Just kidding, I'll tell you. Somewhere between 16 and 18mpg driving coast to coast pulling a 1500lb trailer at about 68-72mph (a LOT slower on the hills). Vehicle is 1984 300TD, usually gets about 27mpg. At least it didn't cost anything, because the trailer was full of veggie oil

Just thought some people might like to know how the 617 performs when you ask it to do real work.

What did you do, haul a trailer with 55 gallon barrels of grease for freebie road trip? Bravo!! This sounds like an hilarious excellent adventure. Would like to hear how the self-leveling 300TD susp behaved. Never owned a wagon, but its on my list of desirable old Mercs.

There's got to be a story here.

Kevin
1979 240D manual
1984 190D manual

I hope you'll give us some more of that story, Greasy. I'm picturing an old coal-fired locomotive with the coal tender riding along behind it, grease tender in this case.

So, you made a cross-country trip on WVO, which you were pulling along behind? Great!

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Yup, thats exactly what I did. I loaded up a boat trailer with 3 55gal drums (about 120 gallons total) of waste fryer grease and made it from VT to the middle of Montana on less than a quarter tank of diesel before I ran out of veggie (I was hoping to get about 22mpg, and make it all the way to Seattle on veggie... I was a little too optimistic). I drove across montana on diesel and in Coeur D'Alene Idaho I filled up on grease again, and drove the rest of the way to Seattle on veggie. Going back I'm gonna load a little heavy (ssh dont tell anyone) and bring 3 full 55gal drums. I dont think the weight affects the milage all that much, it just gets bad mileage due to the wind resistance. As for the suspension, when I first got the car it had a few self leveling problems. The cannonball pressure accumulators had to be replaced, and I blew about 5 or 6 quarts of that expensive designer self leveling suspension fluid out of a hole in the high pressure hose near the pump all over my engine compartment and the underside of the vehicle (spa treatment). I fixed the hose and canned the expensive fluid in favor of PartsMaster power steering fluid (worked great all winter... still works now ). Towing with the self leveling suspension is absolutely wonderful. The rear end doesnt sag at all, and it corners great. It really dampens trailer movement to the point that you almost don't even notice it. Seriously, even just driving around without the trailer, the SLS is a wonderful thing to have. I think the 300TD is the most comfortable car I have ever been in.

Youre not that far off on that one... It looked so cool that I even got hassled by some outback nazi law enforcement agency in Minnesota because they thought I was stealing diesel from the trucks.