It must be a KILLER bee!

I bought an '82 240d stick last mo. and granted it's not fast but mine is'nt that bad, I'd heard the auto cars were slow. but most 4 cyl.cars hauling 3800 lbs. are.
larrybible hope you don't mind if I pick your brain on occasion. Im new with mercedes. but drive a diesel for a living. and work on my e34 bimmer. so how hard can it be, right?
I will say this, the parts are cheaper.

I just sold my 300CD and kept the 240D 4 speed car. I'm happy unless I'm in a hurry!

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'70 F100 shortbed
'82 Diesel Westy
'83 Euro 300TD
Curtlo Viper
Yeti ARC
Surly long haul trucker

I have a 83 240D auto, and with a little sage advice and assistance of whunter, the car runs like a Swiss watch and has enough pep to do everything except possibly tow another car on a trailer. The only slow period I felt was during a bitterly cold winter, when the 240D was a little slow at - 5 Fahrenheit, until it warmed to full operating temp. Then it was fine.

Just my opinion. Love the car, am also looking for a 240 manual, maybe a dead one from a dry climate. Now I have a building so I can store and repair.

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Strelnik
Invest in America: Buy a Congressman!

1950 170SD
1951 Citroen 11BN
1953 Citroen 11BNF limo
1953 220a project
1959 180D
1960 190D
1960 Borgward Isabella TS 2dr
1983 240D daily driver
1983 380SL
1990 350SDL daily driver alt
3 x Citroen DS21M, down from 5
3 x Citroen 2CV, down from 6

I've had about 12 240ds.

If I had to choose one car to own forever it would be an 83 240d stick. The only time it really lacks is on the highway when you really won't want to go much over about 75 because of the engine noise.

My 83 240 with the 300 na euro motor, the 307 diff and the five speed od tranny is the ultimate 240d and will get better mileage than a stock 240 with the four speed while cruising as fast as you can go around here without getting a ticket.

I can cruise at 80 or knock out nearly 40 mpg at 55. Normal highway driving will routinely come aroudn 35, town driving always tops 20 mpg.

A stock 240 stick with four speed though is a perfectly nice driving engaging vehicle to drive.

I particularly enjoyed the deer story!

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I have an '81 240D MT. I drive it to work every day. It shows 265K, but probably has over 300K. I have done a lot of work on it. Basically replacing ruber pieces, hoses, belts etc. Resealing or rebuilding or replacing water pump, vacuum pump, clutch cylinders etc. It replaced a '96 Ford Contour with a 4 cyl.
I am mainly on flat land. It is slightly slower than the Contour. There are a few places I need to watch traffic, when I pull out. Still, its not treably slow. I get 27-28 mpg on country roads. I think when the Contour was running good, I'd get 26 mpg. I think I got 28 mpg on the highway, while trying to keep up with traffic, 70-75 mph. When I slowed down to 60-65, I think I got 32 mpg.
Also, I almost hit some chickens this week. Not as bad as deer though. There were some on the side of the road. I went to the other lane or side. Another chicken darted out from that side. I locked the brakes. Both Chicken and 240D live to see another day.
Also, I wonder on the condition of these old cars and how that affect their speed. I did have trouble with the accelerator linkage, that limited my speed to 55 mph. It has been fixed, and I am happy with it for the type of driving I do.
Tom

As a general rule most MB diesels have reliable power train and very unreliable luxury features, as these 123 and 126 cars get older it pays to stay away from the fancy models.
At one time I owned a 300SD/81 and 24D/77 manual, the SD is long gone due to continuous expensive maintenance, the 240D is still running just fine.

If you live in a relatively flat area and do not need year around AC then 240D is a nice car to own, I would definitely stay away from the automatic 240D and also the older models with York compressors.

I get 31 mpg on highway from my 240D, it has a new motor with 60K on it. On highway I generally stay around 65mph.

Vahe

Having acquired three 240Ds and a Euro 5-speed 300TD in the past four years, I'll chime in -

First try to find one with no, or at least very minimal rust. Could be a tall order if you're on the East Coast or Rustbelt.

My first diesel, 'Miss Diesel', was the PO's teenager's ride for several years. It was a rusty, tired, automatic '82 240D that was ready for the crusher, but I got it cheap and fixed it enough to make it a decent driver. While it's still pretty slow, especialy on hills, it's perfect for local errands. It will get up to speed for occaisional short hops on the freeway, but it's pretty noisy at speed. It does have power windows and a manual 'non-crank' sunroof.

My second diesel, 'Beirut Taxi', was an even more rusty '81 240D 'parts-car'. A basic, manual-shift & windows model that I originally intended as a donor for converting Miss Diesel to a stickshift.
But Beirut Taxi ran & drove so well that I didn't have the heart to gut her. So I fixed her up, patched the floors, and enjoyed her for two years until I sold her to a neighbor.

My third diesel, the 'Wunder-Wagon' is what some may consider the ultimate W123 - a Euro '84 300TD with factory 5-speed, manual windows, manual heat-AC, 60-40 rear seat with three headrests, and third-row cargo seat. It certainly performs better and gets better highway mileage than a 240D, though the ride is much stiffer than the sedans.
Like most old east-coast cars, it has some rust, but not nearly as bad as my first pair of 240Ds.

My last diesel is 'Ol Blue', a stickshift '82 240D with power-windows and Bundt-wheels. Pefect inteior. Good floors, sills and wheel-arches. Only a handful of very minimal, dime & quarter-size rust spots. This car is the most solid, quiet 240D I've ever had. When revved, the engine is quiet too - sounds more like a gasser than a diesel. And it's peppier than my first two 240Ds. Of course, I spent more for purchase, and to fix several mechanical 'deferred maintenance' issues, than my first 240Ds.

All that said, and based on performance, ride and fuel mileage, my 'dream' W123 choice would be a Euro, non-turbo 300D with manual-shift (preferably a five-speed), manual windows and manual heat-AC - also a tall order in the US.
Or, if you're an advanced DIY with alot of free time, you could get a US 300D and convert it to Euro-spec.

For a simple, reliable, gadget-free diesel, best bet is to find a solid, good-running, basic stickshift 240D, perhaps with some minor mechanical & cosmetic flaws to offset a high price. It's usually easier & cheaper for most DIY to deal with mechanical faults, than to properly restore a badly rusted body.


Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

I can speak from experience. I've owned a '77 240D (stick), an '83 300D Turbo and an '83 240D (automatic). I currently own an '85 300SD. My father owned a '77 240D (automatic). I live in the Northeast in an mixed area of hills and flat land.

The '77 stick was my first car. The performance was not bad but the car always required winding the engine and extreme downshifing on hills. I don't know if I believe tales about chirping tires on these things; after all, we are talking about 60 or so hp in a 3,000+ lb car. The old York compressor barely worked, sucked every last crumb of performance from the car and made the car violently shake when on. AC was clearly an afterthought back then, as was any type of rustproofing. The car rotted just looking at it. Vacuum locks didn't work.

My dad's '77 automatic was much worse. At low speeds, I think it would have been faster to get out and push it down the road than relying on the engine to get it moving. It bordered on dangerous for highway merging. It had wind up windows and vacuum locks. The vacuum locks rarely, if ever, worked right. The mechanic ended up just plugging the vacuum line to the doors. The AC compressor blew little cold air and was noisy. You always had to turn it off when merging onto a highway. Both '77's had the broken driver's seat spring and horsehair padding that crumbled, leaving an ugly brown mess on the carpets. My dad also had bodywork done on it twice while he owned it.

The '83 automatic 240D had power windows and power sunroof but manual AC. Compared to modern cars, it was almost dangerous to merge on the highway with it. The extra 5 hp in the post 1980 ones didn't seem to help perhaps due to the weight from the extra added comforts. The AC compressor, a GM unit, which was as old as the car, had long packed up and called it quits. Rustproofing had improved, especially with the fenders and quarter panels. The car wasn't perfect but much better than the '77's. Also, I think MB was in its heyday of trying to convert the world to the wonders of vacuum power with this one. The 77’s automatic transmission appeared to rely more heavily on cable control versus vacuum for shifting. The ‘83’s Vacuum didn’t work well: I found that my transmission shifted mediocre at best and the switches often leaked vacuum. I’m sure that more than one person was sold a transmission rebuild with one of them when the problem was merely a $50 switch.

My '83 300D was much peppier and, in my opinion, safer for highway driving. The ACC also used the GM unit. It never worked right and I never tried to get it to work. Oh, the vacuum locks had a slow leak. Again, the body was not perfect but much better than the '77's.

If I bought another 240, it would be a stick shift. In addition to sapping what little power you have, the automatic gives more trouble than the manual gearboxes. My '85 SD had its gearbox rebuit at 160K.

My '85 SD, which I am picking up today after a new paint job and bodywork, has a similar ACC system to the 300D and the same engine. I finally got the ACC system to work by replacing the GM AC compressor. However, this system uses 5 or 6 vacuum-controlled actuators in the dashboard to control the direction of air flow in the car. Replacing some of them requires tearing apart the dashboard. I replaced all of them recently and it took me a couple of days to do the job.

The simplicity a manual 240 makes it the one to choose hands-down for durability: if I wanted to flog a car hundreds of miles across Death Valley with no oil or coolant, the 240 would be the one. However, as cars overall have increased in performance and their 0-60 times, I wonder how much longer the 240 will remain safe for driving on major roads.

Brian

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Brian
'94 E420 - 99K
'12 C300 4 Matic

Previously owned:
'06 CLK 500K Cabriolet
'85 300SD (Old Smokey)
2002 Boxster
2002 C320 (The five-pointed star Mercedes)
1993 300E 3.2 (Dealership's cash cow)
1979 300SD (Chrome beauty)
1983 300D (Old faithful)
1983 240D (Right lane cruiser)
1977 240D (Miracle of bondo)

You get used to the lack of acceleration. It's in the zero-to-sixty-in-30-seconds range. Serious freeway hills slow you down to about the speed of an unloaded semi truck -- inconvenient, but acceptable and far from dangerous. They're particularly slow when cold.

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Finn John -- Albany, Ore.
www.offbeatoregon.com
76 Merc 300D, sky-blue, *86k, for driving
84 Jaguar XJ6, black, 245k, for restoring someday
71 Merc 408, 2.3 petrol 4, Avon caravan conversion (UK), RHD

They are apples and oranges. The 240D is a very capable "around town" car, but it's not a good choice for long highway trips due to it's power/gearing limitations. The 300D is capable of highway travel at sustained speeds of 75-80 without much hassle, but the turbo lag and higher gears make it feel a little "heavy" around town. Personally, I prefer the automatic climate control; it's not that complex to fix and it's pretty hard to spend more than about $1000 on it. The obvious solution is to have one of each.

If you're considering a 240D, I suggest looking at/test driving several until you find a good one. Over the years, I've had the opportunity to drive many 240Ds, and the performance variations are all over the map. Even a couple of the automatics I've driven were fairly peppy.

My first 240D, Miss Diesel, had several problems, including a rusted-out left triling-arm. But I actually almost passed because she was automatic. However, for $225 I decided to gamble, as I wanted some diesel experience. Including parts, I probably have about $1100 in her.

As I noted, my 'keeper' 240D, 'Ol Blue' performs so much better than my first two rusty ones, with an engine that doesn't sound strained or coarse when revving or cruising at highway speeds. Not sure if it's because this body is so solid, or the engine is just that much more healthy. Maybe a combination of both. This car did need a windsheild, front shocks, alternator, tires, halfshafts, flexjoints and an AC compressor. So including purchase, I've got about $3200 invested. But I've seen 240Ds advertised as perfect/mint for $6K or more, so I don't think Ol Blue was too bad a bargain.

I eventually plan to sell Miss Diesel for about what I've got in her, to recoup some of what I spent on Ol Blue.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

If you can get past the garish whitewalls, this looks like a US spec car but it doesn't look like it ever had AC -

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/ctd/1914644513.html

Attached pics for the next 10 years of this thread.

Sixto
87 300D

Attached Thumbnails

     

It appears so. I have never seen a 240 wo it before though. It could possibly have been a special order or a car for alaska.

Those whitewalls are really funny looking! Pretty clean car though.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Almost $7k, and no AC! I do like to keep things simple, but here below the Mason-Dixon line, AC is kind of essential. An option I used to prefer to do without was power windows, but the march of time and arthritis in my right shoulder has made them a welcome 'frill'. At least they're easier to deal with than the various infernal ACC units, or a sick automatic tranny. But I do miss being able to open the windows and let out the hot air BEFORE I get in the car.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW