Originally Posted by jonbobshinigin

Did they do the trap recall recently? If so that is still top notch from Mercedes!

Originally Posted by sixto

If it's diamond blue with gray leather it's the twin of mine.

Oil light = are you sure the oil level isn't low?

Steering = could be a dragging damper, worn upper strut mounts or worn ball joints. Could also be lots of things in the steering linkage.

Picture = I don't see a transmission amplifier by the glow relay. It's not something to miss if it shifts properly.

Did the car come with service history documentation?

Sixto
87 300D

Originally Posted by retmil46

X2 on the ALDA. On my two 87's, both were sluggish when I first got them - and I never had to touch the ALDA on either one to cure the sluggishness and make them live up to their "rocket ship" nickname - matter of fact, on one of them, the ALDA is still "virgin" with the original factory cap.

I just got a copy of the W124 Service Library and started walking thru all the checks and adjustments in the FSM - throttle cable idle and full stop, throttle linkage, tranny feedback cable and vacuum signal, vacuum control valve, vacuum lines, sensor lines, resistor cap idle setting, etc, etc - once all the basics were set back to rights after twenty-some-odd years, there wasn't any need to mess with the ALDA.

Quick check you can do to verify the aux water pump is toast - start the car and let it run until it's at some semblance of full coolant temp. Set the climate control for max heat, blower in auto, and while still idling put it in Defrost mode. If you don't see the coolant temp gauge drop like a rock by at least 5 to 10 C after at least 15 to 20 seconds, the aux water pump has went bye-bye.

Aux water pump is also important from another standpoint - it's nearly effin impossible to get all the air vented from the heater circuit after a coolant change with a nonfunctional AWP.

What's your oil pressure running at cold and hot idle? If I remember correctly, minimum spec per the FSM is around 1 bar at hot idle. Even if it's getting toward the low end at hot idle, as long as it zooms back up as soon as you give it some throttle it's still healthy enough for quite some time to come.

Originally Posted by Jeremy5848

ALDA is altitude sensitive so you don't need to make any adjustments. Sixto's vacuum amplifier is usually called the "blue flying saucer." Its job is to mimic gas engine intake manifold vacuum, since Mercedes uses pretty much the same transmission for both gas and diesel cars. The vacuum level tells the transmission how hard to shift and the Bowden cable (attached to the throttle linkage) tells it when to shift.Your #2 picture doesn't show quite enough of the left inner fender to see if the blue flying saucer is there or not. If the car shifts OK, no worries.

A low oil light can be caused by a number of things. My '87 has to be 2 quarts low before the light will come on whereas my wife's '96 E300D, using the same float switch in its OM606 engine, isn't happy unless the oil is at or near "full." Different engines seem to react differently; I can't explain it. Next time you change oil you can pull the sender (left side of the oil pan) and make sure one of its vents isn't clogged. The sender is not expensive and easy to replace.

Jeremy

Originally Posted by bdtsr

Harbor Freight has a set of "Service" wrenches that fit the bill perfectly to get to the ALDA. They are thin and short. Hunt up a vacuum hose diagram amd verify all lines are clear and connected properly. My crossover valve and boost line were full of crud. Went from 23 seconds 0-60 down to 12 just by cleaning the vacuum/boost lines and repairing cracked ones.