how about never charge a battery while the vehicle is running?

__________________
John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

My Benz cars are 50% hobby and 50% transportation. That is why I own two of them. I can pretty much count on one of them running at all times.

__________________
85 300D 75K Anthracite Grey 0-60 in 13 seconds **For Sale**
84 300D 333K Black (The Velveteen Rabbit) 0-60 in 14 seconds
00 Toyota Sienna 208K (Sold)
15 Subaru Outback 43K
11 Subaru Outback 67K
98 Ford Taurus 100K (Gertie - Was Grandma's - drove it to church and shopping - really) Daughter's car now.
30 Model A Ford 2 Door Sedan (Sold) 0-60 in . . . Never reached 60

Never allow just any garage not specialized in MB to change oil and filter, most will overtighten the oil filter cap support bolts and pull out the threaded studs from the aluminum casing.

Vahe
240D 77

Haha, I'll second that one!

__________________
1983 240D 3.0T 4-speed manual, now sold

1989 Subaru GL Wagon 5-speed Touring Edition

A friend of ours did that to our diesel Rabbit many years ago. He managed to get out onto the highway with it before it quit.

He had it towed back to my place, and I drained the tank, the lines, the filter and the pump, filled it back up with diesel and it started right up and ran fine after that... what a PITA, though!

__________________
1976 Mercedes 240D, unknown mileage
1977 Mercedes 240D, 225k
1992 Dodge/Cummins 4WD, 284k
1990 Subaru Legacy wagon, 330k
1991 Subaru Legacy wagon, 225k

Chill out, Skippy.

I think you forgot to say "In my opinion . . ."

My '83 is a complete hobby. When I have leisure time, I like to work on it because I enjoy working on it. Repairing things brings a certain satisfaction that a lot of people no longer appreciate. Hell, most people can't even be bothered with preventative maintenance anymore. And when I put that car on the road, I'll feel damn good about the fact that I took a great car that was headed for the scrap heap and restored it. I can't stand it when people look down their noses at people who work on their cars. I like learning how various systems on my cars operate - it's a matter of educating one's self that should really be applauded. I work with a lot of highly educated folks and they have various hobbies - photography, wood working, etc. But when I talk about (which I typically don't anymore) working on my cars, it's looked at like a hassle or "oh, sorry you have a junk car." Quite frankly, to me it makes them look smug and ill-informed. I have other hobbies I enjoy - and just like working on my cars, they involve understanding certain laws of physics and chemistry to make something both fun and useful. But I also find working on my cars relaxing because it takes my mind off of other things. Funny how those same people who laugh when I say I spent my weekend rebuilding my suspension are the first ones to come knocking when something is less-than-harmonious on their ride. Hobbies don't seem so lame anymore when they can save you a few hundred bucks.


EDIT: Oh sorry, I got distracted. NEVER let your diesel run out of fuel . . . your battery and starter will thank you.

__________________
'95 E300D ("Tank") - 231,000 miles
'79 240D ("Biscuit") - 197,250 miles (Sold)
'83 240D ("Ding-Ding") - 217,000 miles (Death by deer)
______________________________________

"Back off, man. I’m a scientist” ~ Peter Venkman

Right on!

To some people, ALL their cars are hobbies - since they are furnished a company car/truck for all work related travel needs by the company they work for. If they weren't furnished transportation, it's highly likely all of the cars some own wouldn't be 25-32+ years old. This is the reason why some people have numerous cars so that the odds of something out in their driveway actually starting when they do need transportion is better - at least in their minds. I don't know how cars that don't run can be relied upon for anything but paperweights. I guess that's how they became hobbies to many. I don't know. My stuff needs to actually run when I need it to - but that's just good sense to me.

Trying to put other people in boxes is an art form to some. Mainly because they're not bright enough to think outside their own box. If you don't think or act as they do, your boxes are alien to them. I do my own thing for my own reasons, because it works for me, I don't own any boxes. On cars, they are a net expense, but many are clueless as to what a vehicle is costing them over time. Some treat them as some sort of appreciating assets - which is really over the top to me, versus the money spent on'em. But like I said, there's a lot of heads stuck in boxes out there.

I thought he meant: "don't attach a battery charger to a battery when the engine is running."

__________________
1983 240D 3.0T 4-speed manual, now sold

1989 Subaru GL Wagon 5-speed Touring Edition

You're right. My mistake, I'll delete it!

Never use "Heet" / alcohol, Chlorine bleach, antifreeze or non oil based product in a diesel fuel tank unless you want to 1) ruin the head (cativation - boiling steam eroding the head, ruining the injection chambers, cause valve seats to erode) 2) ruin the injection pump. See this post: OM617 head gasket failure - pictures.

If you have a really really cold situation: kerosene or a bit of gasoline in an almost full tank will be helpful to help the diesel flow.

__________________
Pete Williams, President emeritus - MBCA-International Stars (Eastern Mich.) Now Wi. & Az.
1985 300D Manual 4 speed Green Hen's tooth
1979 MGB triple black Az car nice
1969 back 1/2 of MGB (Az home built trailer)
1991 Volvo 245 Wagon Nice AZ Restored Gold Brick
1983 Jeep CJ7 37,600 Miles Summer use only

Small amounts of water will be removed by the Mercedes fuel filter. More water? Don't drive it. Alcohol based fuel additives are not good, neither is anything that will suspend "disperse" water in fuel so that it can pass through the filter system into the pump and engine.

Fuel from stations with high throughput, not the neighborhood station with a diesel pump that gets fuel monthly and has low turnover in their diesel fuel.

If you are using fuel that is suspect for some reason, install an additional fuel filter system (I am partial to the RACOR systems).

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

i did. i'm sick of a lot stuff right now and your comment just got to me.

Whoa. Now there's something you don't see on the forum every day. Well played sir.

__________________
'95 E300D ("Tank") - 231,000 miles
'79 240D ("Biscuit") - 197,250 miles (Sold)
'83 240D ("Ding-Ding") - 217,000 miles (Death by deer)
______________________________________

"Back off, man. I’m a scientist” ~ Peter Venkman

Never talk on your bloody cellular while driving. Better yet, just get rid of the thing altogether.

Jay.

__________________
On the road, currently:
'83 300D (German spec.) 168k mi. - - Wolfgang (tucked snugly away for the winter!)
'87 300D 375k mi. - finally went over to "The Dark Side"
'87 300TD 225k mi.
Cannondale 66cm CAAD5 w/Campy/Jamis Aurora
Hujsak Custom Fixie/Landshark Track Shark Custom/Ahearne Custom 29'er