All cars have a general maintenance schedule...what is this one for my 1986 300SDL.


When do I...


1. Change Oil and with what type?

2. Change Tranny Fluid and with what?

3. Flush Radiator

4. Change injectors

5. Change filters

6. Change Air filter

7. Misc...

I'll tell you what I do..........everybody has their own opinions on these matters.

1. Rotella synthetic........every 6K miles..........the engine uses an additional four quarts in that mileage interval, however.

2. Every 30K. Dexron III.

3. Every 2-3 years.

4. On condition.

5. Fuel filters: on conditon

6. Every 30K miles.

7. Brake fluid.........every 2 years.

8. Rear diff oil..........every 30K.

That is awesome, straight forward info Brian. I haven't asked that yet, but needed to know too...Thanks!

__________________
My Primary Driver - '85 300CD - 4-speed conversion, 2.47 rear, lowered, euro headlights, rebuilding (not restoring so much)

Wife's - '08 Saab Sportcombi Aero

Riding a '03 Yamaha Warrior

Hey thanks Brian...youre always the go-to guy for these things! How does one go about changing that rear-differential oil?

Sounds like you haven't ordered the DVD of your service manual from mbusa yet.... Best $20 I ever spent.

There's two plugs...........fill and drain..........both take a 14mm hex bit.

Remove the drain plug and allow the oil to drain overnight (use a breaker bar if necessary).

Remove the fill plug and fill with oil until it runs out of the fill plug opening.

I've been using the Mobil synthetic oil...........75W-90 IIRC.

Word of caution! Remove the fill plug first, just so you know, you can fill it back up.

Aside from the diesel engine itself, there are some pretty comprehensive maintenance suggestions for the W126 chassis cars cars in the buyers guide found in the website www.mbcoupes.com

While I co wrote that back in 1998, it was pretty well researched, and widely acclaimed as good, over the last 10 years.

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

The only differences I have from Brian's list are that I do the oil filter every 2000~2500 miles and then change the oil every 4~5000 miles. I also recently switched from Rotella T synthetic to Mobil1 TurboDiesel oil. Both in 5W40

I also use the Mobil1 synthetic transmission fluid.

Oh and I also do a Diesel Purge every six months or so, although switching to B100 seems to eliminate having to do this.

__________________
"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy"

Current
Monika '74 450 SL
BrownHilda '79 280SL
FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban
Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee
Krystal 2004 Volvo S60
Gone
'74 Jeep CJ5
'97 Jeep ZJ Laredo
Rudolf ‘86 300SDL
Bruno '81 300SD
Fritzi '84 BMW
'92 Subaru
'96 Impala SS
'71 Buick GS conv
'67 GTO conv
'63 Corvair conv
'57 Nomad

What is a Diesel Purge? I've never heard of this.

Also, how often should I be changing my fuel filters? I've been doing it every15K to be safe.

Robert
'83 240D Biodiesel
260k miles

Diesel Purge is a product from Lubro Moly. To do a proper purge you need

1) two cans of DP

2) a glass jar or diesel proof plastic container - I use an old Diesel Kleen gallon jug

3) Two lengths of fuel line hose

4) a set of new filters primary and secondary

What you do is remove the fuel lines from the primary fuel filter and the return line up by the secondary filter. I plug both lines going to the gas tank with 1/4 inch drill bits to keep them from leaking

Attach the new fuel lines to the primary filter and to the return line nipple.

Pour the Diesel Purge into the jug and stick the loose ends of the two lines into the jug making sure that they are covered by the DP.

Start the car and let it idle for about 5 minutes then rev it up to about 3000RPM, hold it there for 15 seconds and then let it go back to idle. You will probably see a lot of black smoke as the DP cleans out the carbon in the combustion chambers. If you can secure the jug under the hood, take the car on a couple trips around the block. If you use two cans of DP, you have about 20 minutes of fuel. -- Note, take the new filters and the screwdriver/wrench with you in case you do run out of DP on the road

After a few minutes the DP in the jug will turn black!

Once you have used almost allthe DP in the jug, shut down the car, replace both filters and hook up the fuel lines. That's it

__________________
"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy"

Current
Monika '74 450 SL
BrownHilda '79 280SL
FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban
Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee
Krystal 2004 Volvo S60
Gone
'74 Jeep CJ5
'97 Jeep ZJ Laredo
Rudolf ‘86 300SDL
Bruno '81 300SD
Fritzi '84 BMW
'92 Subaru
'96 Impala SS
'71 Buick GS conv
'67 GTO conv
'63 Corvair conv
'57 Nomad