Well, so far I have owned my 240D for 4 months and have gotten 600 miles out of it (has 142k). Got the first 500 miles during the first two weeks of use. After several weeks of farting around I finally got it running again. In the process I found very low compression and a leaky fuel line (I replaced the fuel line), I also found that if I started it and turned it off immediately, I could restart it, but if I ran/drove it until it was well warmed up it would not restart. If I let it cool, it would then restart, at least the 3 or 4 times I ran it at home. This led me to believe along with the slow hot cranking, that it was only a starter problem, but when I tried to start it this morning I found out how wrong I was. It is back to not starting when cold. I drove it about 75 miles yesterday and while it didn't start immediately after I turned it off (after 30 miles of driving), it restarted fairly easy after two hours. I was actually surprised when it didn't start this morning: I am glad I didn't buy that new starter!

I tried to prime the IP and found that the manual pump that was easy to pump several weeks ago is now extremely tight to both unscrew and pump. The nearest I can figure is I need an injector pump and a starter. I posted this for parts and got 56 looks and no responses. This car is a 1976. It appears that it has no value even for parts, based on the lack of interest. Would everyone agree with that? I am going to repost this car for parts with pictures this time. If anyone is interested in parts let me know: The interior is excellent except for a tear in the side of the drivers seat that you can see below.

Have you tried adjusting the valves?

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

Vavle were adjusted before I bought it (have all the receipts). The problem is too sudden and intermittent anyways. My IP has its own oil reservoir that keeps going dry. I found a person on this site on the "classic?" car forum with similar symptoms. I haven't checked it this time yet,but I am hoping it is dry again.

uh sounds like you need to overhaul the engine, does it burn oil? ip going dry is easy to fix, just new seals. its not that hard to keep one of these engines going if you know whats wrong, i say just keep after it and dont give up, not on such a beautifull classic you have there.

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Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

As long as they would add one additional commandment for you to keep thy religion to thyself.
George Carlin (Wonder where he is now..)

1981 240d (engine donor 1983 240d) recently rebuilt engine hurray! - No more.. fought a tree and the tree won.

pearl black 1983 240d 4speed (Converted!@$$%) atleast the tranny was rebuilt.

That car needs to stay in one peice. If I had the bucks, I would buy it.

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RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

91 W124 300D Turbo replaced, Pressure W/G actuator installed. 210K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

Just curious. What are you seeing that I am not? Is there something unique about the car, like interior condition or something else? I haven't seem another with the "foglamps?". Is that a special feature or haven't I seen enough of these cars.

It is a very unusual color combo and the bodywork and interior seem to be in very good shape.

Many cars from that era have "unique" color combos like split pea green soup over avocado. Remember, it was the era of polyester and leisure suits....

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

My old yellow 76 model had the fog lights as well. RLeo has that car now. If I had the bucks and knew where the car was located, i'd take her off your hands and pay someone to fix it.

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TXBill



Former owner of a few diesel MB cars
1998 Lexus ES 300 In Chicago We Trust

Cervan,
What was your final cost for rebuilding your engine? Also, I understand that new pistons are not even available, if I need them. Is that true? While people here have said that transplant engines aren't hard to find, I have found that this is not the case. As I would expect it has been difficult to find a 31 years old engine that is not all worn out. I don't know it I could get away with just a resleeve/re-ring in this engine because the prices I have seen for a complete rebuilt seems to be twice the value of the car.

Diesel4me,
Just to let you know the car is near Detroit, Michigan. The people on this site seem to have a love for these cars that is not shared by the general car buff, because these car don't seem to have much value.

Cervan,
I am assuming that replacing the IP seals involves removing the pump. Can I avoid timing the pump by marking the pump and block? Do you know of a source for the new seals or is a MB dealer my best bet? Also, wouldthe pump going dry stop it from pumping fuel causing the "no start" condition?