New guy here! Buying a 1984 300sd tommorow!
 

Hey guys! Looking forward to picking up my car, been riding motorcycles for the last couple of years, looking forward to a few more creature comforts. I took a pretty good look & testdrive of the car upon first checking it out and the only thing that stuck out was the intake was rattling, so I ordered 3 new rubber mounts. Now I would love to change all the fluids, amsoil recomends 5-30 but I feel this may be too thin. Walmart carries some mobile one full synthetic turbo diesel truck oil in 5w-40, should I just start with that?

Thanks,
Mike W.

I wouldn't bother with synthetic until you drive it for a week or two and see how much it leaks and where. Then fix them. No point in leaking expensive synthetic oil on the ground. Do the first change with dino oil just so you know that its got fresh oil in it and then see how much she leaks. 15w-40 diesel rated oil is standard fare.

Yes it was apparent it had a slight leak. The car has a slight hard shift, so how about changing the trans fluid? I believe there are 2 6mm drains from reading the forums, one for the TC, and one for the oil pan, but do I just put the new oil in through the fill tube or do I need to refill the TC too?

If you drain both the torque converter and the transmission pan and it will probably take about 9 quarts give or take. You need to fill through the dipstick tube. Put in about 6qts of the fluid, start the car, and go through all the gears with your foot on the brake. Then add 1 quart at a time repeating the procedure until you have reached the correct amount of fluid. Make sure you are on level ground while doing this. After you're done, take the car for a drive to get everything warmed up to normal operating temperature. Then check the fluid again. The fluid level is very sensitive. Make sure you get it between the high and low marks. It could only be half a quart that takes you above or below the high and low marks. So be very careful.

Patience is a virtue when doing this process. Also, consider getting a new filter for the transmission. There are a number of manufacturers that sell kits that come with both the filter in the pan gasket. Other than being messy, it's actually a pretty easy job to do.

Hard shifts are vacuum related. Probably a leak somewhere.

Thanks guys. One last thing before I get started, I am unable to find a service manual other than the Chilton's. I HATE chilton's manuals. I've run into many instances where they're sorely lacking. I've seen the CD's on ebay, anyone have experience with them?

Thanks,
Mike W.

The CD or mercedes shop manual (there the same thing) are very detailed and excellent. You are right about the haynes\chiltons manual for this car. It's simply awful... Most of the time I find a how to on one for these forums and follow that along with having read the shop manual. It's also available online for free now Untitled Document

DIY articles
 

Don't forget the PeachPartsWiki --- DIY articles on this forum:

PeachPartsWiki: Do It Yourself Articles - Mercedes Vehicles


Welcome to the forum and may you own at least one old MB diesel for a very long time.:D

I've got an '84 300SD, and enjoy it a lot. If you have driven any of the smaller M B's (115,123,210 etc), the 126 is definitely a step up. Take care of it, and it will give you many thousands of enjoyable miles....Rich

It is not 9 quarts, its roughly 7.5 for an entire change including torque converter. The drain plugs are 5mm.

Guess I was going on my 300SDL. It took 8.5.

Thanks for the welcome & advice guys! meant to get a pic or two today but was too busy driving the car around! As far as I can tell only very minor problems. Dash light & ac are out, a brake light bulb or two are out, air box bushings need to be replaced, and the odometer is stuck, spedo works though. Gonna see how much I can knock out this weekend.

Cheers,
Mike W.

I think you will love that car. I love mine. I want to drive it all the time'.

5w30 is not a proper viscosity for most NA ambient conditions, unless it has sufficient HTHS viscosity to serve as an ACEA A3/B3 oil. I doubt youll find one that has a good diesel add pack and sufficient HTHS. Amsoil may, but I think that with the soot loading of these engines, there are better fits that are purpose specific.

Your viscosity chart looks like this:

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j3...5/MBDiesel.jpg

I would personally run a 15w-40 or 5w-40 oil. Rotella synthetic 5w-40 is a great option that can be had anywhere at a good price point.

Thanks for all the info guys! You guys are great! I suppose I will be going with a thicker oil as mentioned above. I found out the AC belt is MIA, so gonna order a new one. Gonna do all the fluids & filter for now. Gonna order a new odometer gear I just need my spedo removal tools to get here in the mail! All my vacuum lines & fittings look well aged, so I'd love to replace them is someone has a link. I'd be more than glad to make how to videos for most anything I do. I am by far not the best to make the videos but I love getting help in any form and would be glad to return the favor.
As far as automotive background goes 2 years ago when I was 18 I found a great job in a car shop. Worked doing basic fluid changes, top ups & oil changes the right way. We were a completely customer service oriented shop. Everyone was dead honest with customers, and we always lubed up everything on the car, put grease through the fittings, cleaned out air filters, etc. Worked there for almost a year before moving for college. When I moved I found 3 short lived car & motorcycle shop jobs. They were all income oriented. They would catch me in my old habbit of knocking out debris or cleaning an air filter & get pissed and ask why I didn't just tell the customer to buy a new one, they found ways to charge unknowing women $60 to change a lightbulb, if tires had a non leaking nail in it but they were of an unrepairable tread depth or age they would simply say it was unrepairable and sell them a new tire, etc.
It's not only for these reasons, but thickness of my wallet (or lack thereof) that leads me to do things myself and fuels my desire to help others to do so.

Now, without any further ado, here's my pics and a few things that stump me are circled in red: (I'll stop asking so many questions when my service manual cd gets here ;)

Feel free to let me know if I'm doing something wrong, I won't take offense
First, aged vac lines & such, time to replace?
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...cock/014-5.jpg

Missing and/or damaged hoses, any info?
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...cock/015-7.jpg

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...cock/013-4.jpg

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...cock/012-5.jpg

Thanks,
Mike w.