Bill,

Everyone of us started here in the same boat. I'm quite sure that nobody knew how to adjust the valves when they bought their first 300 with the 617 engine. My first M/B was a 1983 300DT. I owned it for five years (1997-2002). I did most of the maintenance myself. The indy in North Carolina did some work when I visited down there.

It's a long slow steady progress learning about these vehicles, and you are never done.

I spend the day on Sunday doing electrical troubleshooting to find out why my windshield washers do not work and why my rear defroster does not work.

I found them both, thanks to the electrical troubleshooting manual and some basic electrical knowledge. But, locating the connectors on the SDL proved to be quite a chore.

Start with the Haynes manual for the 300D. It's on e-bay all the time and it provides a wealth of info for the person who has just started out with the vehicle. In fact, if you don't get into real heavy work, you can almost get by with just that manual and advice and info from the forum.

Good luck with it.