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Old 01-24-2005, 11:40 AM
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boneheaddoctor boneheaddoctor is offline
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hells half acre (Great Falls, Virginia)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ferreed
All,
I picked up a '79 300SD pretty cheap and I'd like some suggestions on how to evaluate the engine and tranny. The odo reads ~350k miles, but ceased functioning before I bought the car. It isn't too hard to start even though the IP seems to be set way wrong (ie, you have to give it some pedal to start, and then nurse it along until it warms up). Oil pressure looks great to me-- 3 Bar at highway speeds, 1.5 Bar at idle when hot, and the needle pegs at 3 Bar as soon as you touch the pedal to accelerate from a stop. Aside from checking blowby and compression, can y'all offer any other tricks to evaluating the engine? I really don't think this engine has 350k mi on it.

The tranny seems to shift pretty nicely and feels nice and smooth. I haven't gotten the tach working yet so I can't tell very easily whether it is slipping, but it sure doesn't feel like it is. Short of dropping the pan and looking for metal, are there any good tricks for evaluating a tranny?

Thanks folks!
Pay a diesel mechanic to do a compression and leakdown test........if you see 400-450 psi its been rebuilt at some point........350-400 is average....if its below 300 its on porrowed time.......at 250 is when they typicly fail to start without a lot of help.
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1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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