Hello, I have recently purchased a 1985 300TD.

The problem we have is that at at a certain speed the car seems to shudder under accelaration between 50-60 kms/hr. The face of the speedo has some highlighted orange marks right in between 50-60kms/hr mark and that is where the shudder occurs. That is why I ask if this is a normal instance for this model? My 1980 300TD does not do this. The 1980 also does not seem to have as much power either, though so it is not much to compare to. It has a transplanted turbo motor into it and probably things still missing in the swap. (originaly N/A car )

In the 85,I cleaned the banjo bolt and swithchover valve and lines going to the manifold and to the alda. That seemed to help with the shudder a bit but did not totally cure it. This car also has quite a bit of white smoke when warmed up and when leaving a stop light. When driving for a bit after the stop light the white smoke ceases. It also seems that if I don't give it too much throttle when leaving a light then the white smoke is not so bad.

The guy I got the car from was very honest with me and thought the shudder was because the transmission had problems. The transmission in this shifts great and out of the three diesels I have is by far in the best shape as far as I can tell from driving.( ie. no slipping or flaring)
I don't think this problem has anything to do with the tranny. I think it maybe has something to do with the turbo or the switch over valve-alda? I was also thinking of replacing the nozzles since going through the paperwork that came with the car, it looks like the original injectors and nozzles are still in it. The car starts very easily even in the cold weather. There is no oil in the coolant and no coolant in the oil as I have been keeping an eye on it.

This is the best car in the fleet of MB diesels we have by far in every dept. except for the shudder at that certain speed and white smoke leaving the stop light issues. I also seem to be loosing about a litre of oil every week and a half ( 700kms) This car gets about 500kms per tank of fuel. It has 2:88 rear axle.

My 1980 300TD with transplanted turbo motor gets about 600 kms per tank of fuel. It now has a 3:07 diff. in it. I swapped it in from a 1982 300SD. to put in place of the 3:46 that was original with this car. I have a few things to iron out in this car but it sure seems to get better fuel economy than the 85' which makes no sense to me considering the rear diff ratios and the fact that the 85 has much more guts off the start than the 1980.
Thank you.