What are you trying to say?

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306D 1975 (camper) - rusting away
W116 450 SEL 1975 - sold
W114 long wheelbase ambulance, 3 litre diesel 1974

VW Golf 1 convertable - midlife crisis item
VW T4 van - support vehicle

Diesel lover:

There is that saying -- "Once you drive a Benz, you'll never go back!" -- so very true.

My mechanic doesn't think much of the 190 series, but you know, I seem to see a lot of them driving around! Very nice, comfortable, decent performance transportation, and that, in the end, is what we all need. We may WANT a race car some days, and a nice $150,000 sports car would be a blast, but on the way to and from work each day, a car that starts, runs, handles well in traffic, and doesn't eat your paycheck suits me.

And to give you an idea of just how long these things can go, my 220D turned 30 in October. While I was a the Autozone the other day, I was gassing with the guy at the register and BOTH the guys behind me in line have a mid-70s 300D in various stages of restoration!

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

HaYN,

YES, I had a diesel stolen. It was an 81 300D with a peeling clearcoat, cracked dash board, and really worn seats. It was parked in the lot next to the house. My roommate had asked to borrow it (was going to work on his BMW that day). He knocked on the door and asked where I parked it. Haven't heard from it since. I regularly left the sunroof open in that car, so it looked like they put it in neutral, rolled it to the back of the lot and hot wired it. All of my friends were SHOCKED "They stole WHAT? Why?"

Needless to say, I keep my sunroof closed at night now. I had just reworked the vacuum system, put in new suspension parts, etc. It is probably in Mexico right now. It had sat outside a lot (hence the cosmetic damage) but only had 125K on it. I'm sure it's serving someone nice.

I love diesels. There is an old world elegance to them. It's one of those things you love or just tolerate. By the way, I unhooked the EGR valve and plugged the line. WHAT a difference it made. It has more power and smokes MUCH less. I tested it and it had a slow leak.

Happy dieseling!

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R Talley
88 BMW E32 735i (make it go away)
95 Volvo 960 "Inga" (valve problems)
95 Nissan Maxima (the indestructible)
89 Ford Ranger XLT (ugliest truck in the South)

skalie, It would be gone in a second thats how much my wife wants a diesel G Wagen to go along with our two diesel MB cars witch she also loves dearly. Of course I had nothing to do with her interest in a mint G Wagen, hmmm might not be to bad for exploring the forest service roads around here!
William Rogers....

I bought my first MB, a '75 300D, after I rolled my Datsun 280ZX. I thought something slow might be better for me. It had 100k when I bought it and I put on another 160k+ miles before the body and floors rusted out beyond repair. Boy, I miss that car, and you guys don't make it any better for me. I loved the sound, the good fuel economy, the rumble of the idle, and no static in my amateur radios. And.. I liked to be different.

Having joined this forum after the timing chain broke on my gas MB, I now want to sell it after the rebuild and buy a couple of '80's vintage diesels. One for me and one for my soon to be driving kids. My oldest wants the 190E 2.6, but he's not going to get it. It will be replaced by something that can run on coconut oil.

After a Turbo Escort that I drove for 172k miles and an Aerostar (my first new vehicle) that lasted for 275k miles, I'm back in the MB Deisel club. If I can find one with my name written on it.

When we were just married, we used to take the 300D to the parking lot of the local ski slopes at night and watch the skiing etc. The diesel just idleing away. You'd have to rev it up every once in a while to get the water pump to circulate some hot water through the heater core. Have they fixed that problem?

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Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

I admire the simplicity, efficiency, durability and, dare I say, engineering elegance of diesel engines. There is no electrical system required to ignite the fuel (except for 15 seconds for glow plugs); it is all done through mechanical means. Our diesels ignite fuel the same way a jet engine ignites fuel; by compressing air high enough to facilitate combustion. Although a jet engine is designed differently, the principles hot compressed air to ignite fuel is essentially the same.

I also like the clatter MB diesels make. I can honestly say that I can recognize a MB diesel with my eyes closed. If you listen closely, they have a certain muffled clacking sound that is difficult to describe but some of you may have noticed MB diesels do have a distinctive sound. I could listen to that all day.

Diesels are not for everyone.........the majority of people who drive gasoline powered cars say they are in too much of a hurry to wait for glow plugs to preheat the combustion chambers, are too slow, smelly, etc. etc. That is too bad. My Diesels suit me just fine.



Herb
'82 240D
'87 300 SDL

Mplafleur,

Yes, MB put in an auxiliary (electric) water pump that pumps water thru the heater. It least they did in the 116 300SDs.

P E H

I really enjoy the diesels....there is something about the uniqueness that has always drawn me them...and some of the drawbacks such as acceleration,smoke and smoothness have really been addressed in the later models...so een those that has a problem with them before could live with one from day to day



Warren
1992 300SD 129k
Columbus Ohio

After about .4 million million miles; they just go. no dramatic changes in performance. They just go day after day. No big demands. My wife loves hem. Doesn't complain, just extols the day after dayedness. Me too. Mercedes Cummins Toyota they just go.

Just you guy's in the states wait until MB finally allows you to have the CDi Diesel engine range in your cars.

Performs as good as, or better than the equivalent petrol engine with all the durability you expect from a diesel.

When I first drove a E320 CDi I was literally amazed.

It's acceleration was better than a E320 Petrol I had just driven and apart from the first 60 Seconds after you start you cannot tell it is a diesel.

It is the first Diesel car I have ever owned in 38 years of driving and probably the best decision on car purchase I have ever made.

Mike

Why a diesel? Well, our E300 Turbo is a full sized luxury car that handles superbly, is quick and fast, and gets 8.0l/100km in city driving!! (that's 30 mpUSg)

Even in cold (-27 one morning) it starts with little delay.

The only thing my wife does not like is fuelling. So I do it. And the nice thing is we don't go to the gas station very often!

Even though we own a diesel, I don't subscribe to the notion that diesels automatically last longer than gasoline engine, but due to the better fuel economy, their long term operating costs are much lower.

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

Peter,

Next time you're at the Autozone, try "Dieseling" with the guy at the register. Not only will your conversation be much more efficient, you'll probably enjoy it more.

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Dave
1995 C280
1999 Triumph Daytona 955I - my speed fix.
1982 300TD - Gone, but not forgotten.