Thank YOU! You are VERY helpful in taking pictures for me . . .I don't care what anybody says, your OK!

Can anybody help me out with what the important duty this rod does? (circled in RED) is it needed on a non turbo engine?

What does the white thing pointed at do? (VCV)


Remember this was a transplant engine, and possibly they switched out the IP . . . it does run well, I think, but I have not driven one in over 20 years, so I don't have a lot to base that on . . .

Remember the above photo is from TooMany MBZ, the one I'm looking at buying is missing this linkage

The Vacuum Control Valve helps tell the transmission what to do. The vac line from the left, comes from a nipple on the big vacuum line from the vac pump, the line at the top over to the right goes to the transmission modulator located on the drivers side of the transmission.
The bottom line goes to a green dashpot, just a damper, to the VCV. That line from the bottom just above my hand goes to a vent inside the cabin.
Sharp eyes can see there are two different cars between all the pics I've posted. These are of the CD. Same engine in both.

Second pic is of the bottom linkage of that previously circled arm.

Attached Thumbnails

   

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83 SD

84 CD

Thanks again toomany mbz!

Anybody know why the red circle linkage would be missing?

My '79 300d does not have that valve or linkage.

I wonder what year the engine is?
Also the mileage on it.

I'd pay like $800-$1000 for it because eventually you'll need a tranny rebuild if its the original and basically it has a swapped engine and other swapped parts..

body rust?
Half axle boots in good shape?

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1979 300D 220 K miles
1995 C280 109 K miles
1992 Cadillac Eldorado Touring Coupe 57K miles SOLD
********************
1979 240D 140Kmiles (bought for parents) *SOLD.
SAN FRANCISCO/(*San Diego)
1989 300SE 148 K miles *SOLD

OK, so maybe it is a year thing, or maybe a turbo thing . . . ? Where would I find the ser # on the engine so I could figure out what year it is?

I will never know the miles on the engine, as the owner doesn't know, the indy got it from somewhere and only told him that the compression check was good, but the owner doesn't have the numbers!

Body is in Great shape, one of the blessings of living in the desert! He told me that when his father got it there was some sticker from CA on it, but does not remember what it was . . . so he thinks it was originally sold in CA.

From what I could see the axle boots are in good order, kinda hard to see when it is on the ground with out ramps or a jack . . .

There were no oil drips on the ground . . . so the leaks are relatively small at this time.

engine number is stamped into engine block at driver's side just below the head.

617912-12XXXXXX

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1979 300D 220 K miles
1995 C280 109 K miles
1992 Cadillac Eldorado Touring Coupe 57K miles SOLD
********************
1979 240D 140Kmiles (bought for parents) *SOLD.
SAN FRANCISCO/(*San Diego)
1989 300SE 148 K miles *SOLD

If you can be certain that there is no rust on that car, it would be very well-bought for $1,500.

Check the following places:

Wheel wells (obvious)
Rear passenger foot well
Base of rear window, can be very hard to see just under the gasket
Around the trunk seal
In and around the water drains under the hood hinges
Around, under, and behind the battery - do lots of checking here - remove the battery to get a good look

Run the car through a car wash and see if there's any water in the passenger floorboard, it will start in the front and eventually pool into the rear footwell. This water can come from numerous places, most common is around / under the battery.

Other than that I don't see any show-stoppers. For $1,500 you can probably get a car you can drive every day, and that's saying something. Budget $2,500 per year for maintenance and repair as she is more than a quarter-century old.

I was not able to check the rear foot wells, as I couldn't figure out how to remove/lift the carpeting, nor did I remove the battery (but I did look around and under it the best I could) I should run some water over it, do I need to blast it with a carwash, or can I just dump a jug of water over it . . . we don't get much rain out here . . . about 12" - 15" a year, half the time it is parked in a carport, so it won't see much rain! The rear window gasket was replaced when it was painted 2 years ago.

Thanx unkl300d!

I wouldn't over think the 300D too terribly much. It looks clean, has little blowby, and believe it or not, that new rear window seal is a huge plus.
We aren't talking about a huge sum of $$ so I think it is a very worthy car. Of course I'm quite the fan of the non-turbo engines.
Tranny ain't that big of a deal as you can just swap in a used one. They aren't a large failure item.......

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Jimmy L.
'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

the non turbo is reliable. Properly tuned it isnt a dog. I like my 77 and only thing really weak about is the engine, everything else is solid.

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1986 300SDL, 211K,Dealership serviced its whole life
1991 190E 2.6(120k)
1983 300D(300k)
1977 300D(211k)

First of all I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to this forum! You have been very helpfull!

I have one question that has gone unanswered, that I woke up in the middle of the night with . . . When I started it, it took over 10 sec for oil presure to registar on the gauge, is this normal? I know it has a mechanical gauge, and I haven't had one for many years now, my memory seems to fail me on this point, (well others too)

Yes it appears he has done some things to it, the rad is new, (even though there is no expansion tank, has an old water bottle that the overflow drips into)The "front end" has been done, not sure what was done, but it felt tight driving it, he seems to take care of it, he has a newer 300 diesel that I had trouble keeping up with my gasser p/u!

Sounds like a gauge issue or an oil pump. My oil pressure gauge wouldnt read for about 3 or 4 seconds then I put in a oil pump with lesser mileage when I did the upper oil pan and it went away.

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1986 300SDL, 211K,Dealership serviced its whole life
1991 190E 2.6(120k)
1983 300D(300k)
1977 300D(211k)

It pegged to 45 once it moved, and it stayed there, even when warmed up (180F) at idle I now think this is strange . . . I wrote it in my report/inspection, but just hit me now!

you also could have a heavy oil in there like my po who put in 20-50 in to cover up the oil pan leak...

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1986 300SDL, 211K,Dealership serviced its whole life
1991 190E 2.6(120k)
1983 300D(300k)
1977 300D(211k)