240D Observations - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Skippy · #1 04-29-2006, 10:57 PM

I finally got the new to me '77 240D registered, so I took it out for a little excursion this afternoon. Some things I noticed:

Engine

The glow plug system was rigged to a manual switch by a previous owner. The glow plug relay was mounted to the right inner fender, and appears to be the unit off a GM pickup with a 6.2 diesel. Works just fine though.

When I bought it, the car smoked a lot when cold and continued to smoke a little at idle even when fully warmed up. I was hoping this was from the fuel being old, since the car sat on a lot for at least six months and probably hadn't been fueled since around fall of '05. I filled it up with fresh #2 from my station of choice. After running some errands, the smoke went away. There was a little cognitive dissonance spending nearly sixty bucks to fill up a $480 car, but I'll get over it.

The manual idle adjustment is a great feature. Why didn't my 300D come with it?

Power was adequate, but not thrilling-exactly what I was expecting from a 240D. I was able to climb the big hill on US 395 going north from Carson City at about 47-48 mph. This is (I believe) a 6% grade. For comparison, my 300D maxes out at 75 mph up the same hill (speed limit 65). I haven't taken the Samurai up that hill lately, but I think it would do it at about the speed of the 240. On the flat, I was able to manage a hair under 85 mph. It felt a little like the fuel wasn't flowing quite right, so fuel filters are on the list.

Transmission

The clutch system is leaking fluid. I haven't had the car up in the air yet, but I'm pretty sure the slave cylinder is toast. The "sweet spot" on the clutch pedal moved around during the first part of the drive, making it rather difficult to drive smoothly. After a while it settled at about 2/3 of the way down. I'd like it a little higher. We'll see what happens when I repair it. OTOH, the leak seems to have diminished greatly from when I bought the car, simply from use. Maybe I'll just drive it some more and see if whatever dried out seal swells back up and fixes itself.

As with many German cars, reverse is "pull up on shifter" followed by all the way left and up. 1st is just all the way left and up. This makes it just a little tricky to hit 1st immediately after reversing. I very quickly learned to pull the shifter over to the right to make sure I had reverse locked out before putting it in first. I think the conventional passenger car pattern of having reverse all the way to the right and back would be better, but I'd really prefer the heavy truck pattern where reverse is all the way left and up, and first is all the way left and back, with second being the second hole from the left and forward.

Speaking of heavy truck transmissions, they usually have a lot of gears to allow a heavy, relatively underpowered vehicle to have the engine at the right speed in any situation. With 120 horsepower on tap, four speeds are plenty for my 300D, and I think it could even get away with three (but a five speed manual with overdrive would still be really nice). The 240 OTOH needs more gears. I'm thinking six would probably do it, maybe a three speed primary (preferably unsynchronized) with a two speed splitter box, so it would work like a Super Ten only with fewer gears. Still, the shift throws are shorter than anything else I drive (Suzuki Samurai and an old Freightliner), and the action is slick. I was unable to slip-shift the 240 like I can with the Sammy, but you really aren't supposed to do that on a synchronized tranny anyway.

Manual transmission cars should come with tachometers. The big clock is ok, but I, along with pretty much all other Mercedes-Benz owners, am also a wristwatch owner. A tach would have been a better use of the instrument cluster.

Suspension and Steering

The handling of this car is above and beyond what is needed for a 3500 lb vehicle with 67 horsepower. A previous owner sprung for Bridgestone Potenza Re930 tires in 195/60R14. This makes the car sit a little lower than my 300D with the same tires in 70-series. The 240 also lacks the suspension clunks caused by (I think) old dried out bushings. I dare say someone had all the rubber in the suspension replaced. Somebody with lots of spare cash LOVED this car. No complaints about the handling. The steering wheel, of course, is the huge 20-inch or so thing that all 123's came with. I'm ok with it, but I could see how a "large" person might run into some space issues because of the wheel bottom's proximity to the driver's seat cushion. I think the steering wheel in an MTVR (military 7.1 ton 6x6 truck, around 30,000 lbs empty) is a little smaller. Still, I have no complaints about the steering and handling of this car.

Despite the shorter tires, ride quality was a little better than the 300D, probably those darned bushings dragging the 300 down. I didn't go on any really rough roads though, so we'll see what it does on my largely non-paved commute later.

Brakes

The pedal is hard, but easy to modulate. I think the power brake booster has a vacuum leak. I received some advice in another thread on a possible fix. Still, if you get on the pedal hard, it stops VERY well. I've owned several American cars from the same era, and Mercedes brakes were well ahead of what the domestic OEM's were putting out.

Body, Cab, Hood, and Hull

The body is a little wavy in a few places, and the rear bumper is uneven. It's definately been hit in the left rear corner, and maybe some other places. The car was repainted relatively recently, and it's bling-bling white. They even re-did the blue pin stripes. Upon closer inspection, paint quality is not great. I'm guessing MAACO was involved. The underbody is remarkably clean, and there is no sign of rust anywhere. Major Grrr-there is no passenger side mirror. After driving large trucks for a while, you get very accustomed to using both side mirrors. Visibility through the greenhouse is good though, so I'll manage. Hood release at the grill is broken off, but the car came with a hook bent out of heavy steel wire for getting the hood open. Good enough for me.

Interior is dark blue, which is aesthetically pleasing, but it does get hot. AC in inopperative. Heat works well, but it was warm today, so I wasn't using it. Also, the interior is freaking trashed. I think one of the PO's had kids, or dogs, or kids with dogs. The upholstery is ripped in many places, and the driver's seat is collapsed. I added a seat cushion to simulate stock seat geometry in the driver's seat, but I think I'll spend the money to have the seat rebuilt. All windows roll up and down (manual), and the locks all work, which is more than I can say for the 300. Original Becker Europa radio works, but doesn't seem to get very good reception except for a few stations. Further investigation revealed that the antenna was not fully extended. All gauges work. Driver's door sometimes needs to be slammed to close fully.

The windshield is cracked rather severely, and I may have it replaced. It has three inspection stickers on it. One at top center, fom Iowa expired 1977. The next two are from Nebraska. One expired 1978, the other 1985. Back glass has "University of Okoboji" lettered across the back. I did a little research and found that this is a fictional university in Iowa created by three brothers in the '70's. They still sell tee shirts and other memorabilia for it.

In the trunk, I found a regular full-size spare, along with two mounted studded snow tires, the jack, five spare oil filters (FRAM and very dusty-I'll probably throw them out), the jack, and some shop rags.

Overall Impression

Exceptionally good for a car that's older than I am, and for which I paid a veritable king's ransom of $480 (I've seen bottles of booze go for three times that.), or if we assume 3500 lbs that's 13.7 cents a pound. Aside from the interior, this car is acutally in better shape than my $800 300D, and I almost feel bad about my plan to use it as a commuter car.

RalphinSL · #2 04-29-2006, 11:09 PM

I bought my 82 240D three years ago here in Las Vegas and use it as my commuter. The body is in good shape, as well as the engine, which was rebuilt in CA several years ago by the prior owner. Sounds great except that it uses plenty of oil; about a qt. every 750 miles, and smokes to prove it. But it runs great and starts up right away, even when the temperature has been down to 19, and then runs/idles smoothly. I've done lots of work on it since buying it, like the starter, AC compressor, both front seats replaced, brakes, master brake and clutch cylinder, etc. Good luck with yours.

300TDBioBenz · #3 04-29-2006, 11:42 PM

I bought my 79 240d in Maryland while visiting friends on a three month vacation. I thought I'd buy a car to drive while there to save on a rental. I fell in love. Ended up driving it from Maryland to North Carolina and back to California. I did have to pull the tank to clean out the fungus and change the fuel filter, but that was easy enough. I also owned a 83 300TDT, which I have since sold. This 240 has more power than I ever imagined based on what i've heard. Yeah, it slows on the climbs, but it has more power than my 86 Nissan pickup, and is a blast to drive. The 4 speed tranny makes all the differance in the world.

Enjoy!

Ara T. · #4 04-29-2006, 11:50 PM

Interesting. How does the 4 cylinder idle smoothness compare to the 5 cylinder? And is it true the 240D's have stiffer springs? I have heard of them handling better than their faster 300D brothers.

300SDog · #5 04-30-2006, 12:50 AM

I think the 4-spd improves handling over the 300D. There's nothing like downshifting into a tight curve instead of using the brakes. And you can drop into 3rd gear at/below 60mph. Topping the gears means alot when it comes to generating torque that improves handling characteristics. Also useful for downhill runs when you want some engine drag to slow the car down.

After getting used to paddling around with the 4-spd 240D constantly grabbing and dropping gears, you wont want to drive anything else. Even standard shift gasoline MB's dont compare with the narrow 240D power band where you are litterally peaking the gears all the time. A genuine hammer-down diesel with lots of special effects.

Skippy · #6 04-30-2006, 01:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ara T.

Interesting. How does the 4 cylinder idle smoothness compare to the 5 cylinder? And is it true the 240D's have stiffer springs? I have heard of them handling better than their faster 300D brothers.

The four can get a little lopey if you turn it down too low, but generally speaking it idles and runs smoother than the five cylinder. I haven't pulled the springs and checked the spring rates, but I would imagine they are similar. In my case, the 240 handles better than the 300, but the 240 is lighter, has lower profile tires, and seems to have had the suspension bushings replaced. The 240 also has only 218,000 miles compared to 295,000 on the 300.

The manual trans does make a difference. If the 240 (or the Sammy for that matter) had been automatic, I would not have even considered them.

dabenz · #7 04-30-2006, 05:54 AM

Skippy, you'll throw away your "new" cars if you drive a W115 with a manual transmission. Light enough that they don't need power steering. Your radio doesn't get many stations because they didn't have too many stations back then (hee hee).