87 300TD OM603 0-60 at 22 seconds!

[bsmuwk]

Hey guys,

I picked up this 300TD a few weeks ago and have slowly been sorting it out. 224k miles and she purrs. Has a small lifter tick, but it seems to be going away slowly with the synthetic blend oil I'm running through the motor. Otherwise, it doesn't stumble, doesn't miss, and doesn't make any odd noises. I got just about everything working on it and decided to time the 0-60 run to see how she was doing - took 21.9 seconds.

That's what, twice what it should be doing? The car smokes white at idle, goes away a bit under normal driving, and comes back white when I go full throttle. It's not coolant, the motor was never overheated, turbo is rebuilt, fuel filters are brand new, air filter is new, EGR is blocked off, the little AFM for the EGR is removed and a straight pipe is in place of it, exhaust is perfectly free flowing, exhaust is as free flowing as it will ever be.

I'm more well rounded when it comes to gasoline engines, but it seems to me like this motor isn't getting enough fuel ? I get about 25mpg in the city and about 31mpg on the highway.

Where should I start gents? I'd like this thing to boogie.

[Shortsguy1]

Research adjusting the ALDA and ensuring pressure lines to ALDA are clear.

Also look into verifying that your throttle linkages are properly adjusted.

Good luck.

[vstech]

white smoke is actually too much fuel, injected at the wrong time.
I'd get the IP timed...

[Smoker]

Originally Posted by vstech

white smoke is actually too much fuel, injected at the wrong time.
I'd get the IP timed...

Man I wish you weren't 3.5 hours away.

[vstech]

time and distance are relative... money shortens both.

[bsmuwk]

Originally Posted by Shortsguy1

Research adjusting the ALDA and ensuring pressure lines to ALDA are clear.

Also look into verifying that your throttle linkages are properly adjusted.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by vstech

white smoke is actually too much fuel, injected at the wrong time.
I'd get the IP timed...

I'm going to try and reset everything to factory and go from there. I'll start with the IP timing, makes the most sense to me right now, with how much smoke is being produced and looking through the cars records, it seems like somewhat was messed about in that area. Time to clean and reclean anything and everything I can get my hands on then.

[Smoker]

Originally Posted by vstech

time and distance are relative... money shortens both.

Don't quite think I can afford to import your services here but if I don't figure out this white smoking issue on the 300CD I might bring it there for professional help. I gotta go there for parts/wheels anyway .

[bsmuwk]

I haven't adjusted the injection pump as I haven't had enough time to do so BUT,

I noticed it would never get up to correct operating temp (would hover just under 80*) so I changed up the thermostat and she sits nicely between 80-100*. While I was in there, I replaced some random bits of vacuum hose that seemed suspect and I removed the entire EGR AFM contraption and replaced with a nice cone filter/aluminum tube. It may or may not be related, but the transmission shifts like butter now! Before I touched anything, the trans would slam into 2nd and 3rd depending on throttle position.

Smoke in general seems to have eased up as well. Still get the plume of white smoke on COLD start up as the motor seems to miss a couple times then clears itself out. I don't have any after glow set up, so I'm sure that could be remedied. Motor in general seems happier, lifters are ticking MUCH less. There's a half quart of trans fluid working its way through the motor before I change the oil here in a bit with synthetic 15w-40 and I'll be taking this car on a 600+ mile round trip to my place up north so we'll see how she does.

I'll remove alda when I'm up there to see what difference it might make. So far so good though, getting 400+ miles to the tank JUST in city driving (Chicago) so I'm more than content!

[jay_bob]

Oh no, cone filter nooooo!

Cone filter bad bad juju.

Good idea to bypass the AFM and all the business on the right side but you got to keep the regular air filter. The cone filter will kill your engine.

[bsmuwk]

Originally Posted by jay_bob

Oh no, cone filter nooooo!

Cone filter bad bad juju.

Good idea to bypass the AFM and all the business on the right side but you got to keep the regular air filter. The cone filter will kill your engine.

What can I say, I'm a rebel.

[jay_bob]

Look on the left side of the engine. There is a nipple fitting in the intake manifold with a hose extending to a solenoid valve near the washer tank. Then there is another hose coming off the solenoid valve back to the flying saucer looking thing on top of the injection pump (the ALDA).

Using brake spray, flush out these two hoses and the solenoid valve (but not the ALDA!). The valve should be passing between the two ports the hoses connect to. The upper port and the lower port connect when the solenoid energizes. This is the overboost solenoid that dumps your ALDA pressure signal to atmosphere when too much boost pressure is detected by the pressure switch on the manifold next to the hose port.

Also remove the port from the IM and clean it out too.

Make sure the hoses are tightly clamped. If these hoses are leaking or blocked then your ALDA will not get the boost pressure signal. This signal tells the IP to increase your fuel supply to match the extra air being delivered by your turbo. This allows the engine to produce maximum power.

[sixto]

Sounds like you have a tired glow plug or two. Afterglow won't mask tired glow plugs.

Sixto
87 300D

[zorecati]

I've always felt, unlike the egr and other things that deserve to sit in the round bin in the garage, the alda is kind of a nice to have. I know people say remove it, but I think mercedes spent some time engineering it. I think you are better off fixing it rather than just removing it.

[winmutt]

Originally Posted by bsmuwk

What can I say, I'm a rebel.

Gains you nothing but premature engine death.

[bsmuwk]

Originally Posted by jay_bob

Look on the left side of the engine. There is a nipple fitting in the intake manifold with a hose extending to a solenoid valve near the washer tank. Then there is another hose coming off the solenoid valve back to the flying saucer looking thing on top of the injection pump (the ALDA).

Using brake spray, flush out these two hoses and the solenoid valve (but not the ALDA!). The valve should be passing between the two ports the hoses connect to. The upper port and the lower port connect when the solenoid energizes. This is the overboost solenoid that dumps your ALDA pressure signal to atmosphere when too much boost pressure is detected by the pressure switch on the manifold next to the hose port.

Also remove the port from the IM and clean it out too.

Make sure the hoses are tightly clamped. If these hoses are leaking or blocked then your ALDA will not get the boost pressure signal. This signal tells the IP to increase your fuel supply to match the extra air being delivered by your turbo. This allows the engine to produce maximum power.

I'll play around with it a bit tonight before my trip. Any rubber vacuum tube I can find is going to be replaced tonight.

All in all, who knows, it may just be as simple as cleaning out decades of grime lol

Originally Posted by sixto

Sounds like you have a tired glow plug or two. Afterglow won't mask tired glow plugs.

Sixto
87 300D

Glow plugs are brand new and all ohm out correctly. The miss I'm referring to, lasts less than 5 seconds. It's been really chilly here in Chicago the past few days, I'm not all too worried how the car starts. All the OM603's I've had did the same thing. I've got a spare set handy if that's the case though.