My "new" 220D and my Mercedes diesel love - Page 4 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

cooljjay · #46 09-23-2013, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by funola

Most Autozones allow people to work in their parking lots. The one in Flushing New York (next to Bayside), usually has a few mechanics hanging out in the lot doing work for people..... I've seen oil changes, suspension work, whatever, even body work! Autozone don't seem to mind since they spend money there. They even have bins you can dump the used oil and filter in afterwoods. If you come to Bayside before you go out west, we should meet up and show each other our cars.

Don't know if it will work on the 220, on the 300 D, I made a vacuum sucker out of a 50 pound freon tank to suck oil out of the dipstick tube. Oil changes can be done without spilling one drop!

That's cool! Its like a coffee shop for grease monkeys

Wish we had that here, I would be up there everyday messing with my car.....but instead I do in front of my house where all my neighbors look at me like I am tweaking or my car is a piece of crap....

Smoker · #47 09-23-2013, 04:35 PM

My wife is calling the 300CD an old man car and is already pushing to have it sold or become a barn queen. I kinda like it though and I'm in no hurry when I drive that car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil_F_NM

I'm saying the car is pedestrian. Kind of. Slow and steady wins the race.
Everyone thinks of my car as an "old man car" and the same went for my 300D. My little sisters called me "grandpa Phil."

As for a model model, I think the vintage needs to reflect 1972. It might be a fun project to reshoot what is in my mind's eye for a 1972 220D Mercedes-Benz ad.

Phil Forrest

Colorado220 · #48 09-26-2013, 02:58 AM

Very cool. I love my 220D, they are really a great car!

Phil_F_NM · #49 09-26-2013, 11:00 AM

Every day the car continues to surprise me, in a good way, about how well built it is and how well it operates.
I'm leaving Jersey City this afternoon for Philly and then making preparations there to leave on the big road trip west Sunday morning.
Packing, cleaning, packing, trying to remember little things here and there.
...but only after I've had a big cup of coffee and perused the forums a bit.

Phil Forrest

Phil_F_NM · #50 10-14-2013, 11:27 PM

We made it from Philadelphia to New Mexico with zero problems!
I'll be updating soon with photos from the trip.

Anyway, I'm wondering about the true mileage of this car. Right now the odometer reads 16k and change. Yes, I know there are only five digits in the odometer but the car is in fantastic condition aside from those rust spots.

The old title and my current title say "actual mileage" not "above mechanical limits."

The horsehair seat pads are virtually new.

After a few valve adjustments, there is no blowby.

Fully loaded down with a bunch of photo equipment, bags of clothes, tools, a few gallons of various fluids and two people, the car had no problem pulling up hills at 65mph.

The motor mounts look like the originals and are in fantastic condition as are the suspension bushings.

The ball joints and all steering components are like new (according to the mechanic she recently saw.)

There is no rust from road splatter behind the wheels, only the rust from the trunk seal going bad and that rear quarter panel rust (which does not affect any more of the wheelwell)

Wheel bearings are perfect.

Brake pads appear to be originals.

So, is there any possibility that she actually has only 16k on the chassis? The previous owner said the car was stored in a garage for upwards of twenty years but that still leaves twenty years to be driven. Is there any way to actually tell this vehicle's real mileage aside from trusting the title?

Thanks all!
Phil Forrest

Shortsguy1 · #51 10-15-2013, 12:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil_F_NM

So, is there any possibility that she actually has only 16k on the chassis?

Phil-
Thanks for the thread. I always enjoy reading about your adventures. In my opinion, I would say that the odds that it has only 16K miles are close to zero. 20 years of unaccounted use. So either someone drove their car less than 1000 miles per year, or more likely they drove 5-6K per year. I cannot imagine that sort of wear on the back of the drivers seat with only 16K. My 1968 220D has ~250,000 miles, and it has no wear on any seat backs and only some splits on the drivers seat bottom. And it sits in the CA sun all the time. My car also has the original glow plug gorilla knob, whereas yours was broken. I just don't see how it would have broken with so little use. Regardless of whether it was 16K, 116, or 216K, you have a great car there. Well done.

Phil_F_NM · #52 10-15-2013, 01:02 AM

Yeah, I've figured it's probably 116k for a while.
Still less than half of what my 300D has and it's running great. Or was a few weeks ago when I stored it in S. Jersey.

The old gorilla knob supposedly cracked off in the hand of the previous owner.
The seat wear is only because of the torn vinyl on the back but otherwise, the seats are fantastic.

I thought I'd ask anyway.

In other news, I've been polishing up the paint with some Meguiar's #7 and it's like a curse! Now I'm going over the exterior from just a few inches away and I'm finding tiny little blemishes here and there. Lately, I've been thinking of tearing the whole car down to the metal and having it repainted as original. It's one of those projects I'd love to do but seem to have so little time. Not to mention that I can't do that to my daily driver unless I have a spare car and the space to work on Trudy (my 300D is spoken for.)
But boy, I would love to do that.
I only think that because I'm wondering if doing a rolling restoration is cheating and I'll never get rid of the nagging feeling that there is hidden rust somewhere I haven't dug into yet.
Right now I'm in New Mexico and it's still warm and quite dry. I really need to get that rear window seal in and every day I walk out to the car thinking I'll do it but then I look at the headliner and remember that I need to replace the headliner alongside the seal because they go in together. Pain in the butt. I'm thinking I'll go shopping for a nice large piece of vinyl that matches the color but doesn't have the perforations then either sew the guides in myself or have it done for me. It has to get done soon though since I feel another road trip coming on towards a region with significantly more rain and winter is rapidly approaching. Well, it's a Uro seal and I need a new rear window since the defogger elements on mine have been all but scraped off by a PO so perhaps I'll just put the seal in and do the headliner when I find a better window.

Choices, choices.

Phil Forrest

Phil_F_NM · #53 10-19-2013, 02:59 AM

Still going through photos from the trip west. Juggling that, fixing dad's commuter car and time at the Pick and Pull.
Went to a U Pull and Pay in Albuquerque today and they have three /8 cars.
A total of seven Mercedes. A few W116s, W123s, one 1973 220D, one 1972 250C and one 1968 250.
If anyone wants a detailed list of what is available in the /8 cars, I have a pretty good list in my head. Lots of good interior in all but one of the cars, all the glass is intact in every one, most of the signals are gone, all the stars and emblems are gone.
Anyway...
I got two heater control cables (Trudy needed one replaced) and I may go back and get two more for the future. I also got a complete set of the little climate control knobs so now I have a full extra set.
I found a very good condition shifter rod with a better spring and bushing than mine has.
I found what I think is a very good IP governor which will replace my formerly leaky one when the JB weld fails to do its job and finally breaks down, allowing the venturi vacuum to leak.
I got a chrome fresh air cowl, a driver door latch (Trudy's is worn and sticks out a bit,) a blower resistor and switch (I almost took out the blower motor from the 250C but didn't have enough time to dismantle the whole car to get to the motor and not knowing if it even worked.)
I also sourced a good sized chunk of headliner material so I can sew in the rear passenger side pillar before I change the window seal.
I did find a rear window that looked like the defogger grid was more intact than the one i currently have but didn't want to spend the time and money to get it in the car only to learn the grid is just as bad as the one I have. I may just save up for a new rear window.

So when I got back to the house, I installed the heater cable and what a pain in the ass that is! Got the cable in after about half an hour of work (I remembered how to do it faster since I had only ripped the cables out a couple hours prior) and it works.

Then I got the shifter rod in the car and it actually shifts like it should now. All the way left and up in order to get into reverse! The old bushing was cracked a bit and allowed the shifter to twist a small amount as well as shift into reverse without the pull up.

It got very dark and pretty cold so the rest of the work has to wait for tomorrow.

Then the driver door lever and chrome cowl for fresh air will be installed. I'll put a 12v power source against the fan to see if it is working and the fault is in the resistor, the switch or maybe a relay (if a relay for the fan in fact exists.)

Until then, here's a question:
Can anyone point me to a how-to in reading my option tag on my radiator support?
I have the top line decoded. It's the lower stuff I'm confused about (aside from 115110, that I know.) Here's a photo of the tag:

More updates and photos soon, I promise!

Thanks all.
Phil Forrest

t walgamuth · #54 10-19-2013, 05:51 AM

That's a handsome 220! I had a 72 220D. It was my first diesel. Good memories. I dig the vent window knob actuation. My 62 fintail had them too.

Shortsguy1 · #55 10-19-2013, 06:21 AM

You can contact the MB Classic Center and get the data card for your vehicle. It will list all the options for the vehicle, which I think are what all those numbers refer to on the ID tag.

Although, I have the data card for my car and it seems totally wrong. It says I have electric windows (I don't). It says I have AC (I don't). Etc. So I am not sure what to make of all that. But it is fun to see an image of a piece of paper that MB has held onto since the car was made.

115110 is the start of your VIN, so 115 is the chassis and 110 means you have a 220D. I don't remember exactly, but the next 10 refers to whether your car is an automatic or not, and possibly if it is left hand drive or not. If no one else chimes in, I can look that up for you because I have it decoded somewhere. Not sure about those two 5 digit numbers.

181 is your paint code. I think the H is sort of part of the paint code, but most websites don't need the H since all our cars have it. That is beige gray (according to paintscratch.com), the same color as mine. The MB classic center refers to it as simply Beige when they decoded my vehicle data card for me.

Phil_F_NM · #56 10-19-2013, 09:19 PM

Either the second or third group of three digits on the top line denotes this is a manual transmission car. One of those says the car is a US import car.
I looked at paintscratch.com and saw that it said beige gray for the color but it is most definitely light ivory. It is the more yellow of the light ivory shades since there are two.
Those two five digit groups are the ones that intrigue me.

Phil Forrest

Phil_F_NM · #57 10-19-2013, 09:54 PM

Early today I got up, had a couple cups of coffee and went out to install the driver door latch and the chrome fresh air cowl. All that went perfectly and the car looks great now.

Then I got a wild hair and figured I might as well take care of that rattling rear window in the very shrunken, cracked and leaky rubber seal.

I had the new seal up on the roof of the car in the sun all day until it was needed so it was nice and soft.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cooljjay

Getting the glass out of these cars is so easy.....put a towel on the trunk....use a razor blade to cut the old gasket off the glass....cut a small notch and you'll see where the edge of the glass is to position the blade on and run it all the way around the perimeter.....the get inside and gentle push the glass out or use a suction cup to lift it out.....then bend the old rubber off the chrome, put the new gasket onto the glass....push chrome into rubber....rope the gasket.....lay it in the opening and pull the rope out....starting in the top middle and work your way around....and all done....

It's just that easy, huh?
NO F*****G WAY. Unless you were being hyperbolic.
Got the old seal out and the glass out just fine.
Cleaned everything up, took care of a little bit of rust but that was just a small amount at the corners.
Got the seal on the glass then attempted to get the chrome trim into the seal. Now I ask, how the hell can one get the trim in then get the seal in the frame?!?!
The trim isn't bent at all but just doesn't stay in the groove well. The upper corners are the worst part to get seated and then to attempt to keep the trim in while seating the window in the frame.
It was like putting toothpasty back into a tube.
I made four attempts but couldn't get both the seal to seat in the car AND have the trim stay. I got so frustrated I almost smashed the window with a ball peen hammer but that wouldn't have gotten me anywhere so I gave up for the night. I'll try more tomorrow and hope I can do it.
In the mean time, I put a new piece of perforated vinyl headliner material over the passenger side rear pillar where the old headliner was torn. It looks 100% better now.
This photo is before the vinyl was glued and stretched better but you get the jist of what is going on. The new vinyl is a touch lighter than the old stuff so I'm going to probably hit it with some darker shade shoe polish just to get it to match the slightly darker headliner.

So, I'm tending to my wounds now (I got a bit scraped up today,) getting cleaned up and relaxing after hours of frustration. At least the weather is great!
Back into the battle tomorrow.

Phil Forrest

cooljjay · #58 10-19-2013, 10:03 PM

Sorry its not as easy as it was for me......are you using the rope trick and soapy water?

Judging by the black goo.....someone has either replaced the seal or windshield in the past.....this might be why your having issues.....it benefit to have a helper too....also confirm you have the right gasket....may be for a w123....

Phil_F_NM · #59 10-19-2013, 10:13 PM

I'm using wire to set the seal in the frame but that isn't the difficult part.
I used some windex to attempt to get the trim in the groove which may have helped but may have made it easier to pop out as well.
The black stuff is rust inhibitor that I applied to the areas which were rusty. Nothing through and through though, just surface rust and some pitting.

Tomorrow I'll try a really soapy water mix and hopefully I'll have someone around to help. Mom helped a bit today with setting the trim in the seal and then pushing on the window to help pop the seal into the frame.

Phil Forrest

Shortsguy1 · #60 10-20-2013, 01:01 AM

From your radiator cross member tag:
247 = heated rear window
424 = manual transmission, floor shift
491 = U.S. Version
515 = Becker Radio

The first 5 digit number is essentially the "Prod. Nr." on your data card. And the second 5 digit number is the "Aufbau Nr." on your data card. I have no idea what a Prod. Nr. or Aufbau Nr. are, but I doubt they mean much outside the factory.