W123 MPG's? And, what's the highest MPG Mercedes diesel wagon?

[wsalopek]

Subject says it all:

What kind of MPG's does the average diesel W123 get?

And...

What is the highest MPG diesel Mercedes wagon?

Thanks...

[300DandTD]

My 85 TD gets a consistent 26 MPG mostly highway at 55-65 MPH.

[Shellnekov]

81 300TD 28 mpg.

[braverichard]

The answer is available in the archives via a search. MPGs of all diesels and under all possible categories have been discussed millions of times before.

[billrei]

Not....I get about 25 to 26 mpg on the highway at about 65 mph

[Douglas.Sherida]

I've owned my 1985 federal emissions wagon since Halloween, and put 6,000 miles on it in that time. There were 148,615 miles showing on the clock as of this morning. The true milage is a bit higher but not more than 155,000.

I've been through all of the maintainence items. Set the valves when I got it (then reset them after another 500 miles), timing chain stretch (measured at a 2mm detent) is less than 1.5 degrees, injector pump timing is within 1 degree of spec. I'm running Shell Rotella-T 15W-40 in the engine (no oil burning) and Mobil 1 synthetic in the tranny. I ran 2 cans of Diesel Purge through it when I got it and replaced the fuel filters. The car has plenty of power (but I have no other MB diesel experience as a reference point), has minimal blow by (will run for > 15 sec with the CCV tube blocked off) and does not blow any smoke. I live in CT at sea level, and we've had a rather cold winter, the car never fails to start. I would say that the car is in excellent mechanical condition.

I've been keeping meticulous maintainence/milage logs. The car has 4 Pirelli P400 touring tires on stock rims (2 new), 28 psi in the front 32 in the rear. My daily commute is 10 miles each way (3 in town, 5 on the highway, 2 more in town). The majority of the time I drive alone, without any cargo, windows up, heater on, AC off.

My average mpg over the last 6,000 miles is 21.62 mpg.

The best single tank milage (all highway, 75-85 mph, ambient temp near freezing) was 23.87 mpg, the worst 20.84 (all local commuting in December).

Generally I don't use fuel additives, just diesel fuel. I was adding Power Service Diesel Kleen (10 oz per tank) all through January, and saw no difference in milage or performance.

EPA ratings in 1985 for this car were 22 mpg city and 25 mpg highway when new.

I'm hoping my numbers improve when the weather gets warmer.

[braverichard]

Douglas I believe you'll still have the same fuel consumption even after the weather heats up. I haven't experienced a change in my fuel consumption from the summer to the winter. The only additive I use is one that raises the cetane number. It is supposed to give me more power but I haven't noticed any change in the amount of power from the engine so once the bottle of the additive I purchased is used up, I won't buy another one. One thing interesting though is that I drove for 2.5 hours at an average speed of 75mph and averaged 26.7mpg. Very good when you consider it has been 16K miles since my last valve adjustment.

[123]

looking at the figure you guys gave, i guess the 240td is the most economical, over 17,000 miles i averaged 33mpg (95% motorway driving) my best was 36mpg (note: these are uk mpg figures not us!)

[83-240D]

123 i think if you scale that to us driving its mid 20's.

red gets 19-26. 19 when she idled during cold days parked in the wind at the wifes former work. 26 on the hiway with 50 c bp powering it. 25 on short hwy trips on 45cb20.

on the e-bay ad i will say 40 is possible. hell anything is possible. actual mileage may vary.

[seafarer12]

Originally Posted by braverichard

Douglas I believe you'll still have the same fuel consumption even after the weather heats up. I haven't experienced a change in my fuel consumption from the summer to the winter. The only additive I use is one that raises the cetane number. It is supposed to give me more power but I haven't noticed any change in the amount of power from the engine so once the bottle of the additive I purchased is used up, I won't buy another one. One thing interesting though is that I drove for 2.5 hours at an average speed of 75mph and averaged 26.7mpg. Very good when you consider it has been 16K miles since my last valve adjustment.

I am not sure about MB Diesels but I use Stanadyne conditioner in my truck and get about 2 mpg increase in mpg. I mainly use it to increase the lubricity of the fuel. I would stay away from the diesel service stuff. Its main ingredient is alcohol that reduces lubricity. At 200 dollars per injector I want them to last as long as possible. The best mpg I have gotten in my 97 powerstroke is 20 mpg at about 70 mph

[estod]

I have a 240 5sp -- have put 13,000 on it since purchase & generally average about 32 with a mix of town (I don't rev hard) and Interstate (75 - 80). The mileage hasn't changed much with cooler weather (not very cold -- Fla), but I am definitely down some on power -- don't know whether that's because the fuel changes for winter or because I just discovered my tranny 40% low on oil ...

[benzene]

I have an 85 300D that gets about 23mpg city or highway, and an 83 that gets 26.5 highway and 26 city.

[tenknots]

My '82 240D 4-speed got 30 with 80% highway driving. 27-28 was as low as it ever got with mostly city driving.

[PatrickW]

'82 240D. High of 30 mpg, low of 27 mpg.

If I'm interested in fuel economy, I drive my TDI. On nice summer days I drive the MB.

- Patrick

[McRoth]

I just filled mine up for the second time after driving it home getting 24MPG & got the same with probably 60/40 city/highway. I've cleaned it up some with fuel cleaner & such so I think it's doing better. Still need to do the valves though, might help some more.