How long do turbos last on 85 300Ds?
 

Am seriuosly thinking about buying a 85 300D or 300 TD. But the only thing is that I've had bad experiences with turbos in the past. So the question is how durable are blowers on 85 300D/TDs?

Depends on how often/what kind of oil was used and how the car was driven.

My '85 300SD had roughly 290,000 on the turbo before I replaced it with a federal version turbo. (the old one is still good)

lets say that the blower on a 300D breaks down...is it safe to drive without fixing it?

Faulty Turbo
 

Most definitely NOT!--I doubt if the car would get 100 yards with a blown Turbo--The lube oil would be injested into the engine, burnt and cause huge amounts of smoke, just before the engine seizes due to lack of lube! :(

Additional Risk!
 

Add to that the risk of a runaway, with the engine running on the lube oil. Apparently, The only reliable and safe way to stop a runaway is to discharge a CO2 fire extinguisher into the air intake.

Search on "runaway" for more information.

ok another question... if it possible to take out a turbo from a 300D and drive or is there a lot more to the job than just taking out the blower?

I don't know why you'd want to do that, the turbos last hundreds of thousands of miles. I'd guess most outlast their engine in these cars. It would be harder than just disconnectiong it too, the IP would need to be changed I would guess, different intake........ Even if the turbo did go out these aren't very expensive to replace at least compared to newer turbos on newer cars or trucks.

Actually the turbo on the 617 engines are relatively problem free and rather rare. When they do occur, the turbo has decent access for removal and is not that difficult to service. If the oil has been changed on a regular basis, the turbo should be in good shape.

Now if the previous owner drives up a big hill everyday and DOESN'T let the turbo cool for a minute or two, then the hot oil can cake inside the turbo lines. That will take out a turbo.

If it siezes its okey to drive. And I've seen temporary fixes of blocking off the oil feed line to the bearings.

Buy a non-turbo 300D / TD and be happy...

Used turbos aren't that much...........you are worrying excessively about nothing.........

Worrying about turbo failure = waste of time

Worrying about gettign bad fuel = a more worthy thing to worry about, and far more likely to happen.

Probably more durable than the transmissions, and the transmissions can last 250,000 or more! :D

Best Regards,
Jim

The only problem you could have with an '85 is if it is a CA emissions model with the original trap. The traps were prone to disintigating and pieces would fly into the turbo vanes and destroying the turbo. Fortunatley MB had a recall and fixed the problem for free but there are still a few car out there.
Best thing is to avoid the CA model altogether.

You are worrying about a non existant problem. Just use a good diesel rated oil and keep it clean. Your turbo will last just as long as the engine.

If it blows rebuilds are about $600, and used ones can be had for far less.

I have a spare turbo with only 50K miles on it for an '85 CA model. :)