Since I went to college my father has been working on the 1976 300D. Today it was covered in snow, an even 30 degrees, even colder at night, and she fired right up! I took her down the road, drove her around, and really enjoyed driving a Mercedes again. It was like driving a bus compared to the subaru, with the great big steering wheel I forgot about. It was awesome. If she continues to start great in the cold, I will invest some money in her. The transmission seems to shift at a high RPM unless I let my foot off the accelerator, which is foreign to me since I've always driven a standard shift, and I know the brakes need work because when I tromp on the pedal she doesnt stop very quick, its quite a delay in fact.

In any case, I really enjoy this car, and I figured I'd share some nostalgia with you guys, to show you I am still a..die hard diesel fan. I've got 5000 dollars in the bank, and I figure with 2000 of that I can bring her up to prime running condition.
Thanks for the help.

High shift point- my '76 300D is doing the same ever since my mechanic installed block heater a couple of weeks ago. Immediately after the job, it wouldn't shift at all, so obviously I went right back to the shop. He fixed so it would shift, but shift points are still too high. This was caused due to having to remove the kickdown linkage, along with starter and suspension control arm to install the block heater. When he re-installed the kickdown, he had to bend it slightly to clear the block heater and forgot to adjust it to compensate for it's now reduced length. When I went back he adjusted it to make it longer, but it's still a bit too short. Going back to him next week to give it the final tweak.

When it's set up right, the car should go to top gear at 30 mph under light acceleration. Right now I don't get top gear until about 38 mph.

Dave

1976 White 300D W115 "Pearl"