THANK YOU ALL ! I replaced the old rusted antenna 20 years ago when first I bought the car , a Hirschmann one , I've been lax about keeping it clean so now the bottom segment has marks on the chrome .

I cleaned it well with the Isopropyl Alcohol , that took several passes before the white towel came off 100 % clean , then I lubed it with some fresh ATF and so far so good .

As always , I appreciate the help I get here ! .

Getting ready to ' pull the pin ' and SWMBO like me , loves to travel by auto so I'm tinkering on it like mad ~ I recently replaced the plastic 17 gallon fuel tank with a steel 21 gallon one from a junked (sadly as it was pristine) '84 300CD and got almost 500 miles out of one tank full , a *very* nice thing indeed .

Some cleaned and pop tested junkyard fuel injectors make the smoking stop , in town fuel economy zoomed up to 27 MPG's in spite of a totally worn out engine , I think it's time to dive in and overhaul the engine (200 # in # 1 cylinder @ 367,000 miles) and a major rebuild on the tranny too then maybe re paint it .

Anyone want the prefect plastic fuel tank before I bin it ? I hate to toss out anything useful , it's in Los Angeles .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better