My car is very very low on power when its cold. I don't necessarily mean outside temperature, but when the car is cold. It is very slow to accelerate. Once it has been driven a few miles and has warmed up it is much better and drives normal. Is this pretty normal for these 3 liter turbos or do i have an issue that needs to be addressed? Thanks in advance for any advice!

Chris

My '85 300D likes to warm up, especially on mornings below 40F or so. Seems to run fine otherwise, so I'm not worried about it.

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Charlie

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'66 VW 1300 96K miles
'97 E300D 239K miles
'85 300D 203K miles (sold Sep 2012)

I'm having the same problem with my 300SD and I think I've decided it's just an unpleasant characteristic of a 5-cylinder. My 603 takes off like a shot no matter what engine temperature, just as one would expect. My 240D is so slow at all times that you wouldn't really notice it being slowER. But the 300SD... when it's got engine temp, it blows your hat off your head on acceleration. When it's cold, it's absolutely, positively, DANGEROUS to pull out in traffic. Something on the order of 10 seconds from 0 to 30. Fuel filters didn't help. I think it's just something that's unique to the 5-cyl engines for some weird reason.

If I figure out how to fix it I'll let you know. It's a nuisance though. Foot on the floor and the car's barely moving.... 1 mph... now 3... now 5... now 8... and somebody's about to fly into your rear end. Seems that once the turbo kicks in, it'll move -- still slowly, but at least once you get up to 2k rpm, you're no longer in danger of being rear-ended.

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~Michael S.~
Past cars:

1986 300SDL
1987 300SDL
1982 240D
1982 300SD


Current:

1987 300SDL

Couple thoughts:

This can be a symptom of timing chain stretch or a need for an ALDA adjustment. I had a 300D turbo sedan that was very slow off the line until I turned up the ALDA a bit. After that there was no sensation of turbo lag and it accelerated very well.

What happens if you put the shifter in L"? My current '81 300TD turbo accelerates from a stop much better in "L". I think when I leave it in "D" it's starting in 2nd gear, which is making it bog down and delaying the turbo spool-up. I can actually feel it bog down, then after a second or two I feel a downshift and it accelerates OK. Trans adjustments are on my to-do list so it's possible they'll clear this up. The bowden cable is almost certainly misadjusted based on how it shifts.

I have actually tried to drop the tranny down to 1st gear but it makes no difference...so i believe its already in 1st. As i said above, this condition only occurs for a short time until the car is warmed up. So whatever the problem is (if there is one), its temperature dependent. Thanks to all who have responded. I appreciate the moral support from those that said their cars act the same way. If that's the way these cars are when cold, thats fine with me. I just wanted to ask the forum community to confirm my problem is not unique, or to find out a resolution to my problem.

Using synthetic oil will help this problem. It allows the turbo to spool more easily with cold oil.