Recently bought a 1984 300SD, w/183000miles. Body in good shape...few small dents very minimal surface rust. One owner and judging by the looks of the under carriage I dont think its ever been driven in the salt here in the northeast. All the bolts come off without any effort...no rot holes to speak of. Seems the owner did kind of neglect the car for the last year or so. Needs an oil cooler as its got a slow leak at the bottom...and judging by the oil on all four rims I'd say its been dripping on the driver side wheel for some time.

Motor runs good. Starts up with first turn of the starter...good compression? Did the diesel purge, replaced fuel lines and filters, oil and filter changed with Delo, new air filter and air cleaner mounts, and turbo seal rings on the intake. Cleaned out the banjo bolt and line on the intake to the separation valve.

Anyway my question is that from a dead stop the engine is a dog until it hits about 2000 RPMS then it has decent power. Seems I have to floor it all the time to get it going. With the A/C on forget it...doesnt move at all. On the highway it runs fine. I know the valves probably need adjustment...just havent gotten to them yet. But what else should I be looking at? Turbo? Can hear it winding up and down so I think its working fine. I will adjust the wastegate soon when I finally figure out what kind of turbo I have. Alda adjustment? Injector timing? What else should I be looking for?

Also have a hard shifting tranny. Shifts hard in all upshifts with no flaring at all. How do I adjust the vacuum to soften the shifting points. I will be draining the trans soon and replacing the filter and fluid with Amsoil synthetic oil. Hope it helps.

One other thing. On the bottom side of my air filter where the blow by gets collected in the air cleaner there is a drain back into the oil pan. Is there some kind of rubber grommet that connects the air cleaner to the drain? Right know there is nothing there and unfiltered air is getting past into the turbo and intake thru the gap between the two parts. And the collected oil from the blow by is leaking out down onto the turbo. Thanks to all who can help me.

Welcome to the forum, maybe I can answer a couple of your questions. If your power loss is only below 2000 rpm, it's not a turbo issue. The turbo doesn't do much at low rpm. You can increase low rpm power by adjusting the ALDA (CCW), but you should make sure everything else is correct first. The valves should be adjusted every 15K miles, so that's a good place to start. Also consider checking the IP and cam timing if you don't know when it was done last.

The hard shifting is probably a vacuum issue, not a transmission issue. There is a vacuum line that runs from the engine compartment to the modulator (on the left side of the transmission) that "softens" the shifts. Assuming the vacuum line is connected and not clogged, the modulator can be adjusted at the transmission from under the car. Try doing a search on "modulator."

There is a o-ring type seal on the drain line from the oil separator in the air filter. They do tend to leak. Try replacing the seal if it's missing. Mine still tend to leak, so I've sealed them with a little RTV.

BTW, this online manual has lots of good info:

http://mb.braingears.com/

Try this to increase horsepower (or at least bring it into spec):

Change both fuel filters (there are two) and air filter.
Clean/grease accelerator linkages.
Clean banjo bolts (this is for fuel enrichment via the ALDA).
Adjust ALDA.

Use the search engine here for all this stuff, as some of it may not be familiar. This site will turn you into a benzo mechanic, just prepare for homework. Good luck!

__________________
1989 300E 144K

Before you go adjusting the ALDA, make sure that it is sealed up properly. Take it off, and blow in the metal nipple and make sure it holds air. Mine wouldn't, and becuase of this it had no power until 2,500 rpm, and the tranny shifted really harsh because of the air that was leaking out of the ALDA, which for some reason affected the shifting.

__________________
87 300D - Running on Veggie oil; 260,000 plus miles; Original #14 head

I sense that you are driving it with you foot 3/4 of the way down because it's too slow for you..........correct?

If so, then the vacuum to the transmission will also be quite low and the shifts will be "firm". However, they should not be so quick that the driveline "bangs".

When you fix your issues with the lack of low end pickup, you'll use less pedal and the shifts will probably soften a bit.

These things are typically interrelated and it makes no sense to chase transmission vacuum if you've got low power problems elsewhere.

I'll also mention that the vehicle is a diesel with 120 hp. It's never going to accelerate from a stop like the typical 200 hp gasser. They are not typically slow but you still must realize what you have. A comparison to another SD might be beneficial for you to "calibrate" your expectations.