Im picking up a rare 87 300d w124 and the guy is giving it to me for 450 bucks. It has been sitting for a few years in his yard. I states the turbo is bad but the castates. He said when you start it it smokes white. Im a good mechanic and if the turbo is bad I can rebuild or put a bigger turbo on!! Some of you may remember me I sold my 300e and regret it! ! Im excite to get this one so any mods things to check anything give me a pm or add on here. thanks guys

Hope ph2cho is still on here!!

This 300d has the online 6 3.o turbo diesel. U

What does 'castates' mean? 'Car starts' through a spell checker?

If you're in the US, 87 300Ds are not rare. $450 could be a good price but you might find one in better condition by the time you get it running properly.

White smoke is probably coolant which means the head is cracked which is unfortunately common with these cars. Head cracks typically cannot be welded so you have to find a replacement head. At most a new head is $2200. It might be fuel, which is easy to identify by smell, in which case you need injector or injection pump work.

No point in a bigger turbo until you upgrade the fuel $y$tem.

Sixto
87 300D

Sorry posting on my cell. He states that the turbo is bad and dumping oil into the cylinders. I asked if the smoke was white when he started it and he can't remember he thought it was white. Im sure he isn't mechanically inclined. It was his daughter she didn't want it so it sat for a long time.
Here in California anything diesel w124 is expensive and a blown engine 300d I saw once he sold for 2000. People want them no smog!! Here in cali they are very rare.

"Blowin White Smoke,
$2200.00 USD is ONLY the ENTRY point!"

$450. USD ???

'Given the cost
(Over 6 years,of anything MB has rolled off an A.L. in the last 15 years)
I'd go NUTS and be LOOKING for an OM606 (With a 603 Modified Pump) with a Brand New 722.3XX in tow.

Ya,Ya $2500.00 to $5000.00 in Incidentals (HVAC, Cooling ,Suspension,Driveline)
So, what?

Even,If you've got 10K in the Vehicle it's still "BulletProof" , compared to the
Trash on offer now!

__________________
'84 300SD sold
124.128

$450 is a darned good price for one with an engine problem, even a bad head, IF it has decent mechanicals, body and interior. Hopefully it's something easy to fix. I'm not trying to dissuade you from the purchase. Just making the point that they're not as rare as some think. Maybe I'm in a different California but I know of 4 87 300Ds for sale on craigslist between the Bay Area and Sacramento at this moment, ranging from a $600 non-runner to a $5000 collision repair. Considering it's a one year model, that's not rare. There aren't as many 300D 2.5s available and those were sold over 4 model years. Not to mention 190Ds which were sold over 6 model years. And I know about smog checks. I specifically went for a 97 Suburban td to avoid smog checks. So buy it already so we can practice long distance diagnostics through you

BTW, there's a GTG in Oakland on Sunday if you're available - W123 BBQ in the Bay Area. August 21st, Oakland, CA

Sixto
87 300D

Lol I think I saw that one the was hit. It was nice!! I live on foresthill above auburn above sacermento!!
So when I look at it what should I look for? Im going to bring a wrench so I can bar theengine over. What size is it?
any links anything will help!! Thanks!!

Ps I own a 81 300sd. Anthropology on that would be cool. Im going to mod the pump looking for directions with pictures.

Read this - Going to look at a 1990 300D tomorrow

Why do you have to turn over the engine by hand if it smokes? If you have to, the crank pulley take a 27mm socket.

There's an entire forum for finding out how strong head bolts really are - http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-performance-tuning/

Members Forced Induction and winmutt posted tutorials on how to adjust the full load stop to get more out of the original IP. Get an EGT gauge before you mess with things like that particularly if you live at altitude.
Sixto
87 300D

How much milage is on the Car?

I agree with the bad Coolant leak into the Cylinder issue and when Fuel Injection Timing is late you get white smoke.
When I re-installed my Fuel Injection Pump on the Volvo I had white billowy clouds of white smoke. However, I do not recall it having a Diesel Fuel odor.

In my case advancing the Fuel Injection Pump Timing cured the White Smoke problem.

EGR stuck open a little?

Don't know enough about Turbo symptoms to comment on that.

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

There's 200k on the benz.
I will be planning to get all the gushes. I want this car fast :-) ...I drive a 500 hp f350 dually I would like to get a gusts pod like my truck..... :-) first I need to get it running!!

I just got home from picking up the benz. The dude lived out in the middle of no where and the gps took me on a road that we had to transfer to camels!! I had to put my f350 in 4wheel drive lol anyways....

The body is in pretty good shape, It sat for 6 years and there were mice nest in it but everything looks way better than i thought. i got home and threw a battery with new diesel in it and it cranked a half a crank it started right up. when you rev it up oil poors out the tail pipe. It idle really good. Im guessing its the turbo.

I turned the key to the off position and it kept running. i was flipping out cause theres no water in it and i didnt want it to over heat. so i cut all the fuel lines except the correct one lol i sprayed wd40 in the intake to kill the engine, was it running cause all the oil?

the seats are bucket seats and theres something connected to the seat belt buckle it lets air out when you turn it :-)

So is the turbo Bad?
why wont it shut off?
where should i start to get it road ready?

http://www.mbca.org/forum/1991-300d-25l-turbo-out

came across this i need to check the turbo. if it is bad is there a larger turbo i can get?

My good man, you have very rare orthopedic front seats in your car. 87 300Ds are not rare but 87 300Ds with orthopedic seats are. I stand corrected

Sixto
87 300D

I dunno, there were only ~2500 1987 300D's imported to the USA (and ~1500 300TD's), and that was the only year this engine/chassis was brought to the US. Figure about half of those are already dead and off the road. So it is pretty rare, but with ortho seats, that's a needle in a haystack! Especially if they still work.

__________________
Dave
Boise, ID
Check out my website photos, documents, and movies!

Larger turbos are available but you're going to need very expensive fuel pump upgrades to turn more air into more power. The first step up is the 55 trim turbo from a 90-91 350SD/L, 92-93 300SD or 94-95 S350. Then you have VNTs and Holsets(sp?). But you're capped at about 170hp even with a GM 8-71 until you get 6mm or 7mm elements. Forthe cost of such an upgrade, consider an OM606 swap which opens the door to Finnish levels of power.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl8uIezN

Sixto
300D

Ditto what Sixto said. A larger turbo will decrease performance unless you spend $$$$ for a modified pump. All it would do is increase lag and make the car a turd until 3k. When tuned properly in stock form, it should have very good power right off idle with very little (if any) turbo lag. You can get ~180hp from 6mm elements, done here in the USA for ~$1200, beyond that you'll need a Myna pump from Finland for ~$2k (along with larger turbo, exhaust, and a ginormous intercooler).

Just fix it up in stock form first. Please check out this article, it's required reading for any new 1987 300D/300TD owners:
http://www.w124performance.com/docs/mb/articles/124.1x3_buying_tips.txt