My buddy just bought a '79 240D and the previous owner said they put like half a quart of auto tranny fluid in the tank at fillups. It's supposed to either make it run better or lubricate the injection pump, etc... I've never heard of this. I would think if such lubrication is necessary, there has to be something else out that that's actually designed for that purpose. Anyone else know anything about this?

Frank.

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'82 300SD

Elripster,
I have seen posts where people mixed various components such as ATF and Gas in a pinch to get home, but I don't remember reading where anyone did this on a regular basis. Sorry I cannot help you out more.

Rick

For the previous owner, and the car. We can't help the former owner, but if you buy a bottle of Redline Diesel Fuel Catalyst and run that in a tank of fuel (the whole bottle the first time), and then follow up with a 1/3 bottle at each fill-up after that, it will go a long way to removing the residue left by the ATF being burned in the cylinder, and should improve performance while reducing smoke.

For more than you ever wanted to know go to:

carbon build up

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Scott Longston
Northern California Wine Country...
"Turbos whistle, grapes wine..."

Frank, I have not done this but was told by the service rep at the local Mercedes dealership to use ATF with every tankfull of fuel. Also have heard of filling the fuel filter with ATF when you change filters, this is a convenience for not having to get diesel fuel to fill the new filter. The service rep told me that using ATF will smooth out a rough idle. I do not have any proof of this.

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Richard Seaman
1982 300D Turbo 198k
1987 420SEL Sold
1993 400SEL 123k
MBCA Desert Stars

Never had anyone from MB tell me to use ATF in the fuel, however just after I bought my first powr stroke diesel I ran into a guy at the service station, talked about the truck and he said before he left to run a little ATF through it every so often, he owned a diesel repair shop and had no reason to blow smoke so I feel he knew what he was saying. Had the name on his truck, but did not offer a card so he wasn't looking for buisness. That particular truck is with the ex and has over 100K and still purrs, however not as good as mine.