Growing up with carburetors, generators and ignition points I always found it a good idea to carry extra parts for those unforseen circumstances.

Looking under the hood of this recently acquired beast I decided the only parts that may go without warning would be the alternator and starter.

Local NAPA needed to special order these items, a day or so away. Many greenbacks plus core deposit.

Tried ebay, found a rebuilder with about 1000 rec's, 100% positive,1 neutral.
Paid $60 for the alternator and $80 for the starter. No core deposit.

Found Silica Gel on ebay, $7, wrapped everything in plastic and tossed it in the trunk. Peace of mind, priceless.

Carrying a spare alternator is usually not required because the brushes and voltage regulator are usually the point of failure. It's a small item that bolts right to the rear of the alternator.

Carrying a spare starter is usually not required because, in an emergency, you can push start it with another vehicle. Furthermore, changing the starter is an extremely long and arduous task on a 617 and you'll never accomplish it on the side of the road without a lot of specialized knowledge and tools (and a lift!).

Some belts, a glow plug fuse, spare fuses, a glow plug relay bypass shunt, fuel filters, and some headlight and taillight bulbs, duct tape, and some extra coolant will usually fill the bill for the trunk.

What's that, Brian? Sounds homemade...something to jury-rig the preglow system if the relay dies?

Jeremy

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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

i used to keep all of my parts in my trunk, and my 150 piece craftsman tool set, well after about a year of banging around i ruined 2 oil filters and an oil pan gasket(been wating for an oil change to put the new pan on).. so now everything is on a shelf in my garage,

good idea wrapping it in plastic, i thought my overturned oil pan on top of it all would be good

I don't even bother with the voltage regulator, these cars will run indefinitely without charging (as long as you don't shut them off). About all I carry is an extra (used) alternator/water pump belt, fuel filters, one or two glow plugs, and an assortment of fuses. There are very few things that will really stop one of these cars.

Well I thought I was in good shape. Keep everything listed except for the fuses ,lights and glow plugs.

Instructions for starter removal on this engine (240d) is from underneath.
Looks a whole lot easier from on top by removing the air cleaner bracket.
Already bought special tools just in case.

Precisely.

Take five pieces of 14 ga. wire and strip the ends. Twist one set of ends into a single large strand and add a dose of solder to it. Then tin the remaining five ends.

If the relay dies, stick the five ends in the sockets for the glow plugs and connect a jumper cable to the single large strand.

Count to 20.

Remove cable and start the engine.

Oil, empty jug, water, belts, rags, tools, fuses, fence wire, coveralls, hand cleaner, spare filters, spare voltage regulator, chemical hand warmers in case the WVO heater fails (wrap them around the fuel filter), ag. silo tape (far better than duct tape), flash light, spare blubs, old clothes, a picture of the real Mercedes for inspiration, Haynes manual for toilet paper, jumper cables, hiway flares, golf tees (plug vacuum lines), window sticks.

went to my dads one weekend, ended up leaving late, i ended up on a mountian road at 3am when all my electronics died... no headlights, nothing... so i drove at about walking pase for about an hour until i was out of the mountians and on a farm road... the moon was bright so i steped it up to around 15 mils per hour. another half hour later i was at a place where my cell phone worked agian. i left the car for the rest of the night and got a ride home. the next day i jumpstarted the car, and drove it to a repair shop.

gotta love diesel, no electricity requierd.

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CO2 fire ext.

a FLASHLIGHT

fuel filters, fuses, and duct tape too

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1992 300D 2.5T 249k - Parked with a bad transmission
1981 300SD 142k - Daily driver

Shucks just carry a cell phone. Driving around with an auto parts store in your trunk is beyond stupid. Your oil cooler hoses will be more likely to strand you than a starter or alternator. Duct tape and fuel filter w/ a skeleton tool kit is all you need.
Trust me I have been there.

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'02 BMW 325i
'85 300D 450k
'93 190E 2.6 170k(killed by tree)
'08 Ducati Hypermotard 1100S 6k
'06 Ducati S2R800 14k(sold)

Hey... I thoght we could call the trusty MB 800 #? Right???

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1985 300 D T - Rauchsilber (Smoke Sliver Metallic) with MB Tex Quartz 155 = Cream interior - 320K and counting!

1999 E300 TD - Silver - Just got her 3-13-15 !

the 2nd '83 300SD - Brown Metallic - traded away

1985 Limo Diesel aka "Stretchy" - Sliver - Blue Int - Sold but still in Athens

1983 300SD - Brown Metallic - Sold April 2008

1982 300 D T - Royal Blue with Tan interior - Sold

Gymshoes & sometimes a mountain bike.

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1980 300SD (Mr. Sparkles), 1976 450SEL, 1982 300D turbo, 1989 VW Cabriolet morphing into a td cabriolet , 1997 TDI Passat, 1996 piece of Jeep,1993 F150, 1990 F250 7.3L...i think that's it, for now.

I actually tried that... and my conclusion is that it is actually much easier from the top although much longer... Like 2 hours...
But the removal from the bottom sux and would be impossible to do on the side of the road.

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Aquilae non capunt muscas! (Eagles don't hunt flies!)


1979 300SD Black/Black MBtex239000mi
1983 300TD euro-NA. White/Olive Cloth-MBtex 201000mi. Fleet car of the USA embassy in Morocco
1983 240D Labrador Blue/Blue MBtex 161000mi