Well, this afternoon I was driving across I-80, west of Lincoln, NE when my 300D started making a load mechanical noise, and bellowing black smoke. I took a look, and the vacuum pump had exploded (big hole in the casing). I pulled out the loose parts, put some duct tape over the hole in the pump, and limped to the next exit. Now I'm in a motel in the middle of NE. My wife is coming to rescue me, so I'll get home tomorrow. I need to decide what to do with the car. I either need to have it towed about 500 miles to home, or my local indy, or I need to find someone near Lincoln, NE to fix it. AFAIK, it's just the vacuum pump, the engine seems to run normally, except it's putting out a good amount of black smoke.

Will just the lose of vacuum cause a 617 turbo to run very rich, or did I break something else too?

The engine starts and idles normally (except for the noise the remains of the vacuum pump is making). It seems to have normal power, but I didn't try to run it above about 1500-2000 rpm. Hopefully, it's just a matter of bolting on a new vacuum pump, but we'll see.

well, go to the auto parts
store and buy some vacuum caps...a
cap off the transmission hose....and just drive it home..

it should just change all the gears quickly....often times
mine smokes becasue the tranny is slipping.... becasue of the
vac....

the only thing it should affect is the tranny,
the off switch, and maybe the alda... that could be
where the smoke is coming from...

Don't forget the power brakes!!!!

__________________
Adam Lumsden
(83) 300D
Vice-President of the MBCA International Stars Section

Well, I can't really drive it anyplace right now. The vacuum pump basically exploded and has a about 1/4 of the casing missing. The remaining parts are banging around pretty good (even at idle) and it's spraying out a fair amount of oil all over the front of the engine. Hopefully the black smoke is just due to a lack of vacuum to the ALDA/IP, not something more serious. I don't believe the tranny is slipping, just shifting hard due to lack of vacuum. I'm afraid that the pump could lock up and take out the timing chain, etc. At his point, it needs to be towed.

yep power brakes...

but i think they will still work... you just have to push hard on them..

i think

well, i would be headed to a junk yard...

leave it parked at the hotel and go join aaa...
then have them tow it ...

Somehow I don't think AAA would tow it 500 miles for free. I expect it will be Monday before I make any real progress. The people at the hotel don't mind if it sits here for a little while, and I'm leaving them my spare key so I should be able to arrange a tow over the phone without having to drive all the way back here. If I can find a local MB indy or dealer, I'll probably just have it towed there. Even at dealer rates, that may be cheaper than having it towed home.

aaa has a gold member ship which is 60 bucks..

and they will tow 250 miles for free and then its a per mile charge..

which is better than paying a 500 per mile charge..

Here's a list of the wrecker yards around NE.

# A-1 Auto Salvage: South Sioux City, NE
# All Foreign Auto & Truck Parts: Omaha, NE
# Andersen Wrecking: Kearney, NE
# Edgar Motor Company: Edgar, NE
# GM Auto Parts: Lincoln, NE
# H & H Auto Salvage: Cozad, NE
# Hansen's Truck Salvage: Omaha, NE
# Key Auto Parts: Omaha, NE
# Kosiski Auto Parts: Omaha, NE
# Kramer's Auto Parts: Grand Island, NE
# Maplewood Auto Parts: Omaha, NE
# Mid City Auto Supply: Hastings, NE
# Midwest Auto Parts-LKQ: Omaha, NE
# Midwest Auto Used Parts: Gering, NE
# Olston's Import Auto Salvage: Lincoln, NE
# S & M Import Auto: Omaha, NE
# Smith Auto: Pawnee City, NE
# South West Auto Parts: Omaha, NE
# Square Turn Auto Salvage: Norfolk, NE
# Top Notch Auto: Gothenburg, NE
# Tri City Auto Parts: Holdrege, NE

Sorry...you'll have to look up the 'phone numbers.

Then there's all these too......http://www.buyersindex.com/brca/8.htm

I would try to find one locally or get one shipped in from a company like FastLane or such.....you'll need a little gasket sealer and an allen socket wrench.
Unless you just gotta be back home. I could have you one Drop Shipped from Dallas European, but even with overnight you'll not get it untill Tuesday.


.BTW...you'd need to drop the oil pan to check nothing got through to lock up the oil pump later.........don't go thinking the screen will stop everything...just did a 603 that sucked up a brass dohicky and locked up the oil pump and ruined the motor. Screen was faulty from the factory !

When the v.pump roller lets go...it grenades the little ball bearings from the two rollers into the timing chest.

.


.
.

__________________
[http://languageandgrammar.com/2008/01/14/youve-got-problems-not-issues/ ]

"A liberal is someone who feels they owe a great debt to their fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money."

vac pump has no effect on engine performance it's only a vac supply for trans shifting locks egr and all that crap. If you have black smoke coming out the tail pipe it's for another reason.
That pump runs off the gear that drives the inj pump. That gear houses the advance mechanism for the injection pump, maybe you have some debris jammed in the advance portion making it run slow and smokey.
Colorado Auto Wrecking usually has a good selection of benzes and you can usually walk out of there with a bunch of parts they can't recognise for $10.

There is no vacuum to the ALDA. The vacuum to the "IP" is actually to the vacuum valve for the transmission, which just happens to be mounted on the IP, but has no affect on the IP itself.

The only impact that I can see on engine operation (due to lack of vacuum) is that the EGR valve won't work, if it still worked in the first place.

Thanks for the info everyone. I'm back home in CO, but the car is still in NE. I took a quick look at it this morning, and decided I need to get it back to my indy in CO. I will either have it towed home, or go back and get it with a trailer.

I still don't understand why it's smoking (heavy black stuff). As soon as I heard the vacuum pump go, I saw a large cloud of black smoke. Other than that, the engine seems to be intact. It idles and runs without any unusual mechanical noises (except the broken vacuum pump), idles at the same rpm, starts immediately (hot or cold). But, it's putting out lots of black smoke under all conditions. I'm afraid to drive it anyplace until I understand what's going on. Is it possible that the vacuum pump caused the timing chain to jump, affecting the valve timing and/or IP timing? I can't imagine what else it could be. I guess I'll just get it back to my indy and let him sort it out.

Could you describe the visible damage to the vacuum pump in more detail?

Well, there's a hole about 2-inches in diameter in the top/inboard side of the casing. The little wheel that rides on the cam fell off and the arm that holds the wheel was broken in half. The cam seems to be rotating normally inside the casing.

Oh my!

I wouldn't want to even start that car much until I knew what was going on.

Good luck, I can't imagine what would have let go to cause damage that severe!

btw don't give up on AAA, they may offer you a good price on towing if you are a member.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200