I just purchased a 1993 300d on E bay this week. Nice car with 280,000 miles (low miles car). Drove it home 200 miles and it had no power. It would still get up to 75 mph but it took 5 minutes. Got a little scared on the DC beltway. Anyway, the carfax had a lot of the records from local dealer since new so I wasn't to afraid of it. I read hours and hours of posts about poor performance and concluded that it might be the turbo not spooling up. I can't remember all the names to give credit to (gsxr) so I don't want to make anyone think I forgot them. My actuator should be in this week from ATP and I hope this weekend I'll be getting her back together. FYI, years ago I had a 1987 300d and just sold my 2005 e320 cdi last year (money got tight). My wife doesn't want to ride in this one after that last one! I followed everyone's instructions for checking the timing chain stretch and it looked great. I'll post later if all worked. I posted a few pictures in the album I think. Not sure I did it correctly. Anyway, thanks again for all your help and enthusiasm on this great car. Jim

Any chance that the Fuel Filters or the Fuel Tank Screem are restricted?

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

my first guess is fuel filters as well, my second guess is ALDA line gunked up.

__________________
John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

x3 on the filters. Sound like a nice car! I can see that a car 10 years newer than mine might have some advantages...

Nahhh, what am I saying?

__________________
"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

Start with basics-Fuel Filters, Air filter, makes sure the valves are in spec and make sure the throttle linkage is going to full stop. Make sure the trans is shifting at the right times and bypass your ALDA switchover valve....And that's basically it

__________________
1981 300SD 512k OM603

Clearing the hoses helped my car.

Look at your intake manifold, on the left (drivers) side. There is a rubber hose from a nipple on the manifold to a solenoid valve on the left inner fender. Then another hose back to the ALDA on top of the injection pump. Remove these hoses and get a can of brake parts cleaner. Put the red straw on the brake spray can nozzle, and carefully blow out the hoses. Note that black gunk and brake spray will shoot out the end of the hose, and might blow back at you if the hose is clogged badly, so use caution.

Also remove the nipple from the manifold and clean that too.

Once you've done that then do a Diesel Purge and change your filters. Note that Diesel Purge also makes an excellent primer for your new spin on filter.

__________________
The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech

Thanks for all the replies, I have changed the filters but not the screen in tank. Anything major to get to that one? I couldn't wait to jump in and remove all the egr lines and convert to the new actuator. (maybe jumped the gun) But it will be done this weekend. I will clean out the ALDA lines this weekend as well if "the boss" gives me enough time. It looks to be very well "factory" maintained\serviced. Although that doesn't mean it's not something simple. If anyone has any auto glass questions, I've been doing that for over 17 yrs. and would be happy to help out if I can.

I know on w123 and w126 you can remove the tank sender from the top of the tank and peak in at the strainer with a flashlight

__________________
1981 300SD 512k OM603

Ok, thanks, I'll give it a try.

I don't know if this is possible on your Car but on the older Models you can swap the positions of the Fuel Return line and the Fuel inlet line and that bypasses the Fuel Tank Screen but draws Fuel From a Higher positionin the Fuel Tank.

Again there is more room for this on the older models. Stick a longer Fuel inlet Hose into another Container of Diesel Fuel and go for a Drive.

If either of the above improves performance you have a Tank Screen issue.

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Last night I "got away" after the kids went to bed and installed the pressure actuator. I believe that was the original problem. The car has life again. I did clean out lines as everyone suggested. Didn't see any bad clogs. Filters and screen seem fine. My first run showed no improvement so I put it back on the lift and saw the waste gate was not fully closed. (I adjusted to the original length actuator instead of the correct, keep the waste gate closed length.) Changing that fixed the sluggish engine and brought it back! I had an old vacuum/fuel pressure gauge at my shop that only goes to 10 psi. I took out one of the plugs on the intake and fudged a nipple into it and made a run up the Blue Ridge Mountain where I live. The engine pegged the 10 psi quickly. I will try and get a correct pressure gauge to see if I'm at the required 14 or so psi. Thanks again for the help and support, even before I posted my first question. Jim

Okay, I finished the actuator install last night. Went out for a test drive and had no difference, still very sluggish. Put it back on the lift and found that I did not adjust the rod on the actuator in enough to close the waste gate all the way,(no boost). Readjusted and went up the Blue Ridge Mts where I live and the beast is back to life!! Not as fast as my old 87 300d I had yrs ago, but I don't think it is supposed to be. I cleaned out all the lines like many of you suggested, and found it to be pretty clean. Tomorrow will be the first day in service to work. I don't know if an auto glass installer is supposed to go to work in a Mercedes, but I sure don't mind. Thanks again for all your support and suggestions. It's nice to know there is a group like guys to call on if needed. Jim

I've post back twice to this thread and it hasn't shown up here. 2 days wait. Why is that?

I finally got a used boost gauge from E bay and tried out my modifications. I'll put a video of it if I can figure out how. Many thanks again to all for help and the previous threads that I've used numerous times to help me out of a jamb. Boost is 14 psi starting around 2500 rpm. Works great with the grsx pressure boost actuator.
copy and paste my video Checking boost on 1993 300d - YouTube