Guys,

Your thoughts?

I'll chime in on this one later..

Aaron,

I can tell that you're mourning the loss of Eduardo.

These cars have such character that they get in your blood. There's a uniqueness around these cars, their purring idle, their sounds, their faithfulness. It's difficult not to get attached.

My 240D is not on the road now, it's just sitting next to the barn. I have absolutely no need to put it back on the road, but I will. The good news after close to a million miles behind the wheel of this faithful machine, it is possible to bring it back to life. In the days of horses, when a horse someone was so attached to aged and left them, there was no way to bring it back. But "ol' Silver" will breathe again someday.

Many of us here understand very well the attachment.

Best regards,

The smell, the sound, the oily fuel, the powerful yet controlled vibration. The very things the my wife dislikes about my diesel.

I could listen to an idling diesel all day!


Jackson
83 240D

My thoughts
 

I bought my 240D last August in Phoenix and drove it to Houston where I live; this 240D is my first diesel powered car and my first MB for that matter. That trip from Phoenix to Houston was one of my more enjoyable and memorable trips that I have had....with the sunroof open playing the stereo driving through the desert southwest. The car performed flawlessly on that long crosscountry trip and I remembered that I had to keep in mind to look for gas stations that sold diesel.

Of all the cars that I have ever had, this car has alot of character and personality. I can't tell you how much I enjoy walking up to her every day and catching the faint whiff of diesel, waiting for the glowplug light to go out and getting her started and listening to the sound she makes when she starts up saying she is ready to go...she has never failed to start. She has proven to be extremely faithful. (On a side note, my 98 Dodge Ram has left me stranded a couple of times but that is another story) All that she asks for in return is clean diesel fuel, and frequent oil changes.


I have got to admire the method of extracting power from diesel fuel. She doesn't need an electrical system to ignite fuel, it is elegantly accomplished by the thermodynamics of compressing air and then injecting fuel at a very high pressure. Similar to a jet engine.

I also have to admire that her engine is simple and easy to work on. No computers and no electronic gadgetry to go wrong....just simple mechanics.

I just like to listen to these engines idle. There is a certain distinctive sound that Mercedes diesels make while idling. You guys know what I mean. I can listen to that all day.

Anyway, just my 2 cents.

Herb
111,000 miles
'82 240D

The Diesel Engine
 

The power, the sound, the ease of maintenance and ....

"I love the smell of burnt diesel fuel in the morning, it smells like ....VICTORY"

They endure.

The look!
 

I love the look of my '85 300D. With the shiny grill and MB hood star, the round headlights with the louvers behind the headlight doors. It just looks like a classy vehicle.

Whenever I get in it and start it up, I do indeed feel like I am safe and sound.

I love it!

Another thing I like about it, is that you really have to push the accelerator down to get it to really jump. I let me 2 daughters (12 & 14) drive it around a local church parking lot (with me riding shotgun of course). They drove it well, and were excited to tell their friends that they drove a Mercedes Benz!

[Edited by fz500sel on 03-19-2001 at 07:44 PM]

"Those men and their wacky machines...." I think that was the title to the movie with Tony Curtis. Eitherway, what diesel does for me is sounds, feels and smells like a true machine. Todays cars have become real appliances. Even today's Mercedes are more electronic than mechanical. With diesels all you need is a basic set of metric tools and maybe an ohmmeter. No laptop computer required. Diesels, like someone already mentioned, have character. Like everyone knows very few of today's cars have any character. I also like not having to wait in line to fuel up.

finally had to add my $.02 worth
 

after driving the E320 back from Gainesville, Fla. this past weekend and having the check engine light come on (had to do the speedometer roto-rooter trick on the EGR line to the intake manifold to clear it up) I like the simple, forklift truck type of construction of my 1985 300D. I will NEVER have a "check engine" light come on in the 300D. If I had to get rid of one of my two MB's tomorrow I believe the E320 would be gone. The only thing I can think of that I would like to see in the 300D is timing gears (like the Isuzu commercial diesel engine) instead of the chain.
Also, if I had known what I know now in 1984-1985 I would have purchased a brand new one 300D, 300SD or 300SDL and tried to keep it in pristine condition. I really do not think that there will ever be a better car built.
Jim
'85 300D
'95 E320
'97 CRV

Aftermarket timing gears?
 

engatwork, with regards to those timing gears you mentioned, is there any kind of aftermarket solution for that? I doubt it, considering that we're talking about W123's here, but..

Both my cars my 74 240D and my 81 SD remind me of fine boats like jumping aboard a Grady White or a Boston Whaler. the same feeling that they are built with little or no compermise.do you know that you can buy a diesel outboard engine.
William Rogers.......

Well I like being just a little of center, not one of the multitude.

Plus I am a Amateur radio enthusiast and I get NO static at all on my short wave Mobile set up. (7255 KC) most of the time.

My SD is many things to me. It tells others that I am into quality, but also thrifty/cheap/frugal. It tells me that it will get me wherever I want to go, unless it's snowing, but that's what my wife's Legacy is for.

I feel a certain kinship with other diesel powered vehicles on the road, whether they be VW TDI's, American diesel pickups, or big trucks. I get the feeling that my car's drivetrain is more truck than car.

It's a car my wife has a love/hate relationship with. She complains about the slowness, and the diesel smells. But on the highway she gets it going scarily fast.

I still find myself looking back at my car at least 50% of the time after I park it, and smiling.

Why do women hate diesels?
 

I am detecting a trend here, women seem to dislike diesels- my wife HATES them for all of the usual reasons like "they stink, they're noisy, I hate getting diesel on my hands when filling the tank.... I love the workmanship, the engineering, that solid industrial feel you get around old WWII submarines or locomotives. This is definatly a "guy" thing. Diesel owners are definatly more technologically knowledgable and savvy folks.

Sigmet

'80 300 SD
'82 240 D (sold)
'78 Peugeot diesel (long ago)

We live in a culture where anything that can be made will be made just because it can be made. Advertising was invented to convince us we need all of it. You do usually need a car these days. The 123 diesel is a great combination of safety, cost, class, comfort, quality...most all of the essential qualities in great balance that one would ever need in a car. It stops short of the cup holder. It is nice to own anything I need that does what it is supposed to do and doesn't require mental gyrations to convince myself that I really need it. If you need a car a salesperson is not necessary to get you together with a 123 diesel.