Newbie Introduction -1990 2.5Turbo 300D

[rocketboy52]

Hey all,
I’m excited to have found this site. I’ve spent a few hours reading and have already learned a lot, but I’m also getting frustrated with my 6 month old purchase. I bought a 1990 300D, 2.5 Turbo w124 chassis, and I need some of the folks with this car to remind me that these cars aren’t a POS, and that with the right diligence I’ll be able to over come all of my issues and love the car you guys do. The car had 140k miles on her when I bought her and she is now up to 156k miles.



In that time, I have:

• Flushed and replaced coolant, and thermostat; but she still gets hot, right up to the overheat line going up long freeway hills.
• Had the lower ball joint on the passenger side fail (literally crack in two), replaced it, as well as the shock, sway bar bushings, and tie rods; but I still get a creaking croak and an occasional groan when I steer a big arc from left to right
• Fuel leaks all over the place - replaced the o-rings going from timing pump to injector hard lines, and that fixed the biggest fuel leaks, but the timing pump is still leaking and weeping fuel from multiple places. Just last night on my way back home from a 250 mile round trip, my #3 injector hard line failed right at the injector nut, the hard line fractured straight across. GRRR
• Car was running rough, so to try to tune it up. I ran 2 cans of diesel purge, replaced the injectors, and both fuel filters; and now she runs worse especially at idle, and she feels like she is missing every 20th revolution or so. I was hoping that installing new Bosch injectors would also quiet up the idle a bit, but there is no noticeable difference, and the car still nails and pings, loud as ever.
• I've also been chasing an oil leak that I now believe is transmission fluid. This last saturday I replaced the fluid and filter in the tranny as well as the soft cooler lines that run up to the radiator, we’ll see over the next week how that works.
• I’ve drained and replaced the fluid and filter on the tranny before, but still experience hard and late shifts. I did just find a good thread on this forum that talks about checking the vacuum system, so I’m looking to buy a Mighty Vac tool and see if I can trouble shoot this issue.

More back story, I bought a 1999 F250 power stroke 7.3L diesel with 215k miles on her, with a 6 speed manual and it is the BOMB. She gets a combined MPG of 19.7 when she isn’t pulling anything. All I have had to do to truck is change the oil, and the air filter and she hasn’t given me ONE lick of trouble for 40k miles.

After my love of the truck was solidified, I sold my wife on the merits of becoming an all diesel family and we found a nice looking, old lady style 300D, but I’m tired chasing my tail, spending money on parts, and lots of time trying to research fixing the true root problem, and when you aren't successful in fixing the problem after spending a whole weekend and a couple hundred bucks in parts, I'm getting pissed! I have lots of gas repair time, and feel very competent fixing my own cars, but I can’t seem to lick my squawk list on this 300D. I beleive a lot of it is just not knowing all the ins and outs of diesels.

I bought the Mercedes repair shop CDs on ebay, and they suck too. I spend all my time trying to keep the software from crashing, and when I actually do get the software to go where I want it to, I spend a TON of time trying to navigate the directory of topics and search results. I’m not impressed and wish I could find a simple old sckool manual.

So, those who love and know this car, give me a shout out, tell me that with this forums new help, I’ll be able to resolve all my issues and once I get through fixing all the issues from a previously neglectful owner, she will make me happy (and more importantly the misses!)

I’ve participated on a great Forum when I owned a Ford Explorer before I bought the F250 and loved the camaraderie and help that the forum offered and I’m hoping that this forum is similar. It looks like there are some passionate and knowledgeable folks on here and I hope I can contribute.

One last thing, on any of the above issues, I can start a new thread for each one of these questions, but if there are already good healthy threads with these good explanations of the fixes already going, please link them in your responses! I have spent a couple of hours using the search feature, but I keep getting distracted by threads that are often close to what I’m looking for, but not quite. I’ve uploaded a bunch of pics showing some of the car and repairs.

First hopeful mod if I don’t get burned out on the trying to make the car run normal will be to swap out the waste gate vacuum version for the GSXR thread version, that looks and sounds SWEET. Check out the picture below, when I had my intake manifold off, I thought the Turbo was fried because of all the oil in the intake!

[awsrock]

Flushed and replaced coolant, and thermostat; but she still gets hot, right up to the overheat line going up long freeway hills.

You'll probably want to either check on your fan clutch, aux fan, or look into getting a new radiator for that. Most likely though, your fan clutch is shot and not providing the right amount of cooling.

Fuel leaks all over the place - replaced the o-rings going from timing pump to injector hard lines, and that fixed the biggest fuel leaks, but the timing pump is still leaking and weeping fuel from multiple places. Just last night on my way back home from a 250 mile round trip, my #3 injector hard line failed right at the injector nut, the hard line fractured straight across. GRRR

Mine weeps a little bit too, but not much. You'll probably just want to replace the gaskets around the IP. I don't think it is that hard to do, but I have not tried it so that's not my place to comment

Car was running rough, so to try to tune it up. I ran 2 cans of diesel purge, replaced the injectors, and both fuel filters; and now she runs worse especially at idle, and she feels like she is missing every 20th revolution or so. I was hoping that installing new Bosch injectors would also quiet up the idle a bit, but there is no noticeable difference, and the car still nails and pings, loud as ever.

You might have dislodged some gunk that is now stuck in the hard line or injector. If you decide to get new nozzles, look into Monark nozzles, sold by member C Sean Watts, or Bgkast. Also, if your hard line is still cracked, this is probably a big part of the rough idle.

I’ve drained and replaced the fluid and filter on the tranny before, but still experience hard and late shifts. I did just find a good thread on this forum that talks about checking the vacuum system, so I’m looking to buy a Mighty Vac tool and see if I can trouble shoot this issue.

Search for "bowden cable". This will allow you to fine-tune the rpm that the trans shifts at. Be careful with the plastic nut, though, because it could break from being nearly nearly 2o years old!
If the shifting is too hard, it's most likely a vacuum problem...most likely a leak somewhere. If not, then your trans isn't getting the proper vac which could make it seem rough. A mighty vac is a great tool!

Don't give up! This forum will give you hope, I can assure you.

Btw, nice car! Same color as mine. I like the later, 210 model wheels you have too!

Oh, and the soot in your intake isn't that bad. I'd almost say that is normal. Look into disabling your EGR for "testing purposes"..it'll keep things clean, as well as give you a tad more power and economy!

[Oldwolf]

Nice looking car and I'm sorry you are getting frustrated.

I'm a new 300D owner too so all I can offer to you are three websites that have been very helpful to me:

http://www.ps2cho.net/downloads/MB%20CD/W124/Main.html

http://mb.auto.pl/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,62/

This seems to only work in IE:
http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb0.asp?TP=1

Using these websites and the help of the experienced owners of this forum you will likely be able to address all the issues with your 124.

Good Luck!

[scottmcphee]

She's nice!

And the car's not bad looking either.

[rocketboy52]

Wow some responses already SWEET !

Originally Posted by awsrock

You'll probably want to either check on your fan clutch, aux fan, or look into getting a new radiator for that. Most likely though, your fan clutch is shot and not providing the right amount of cooling.

I will check fan clutch next thing I do, I actually tried taking it off before, and it looks like there must be some specialy tools, and technique to getting it off without dorking it up. Also is there a way to "test" the effectiveness of the radiator without simply replacing it? No need to buy a new one if I don't need to. My aux fans (2 front electric ones) turn on once the engine get hot and during cool down after the engine is turned off.

Originally Posted by awsrock

You might have dislodged some gunk that is now stuck in the hard line or injector. If you decide to get new nozzles, look into Monark nozzles, sold by member C Sean Watts, or Bgkast. Also, if your hard line is still cracked, this is probably a big part of the rough idle.

The hard line only just cracked on this last trip, and didn't leak previous to that. Now I'm trying to find hard line replacements. I think I'm going to start a thread for each one of these items so others can easily find the thread in the future. The injectors where new bosch injectors ($100 ea) and were put on less then 1500 miles ago...

Originally Posted by awsrock

Search for "bowden cable".

I'll be sure to search for this

Originally Posted by awsrock

A mighty vac is a great tool!

My buddy says they sell these at Autozone for $30. I'll go pick one up tommorrow after work.

Originally Posted by awsrock

Btw, nice car! Same color as mine. I like the later, 210 model wheels you have too!

I didn't put the wheels on, but rather bought it that way. I like the wheel style and larger wheel size, but the drivers side wheel does rub somewhere when I hit a bump while making a right hand turn at the same time. Not sure why only one side rubs... any ideas? I bought new tires 2 months ago, and had a 4 wheel computer alignment, and nothing was out of whack, so I'm going to try and find an old aluminum bat and try to roll the fender. I'll start a thread on that topic too! Probably in the W124 chassis section

Originally Posted by awsrock

Oh, and the soot in your intake isn't that bad. I'd almost say that is normal. Look into disabling your EGR for "testing purposes"..it'll keep things clean, as well as give you a tad more power and economy!

I guess you need to know "how bad is too bad" to make that statement, I guess if you say it aint that bad, I'll fret a little bit less about it. I wouldn't mind doing the EGR mod, but I think I want to work all the Squawk items out and then think about upgrades.

[rocketboy52]

Originally Posted by Oldwolf

Nice looking car and I'm sorry you are getting frustrated...

Using these websites and the help of the experienced owners of this forum you will likely be able to address all the issues with your 124.

Good Luck!

Sweet links Thanks! Now I just need to figure out exactly which model I have... the navigation on those sites are similar to the MB dics that I bought, and I think in Europe, they must not have called the car 1990 300D 2.5 Turbo like they did here, because I always seem to find a slightly different sales designation with the European models, something like
1990 "250E Turbo Diesel"

[rocketboy52]

Originally Posted by scottmcphee

She's nice!

And the car's not bad looking either.

Thanks, I'll be sure to tell my wife, I should be better at complimenting her and she won't mind the flattering compliment!

[babymog]

It's a 250 in Europe et al.

Those wheels aren't the correct offset, might rub a bit, were 210 wheels.

[rocketboy52]

A few more details about the cars performance, I get usually about 25-26 mpg on a long highway trip, and I my 0-60 time is ~16-18 seconds. From other threads and posts I've found, it sounds like I should be getting better MPG, and acceleration.

Another bummer is my coolant overflow is all oily. When I bought the car, I was worried that this was a huge red flag and meant that the head gasket was leaking internally, but when I did the coolant flush, the coolant came out looking real good without any oil in it. I would probably be more worried about it, except that my sister once put motor oil in the coolant resivior in her car when when she thought her oil was low, and it made a mess of the resivior too.

My coolant sensor light kept coming on, so I swapped out the sensor and found the old one to be so gunked up that it no longer worked. (See pic)

[rocketboy52]

Originally Posted by babymog

It's a 250 in Europe et al.

Those wheels aren't the correct offset, might rub a bit, were 210 wheels.

I wouldn't mind getting correct offset wheels when I'm up for new tires, but the wierd thing is only one side rubs... it seems like they both would if the offset was really off. Do you know where I can look at that the offset difference would be between the 210 and the 124?

[babymog]

Ask the offset for the wheels on the W&T forum, with a photo, someone will know. Your original wheels were 6-1/2Jx15 ET48. I'm currently running 8Jx16 ET40 on one of my 124s, no rub, so there is room if you go the right direction. Does it rub the plastic behind the front wheel or somewhere else?

[compress ignite]

GSXR's "Website" All things W124:
http://www.w124performance.com/images/

[rocketboy52]

Originally Posted by compress ignite

GSXR's "Website" All things W124:
http://www.w124performance.com/images/

Sweet, just spent an hour looking at pics! Good resource!

[rocketboy52]

I can't seem to find a source for my broken Injector hard line. I kinda live out in the middle of nowhere, so it is hard to have any luck in a junk yard. The three places I normally look don't seem to have the hard line sets for sale either.
Heres a pic of the busted hardline:


Here is a pic of the line after I removed it from the car:


Here is a pic of the greasy weaping injector pump. I cleaned the pump with engine cleaner about 4k miles previous to this picture taken, when I replaced the oring in the injector pump valves. This is the amount weeping I was mentioning earlier. Any reason to be alarmed by this? When is it bad enough to worry about?

[ingmar55555]

Originally Posted by rocketboy52

I can't seem to find a source for my broken Injector hard line.

Rocketboy,

The most likely cause is, that I have been told is the plastic/metal clips that hold them together. I dopn't know if the car has them and in what condition they are, but they are supposed to prevent the lines tight together so that virbrations are less. By the looks of it they have suffered from metal fatigue.
You IP looks pretty clean...at least cleaner that my one looked like, I had a gasket missing between EGR and inlet-manifold, and it looked like it had been covered with a layer of tarmac.

My advice is also to change the return hoses (the greenish ones), they do not seem to be MB. The MB has a cover of textile, and does not leak after xK miles in my experience. The costss.. around 10 Euro/meter (soory for the metric units, but I gues 10-15 dollars on average.



Cheers,
Ingmar