2.5 Turbo owners-Replace your vacuum pump!
 

Not to sound alarmist, but I just came from a garage where a 100k mile 2.5 turbo motor out of a '91 300D was sitting on a stand-all blown up. Turns out that this meticulously dealer-maintained car's vacuum pump somehow had some sort of spring break in it; that in turn jammed the timing chain, which in turn broke the camshaft, and on and on. Goodnight motor:eek:

The blown motor looked great from the outside, even had an almost-new injection pump bolted to it; appearances supported the "well-maintained" claims. If I hadn't already replaced both my vcacuum pump and injection pump, I'd be over there with a wrench set right NOW! Timing is everything, they say.

The crate motor from MBZ (cost $4,200 USD at wholesale) came with a new turbo, new injection pump, new vacuum pump, new alternator, new fuel rails & all clips, entire intake system etc. Absolutely complete. Really quite a deal if you're a big-mile driver

Michael,
Did they tell you any thing about it? like any thing unusual before it happened...

My vacuum pump exploded on me in my 300SDL. I guess the diesel gods were with me that night when my vac pump went that it did not take out my engine. My mechanic commented that it did infact "explode" and I am very lucky that my engine is fine.

Car was meticulously dealer-maintained-no warning at all, which is what makes this so scary. I plan to replace my vacuum pump every 100k miles.

does the 85 300d-t contain a 2.5 engine?
i'm @ 120k right now, thanks

Same warning/concern applies to the OM603 engines used in the 86/87 300D/300TD/300SDL. I suppose it also applies to the 3.5 liter OM603 variants in the 90/91 350SD/250SDL and 92-95 (?) 300SD. Of course, those engines generally get rebuilt more frequently than the lifespan of the vacuum pump :)