, as it were. It seems to be the best way to convey things as they happened real-time.

So, you are acquainted with the Giant as well - he is cool, huh? You mentioned that you removed & replaced the nozzles in your injectors - was it difficult? When I was troubleshooting my starting problem last year, the injectors were an item I initially thought might be the problem because I learned in the Mercedes manuals at my library that if there is the slightest particulate in a nozzle, it would be enough to plug the injector and not let the fuel through. But, further research and reasoning eliminated the injectors as the problem. I learned that there are not too many things to be suspect of when one is experiencing a starting problem on a diesel - that's one of the things I favor about the diesel engine. I love one statement that I read in one older Mercedes manual that was said about the 190D engine specifically - it was this: "On the 190D, this type of adjustment is not ever necessary; nor is it even possible." I saw this statement as relating to various types of adjustments that had to be made on other Mercedes engines - apparently on the 190D, it was made a bit differently that the others - even though it is the bottom line Mercedes, I like it more because of "not necessary" maintenance aspects of it! It's just a simple little diesel engine!

I'm very fortunate about having the library I frequent so close to me. They have a wonderfully comprehensive automotive section, and it is stocked with books on every brand of automobile imaginable. There are books there for the Mercedes for models as old as ones made in the 60's. They've got books put out by Mitchell, Chilton, Mercedes Benz, and some independents I can't recall the names on right now.
This library is also really neat in that it is one of only two trademark and patent libraries in the country - one can go there and register their patent or trademark and eliminate the necessity of having to go to one of those creepy government buildings or where ever else you have to do it. I will check out schumanautomotives.com today and bookmark it on my computer.

Here's one picture of the front of my 190D - I'll post one of the back where I got hit next - I just don't like looking at that picture much.

Regards, Sandra
1984 190D 2.2

__________________________________________________ _

"They will never make a perfect heart until they make one
that can't be broken."
....... The Wizard, "The Wizard of Oz"
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[IMG]local://upfiles/20875/07E56C696770485D9DB3F25BA23EF182.jpg[/IMG]

 

Well, you seemtoto behavinga grand timewithyourcreampuff "freebie"... and it doesn't get better than that. I think the 201chassis is a cute little car and I'd also be happy with one, especially a free one! It wasMB's first all new aluminum head diesel engine. Although the transmissions tend to wear out around 200,000 miles, andit's a bitharder to work on than the 123 chassis, it doesn't need the yearly valve adjustment! It also had a new suspension which got great reviews becausethe MacPherson strut front suspension and 5 link rear suspension made it handle better than some sport cars. If they're properly maintained, they will last as long as a 616 or 617 engine, and that's saying a lot.

Still, many old time mechanics called it the "Baby Benz, " and consider it to be less than a true MB.Regardless, MB sold thousands and didn't stop production until 1993. Beginning in 1986, MBaddedthe 124 chassis.. One very talented young mechanic who posts here ( foredinduction ) is particularly fond of the 1987 190D 2.5 engine,( Iseem to remember his favorite is the 201 chassis, non turbo 2.5, which were in productionuntil 1989. )and that also says a lot foryour 201model.

(No, I think that's wrong... I now seem to remember forcedinductions favorite 190D is the 1987 5 cylinder turbo... and only built in that year.... which is now becoming a collectors item. )

Even though I'd love to have a creampuff,190D 2.5 non turbo ( or if I were as lucky as you, a turbo! ) on the 201 chassis, I know a creampuff is very hard to find. That said, I'll probably settle for a 190D on a 124 chassis,built between 1990 and 1993, which is the e class MB.... But I'd even settle for a creampuff 1995 190D 6 cylinder turbo.... The only main flaw on that model is the wiring harness, which was organic and built to disintergrate after 50 years... Unfortunately too many of them disintergrated after 5 years.... But everything else about the auto is superb and likely to last many thousands of miles....
Best wishes,
charlie

 

Boy Charlie, you are a veritible pool of knowledge on the Mercedes line of automobiles - thank you much for the great information about the 190 model. I actually had no idea that it had an aluminum head - I'd better not ever let it overheat; but it is extremely consistent in it's running temperature.

Hey, do you know much about running the diesels on vegetable oil? I saw a very interesting episode of a television show called "California Green" that they have on the public broadcasting station out here; and it showcased a guy named Joel Wolfe, who lives on a ranch in Ojai, CA. He told us about how Rudolph Diesel (The inventor of the diesel engine) originally designed the diesel engine to run on peanut oil. When Rudolph exhibited his diesel engine at the World's Fair circa 1906, he demonstrated it running on peanut oil. Well, this guy Joel Wolfe ran out of diesel fuel one day and decided to try running his diesel engines on Mazola corn oil, and to quote him: "They didn't just run good ... they ran great!" He has awebsite he has since published; here's the URL:
http://www.vegpoweredsystems.com
He maintains one has to do a conversion on the engine; he installs an extra fuel tank for the vegetable oil along with a heater to heat up the vegetable oil - he basically still starts the engine on diesel fuel, then switches to vegetable oil once the engine is at running temperature. I have an acquaintenance who drives an old small diesel school bus who just adds vegetable oil right into his fuel tank along with the diesel fuel, and is delighted because he obtains used vegetable oil from restaurants! When he pulled away the other day, there was a distinct scent of french fries in the air!! No kidding!

Well, I gotta go; talk to you soon!
Regards, Sandra
1984 190D 2.2

__________________________________________________ _____

"They will never make a perfect heart until they make one that
can't be broken."
....... The Wizard, "The Wizard of Oz"
__________________________________________________ _____

 

I'm a babe in the woods compared to most of thepeople on schumanautomotive.com or to many ot thepeople here.Besides, I got most of my info fromKent Bergsma's books atmercedessource.com.

Before I bought this no rust, no cracks in dash, good compression 300D T for $400. I had a 1990 VWJetta ecodiesel. I installed a 2 tank veggie system on the VW ( which I was continually tweaking anddidn't like ) and drove it for nearly 2 years. As soon as I got the 300D T running smooth, I installed a very elegant modular system built by merecedessource.com . So far I've driven about 10,000 flawless miles on this new, single tank system, and ol' Bruno seems to love his new diet!

I only used Costco's soy salad oil in the VW, and at first did the same with Bruno. ButI've since made arrangements with 2 Japanese restaurants. I leave Jerry cans with each restuarant. They fill them with excellent,waste,high grade, golden veggue oil and call me when the cans are full. Free! and we're all happy about it...