i am currently in a 1981 300sd great car.....

i am batting around the idea of pulling the injectors and just doing a changeout for general purpose

the reason is that my gas mileage is about 24-26 and people are saying i should be getting more suggested 35-40

i do not know how old the injectors are but they are somewhat pricey...about 47.00 each with core charge of 15.00

so that's 300.00 just for reman parts

does anyone have a suggestion on how long the injectors last...whether i should change them....should i go with an injector cleaner process which i can get at about 40-50 dollars?

any suggestions would be appreciated

lyle in san diego

The best thing to do, is pull them, and clean them yourself. You would be hard pressed to think that you are going to get over 30mpg in that car, unless you an avid e-bayer . The milage you are getting now actually seems pretty acurate. Use the search to find out how to pull and clean your injectors. You may be able to get by with some diesel purge. Worked wonders for me, no matter what some people say on this board. In fact, I would recommend using the purge before you go to all the work of pulling the injectors. Probably ~$30 for what you need.

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1989 300E 144K

Ive got an '81 300sd and I have only broken 30 mpg on a long road trip to Utah.
The mileage you are getting is pretty good. Ya gotta remember, these cars weigh over 2 tons. There are very few cars that are that heavy and get 25+ mpg.

__________________
"spreading a trail of obnoxious where ever we go"
1981 300sd w/ 341,500 miles

http://www.wecrash.com/pics/ddda_banner.gif

who are these people? the most you'll ever see is in the hood of 30 mpg... maybe 40 in a 240D with a strong tail wind and flat ground

Pull your injectors and take them into a Diesel injector service company. They will usually pop them for nothing. Ask if you can watch the pop test just because you have never seen one before. The injectors should all spray with about the same pattern. They can tell you if they are not spraying correctly. Remember also that they are in the business of selling injectors and just on the outside chance might try to blow smoke up your inexperienced ass, as they say in the trade.

Who says that?

It's worth checking that your engine is in a good state of tune. Check valve clearance every 15K miles, check cam and IP timing, replace the fuel filters, etc. If the engine is not running poorly enough for you to have concerns other than mpg, the injectors probably won't benefit from service or replacement.

Sixto
93 300SD

Only if you do alot of downhill coasting with the engine off.

24-26mpg is completely normal.