my 86 300sdl seems to ride sluggish. then after driving about 3 blocks it rides fine. i just bought a used transmission and i hope thats not the problem. i'm hoping the cold weather has something to do with it. each morining i let my car run for about 10min before driving, should i let it run longer?

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ez rider

All diesels are "sluggish" until they warm up. The colder the ambient, the more "sluggish" they will feel.

Letting it warm 10 minutes is wasting at least five of them. The SDL will warm up much faster if you drive it. I warm mine for about 3-4 minutes in the cold and then drive it easy for another 8 minutes below 2200 rpm until it reaches 82°C. This normally means keeping it down to 55 on the highway for a couple of miles, but, so be it.

ahhhhh so it's not such a good thing to go about 60 first thing on a cold morning?

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ez rider

ahhhhh............no.

But, 60 still keeps the revs down near 2500. However, I'd still get the engine up to temperature with the revs down near 2000 before bringing it up.

Can anybody really say what the limit should be for dead cold operation?
Probably not. It's just an opinion. Everybody has one and............well you know the rest.

well it helps take away the worry. as long as it's normal it's fine with me. one thing i will say though "once BIG BABY gets going it's like riding on clouds". smoooooooooooth (even though i need new tires )

THANKS

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ez rider

I know the feeling.

You should experience brand new Bilsteins and Michelin Hydroedge 215-65-15 tires. Now that is a pleasure, even with the pavement we have around here.

Anytime. Help is what we do here.

as of now i'm riding on a set of TOYO. pretty good tires but they've rode their last miles. since i'm talking tires. have you ever heard of dipping the rims to give it a more shiny silver look? is this something i can do at home. (by the way i live off the earth so anything i can do myself i try to do it) and plus my money is funny and my credit won't get it

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ez rider

You can have the rims bead blasted and repaint them with spray paint that exactly matches the color. I did it with the SDL. I won't tell you that the job looks like the factory, but, from three feet away, it's more than acceptable.

I put a set of Kleen-Wheels on the newly painted wheels and they continue to look as good as the day they were painted.

If I do it again, I would not use the spray paint from the cans. I would try and find a similar color to spray with an airbrush.

I would stay off the turbo until the oil warms up, turbo's spin fast and don't like cold oil.

What about using some sort of paint stripper to take everything off the wheels? Griots (sp?) sells a very nice looking wheel painting kit.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200