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  #1  
Old 09-13-2008, 11:10 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Posts: 2
Yet another W123 owner with leaks!

Hello everyone, this is my very first post as I have just recently joined the forum here. I must say I have already found this website to be an extremely helpful and useful source of information and support and I want to thank everyone on here for your experience and willingness to share it with other owners of these marvelous cars. I bought my very first diesel Mercedes about 3 months ago with the express purpose of fulfilling a dream for years to get off petro fuel. I absolutely fell in love with this car from the moment I laid eyes on it and took for a spin. Shes a 1982 300D Turbo. Garage kept her whole life with 2 owners. I'm driving her out to Arizona from Connecticut in about a month or so. Last week while tinkering around I found a spot of rust under the plastic liner on the passenger side of the trunk. I picked at it and soon a big chunk of bondo fell out leaving a nice hole. Several weeks prior I took her through a carwash (which I will never do again by the way) and afterwards saw a bit of the rubber undercoat had opened up on the drivers side. I put off investigating it till the day I found the spot in the trunk. When I did, I found a pretty nasty spot of rust (see attached photos) though nothing compared to some of the other pics and stories I've seen on here. I immediately set to work and stripped out the entire interior so see how bad it was. The spot was immediately under the rear drivers seat right under the bolt where the seat attaches to the floor. Luckily, it was surrounded by good metal and was very fixable. I had a welder come over who patched everything up for an excellent price. I am having the rear and front windshield seals replaced this week as the rear was the obvious source of the trunk leak and the front is just as old. It has been a maddening experience tracking down these leaks. I cleaned my hood drains by suggestion from many other posts I read on here. I found the plastic guard on the inside of the front wheel wells has a very ineffective drain which has almost no space for water or debris to pass out of so water just ends up pooling behind it and running down the rocker panel. I am lucky this car was garaged or it would probably be a horror show. I plan to modify the hood drain by gluing rubber hoses to the bottom of the drain itself and running them down to the bottom of the car. Than putting the plastic wheel well guard back on and cutting the plastic piece on them to let the rubber hose I installed come through. However I have one nagging question that I can't seem to find the answer to: What the hell is the name of the rubber weatherstripping that runs along the length of each side of the car which the bottom of the doors close on to and where can I get replacements? I have tried finding the name of this weatherstipping everywhere and cannot seem to find it. I really need to replace it because it is shot and I think despite cleaning the hood hinge drains and so on, water will still find its way in there. Thank you again for all your help and may you win the battle against the rust demons.

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  #2  
Old 09-13-2008, 11:14 PM
TylerH860's Avatar
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Location: Wichita, Ks
Posts: 5,187
Holy crap! Break that up into smaller paragraphs. It will make it much easier for us to read.
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1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
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  #3  
Old 09-13-2008, 11:36 PM
JimmyL's Avatar
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Location: Sunnyvale, Texas (DFW)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TylerH860 View Post
Holy crap! Break that up into smaller paragraphs. It will make it much easier for us to read.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Medesouza View Post
Hello everyone, this is my very first post as I have just recently joined the forum here. I must say I have already found this website to be an extremely helpful and useful source of information and support and I want to thank everyone on here for your experience and willingness to share it with other owners of these marvelous cars.

I bought my very first diesel Mercedes about 3 months ago with the express purpose of fulfilling a dream for years to get off petro fuel. I absolutely fell in love with this car from the moment I laid eyes on it and took for a spin. Shes a 1982 300D Turbo. Garage kept her whole life with 2 owners. I'm driving her out to Arizona from Connecticut in about a month or so.

Last week while tinkering around I found a spot of rust under the plastic liner on the passenger side of the trunk. I picked at it and soon a big chunk of bondo fell out leaving a nice hole. Several weeks prior I took her through a carwash (which I will never do again by the way) and afterwards saw a bit of the rubber undercoat had opened up on the drivers side.
I put off investigating it till the day I found the spot in the trunk. When I did, I found a pretty nasty spot of rust (see attached photos) though nothing compared to some of the other pics and stories I've seen on here. I immediately set to work and stripped out the entire interior so see how bad it was. The spot was immediately under the rear drivers seat right under the bolt where the seat attaches to the floor. Luckily, it was surrounded by good metal and was very fixable.

I had a welder come over who patched everything up for an excellent price. I am having the rear and front windshield seals replaced this week as the rear was the obvious source of the trunk leak and the front is just as old. It has been a maddening experience tracking down these leaks. I cleaned my hood drains by suggestion from many other posts I read on here. I found the plastic guard on the inside of the front wheel wells has a very ineffective drain which has almost no space for water or debris to pass out of so water just ends up pooling behind it and running down the rocker panel.

I am lucky this car was garaged or it would probably be a horror show. I plan to modify the hood drain by gluing rubber hoses to the bottom of the drain itself and running them down to the bottom of the car. Than putting the plastic wheel well guard back on and cutting the plastic piece on them to let the rubber hose I installed come through.

However I have one nagging question that I can't seem to find the answer to: What the hell is the name of the rubber weatherstripping that runs along the length of each side of the car which the bottom of the doors close on to and where can I get replacements? I have tried finding the name of this weatherstipping everywhere and cannot seem to find it. I really need to replace it because it is shot and I think despite cleaning the hood hinge drains and so on, water will still find its way in there.

Thank you again for all your help and may you win the battle against the rust demons.


After that I think I'm dizzy......
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'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John
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  #4  
Old 09-13-2008, 11:44 PM
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Join Date: May 2007
Location: Out in the Boonies of Hot, Dry, Dusty, Windy Nevada
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Welcome to the forum.

I agree with Tyler, break up your message with spaces between subjects.

The innefective drain in the plactic splash guard does make me wonder why they made it that way.

mine was plugged up with debris. I cut the bottom of the tube out so it could drain. don`t know about your rubber hose approach.

Charlie
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1) Not much power
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Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

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  #5  
Old 09-13-2008, 11:55 PM
Chad300tdt's Avatar
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Join Date: May 2007
Location: North Wales, PA
Posts: 4,001
Welcome to the forum.

I agree with Charlie. I took his advice about cutting out the bottom of the wheel well liner drain tube in my wagon.

I wouldn't add a long hose to the bottom of the lower hood hinge drain. Those drains are always going to get debris in them. Adding a long piece of hose is going to provide a longer, and more difficult to clean, trap for that dirt to clog in.
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2006 Nissan Pathfinder LE
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  #6  
Old 09-14-2008, 02:00 AM
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: DFW area (north side)
Posts: 1,288
I'm looking for that pieces also

Welcome to the forum.
I'll forcus on one part and delete the rest:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Medesouza View Post
. . . . . . However I have one nagging question that I can't seem to find the answer to: What the hell is the name of the rubber weatherstripping that runs along the length of each side of the car which the bottom of the doors close on to and where can I get replacements? I have tried finding the name of this weatherstipping everywhere and cannot seem to find it. . . . . .
I don't know the name but I need it too. It looks like the piece is hollow. Runs from the front of the front door to the back of the rear door. Mounts to the body.
Anyone have a part number or source?
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1983 300D, bought new, 215k+ miles, donated to Purple Hearts veterans charity but I have parts for sale: http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-benz-cars-sale/296386-fs-1-owner-83-mb-300d-turbo-rebuild-parts.html
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  #7  
Old 09-14-2008, 06:47 AM
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Posts: 2
Sorry guys about my "long-windedness" Thanks for your responses so far as well. I hadn't thought about that Chad, I will have to reconsider adding that hose to the drain, you're probably right. I have a few more questions I want to ask but will wait till everyone recovers from this one and it reaches a conclusion...

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