We left Hans under a cover at home and piled in the white '82 300SD for our vacation. Two adults, two teens and a dog. Camping gear and stuff for a week in the trunk. My wife is a super packer and we didn't need the car top carrier after all.

I left with a tank of wvo which got me 400 miles from home, on the way to the Smoky Mountains. About an hour into the trip, I realized that I should be getting more than 50 miles on my first quarter tank (ususally get 100), but thought I didn't fill up all the way. Then at the first rest area, I smelled WVO. Went to the trunk and the whole back of the car was coated in oil! The last injector return line plug had flown the coop and was allowing oil to spew inside the engine comparment. I had limited tools with the amount of stuff and people I was carrying, but did manage to stop the leak with a pair of forceps. I tied them to an injector line and all was well the rest of the trip. At a campground, I tried to clean it off with windex and dish soap to no avail. It was a new concoction made of WVO, a bit of diesel, road grime, rainwater and dirt. Noting would touch it. Finally we used a spray can of Avon Skin-so-soft that someone gave us. Took the stuff right off. Did not use it on our skin after that.

There were no other incidences during the entire 1300 mile trip.

The car was a joy to drive in the mountains with the turbo spinning. One road, the Dragon's Tail, is 12 miles long and has nearly 200 curves. What a great handlng car.

One question: going up the steepest long grades (AC on), the engine temp would get to just below 100C, never higher. On the way down, the temp would drop to just below 80C - a difference of over 40F every few minutes. Seems like that much temp difference wouldn't do an engine any good with differences in thermal expansion etc. Any potential problems?

Interesting noting the differences in Hans and Penelope. Hans was quieter except for the annoying leather creaks - Penelope has MB tex. P has much more power off the line - the ALDA was adj by the PO. P's AC is awesome. Even with the backseat vents open, I often had to turn the fan to low when we were tooling down the highway. It was in the 90's and very humid. Never seen an older MB AC work so well. H's shocks were original and useless. P's are newer and the ride is so much better. The white paint on P looks flawless from a carlength away and we got a lot of stares. Strange looks pulling into the campground - "Oh look, there's someone come slumming with us commoners." In a $3000 car - hah.

Han's legacy will be to help P survive the brutal commute I endure. Already have taken a few parts off. P had a non-functioning transmission vacuum actuator (the one on the IP). her shifts were firm, but not too bad. The PO installed an MB rebuilt unit a couple of years ago. But I took H's actuator off and put it on P and what a difference! Other parts will come off as needed.

All in all a great trip in a great car. My teenage daughter said riding in the back seat is more comfortable than any other car we've had. Let the mileage accrue!

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1984 300Sd 210k

Former cars:
1984 300D 445k (!!) (Strider) Original (and not rebuilt) engine and transmission. Currently running on V80 ( 80% vegetable oil, 20% petroleum products). Actually not, taking a WVO break.
1993 300d 2.5 275k. Current 120/day commuter
1981 300SD 188k (Hans) Killed by a deer

I had those same exact temperature fluctuations when I was driving in the hills too, I think its perfectly normal and to be expected. I doubt it has any effect on the engine...

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Tenknots,

Think of starting a cold engine: 0*C to 80*C in a short time. Did that ever hurt your engine? And think of the temperature changes in side the engine: 0*C to maybe 1000*C when the fuel burns. Engines are designed for these temperature changes.

So don't worry about the temperature change from going up a hill to going down. Its insignificant.

P E H