Bootsie's 240d

[Bootsie]

Hey Ya'll

I'm a longtime viewer of Pelican/Peach (decade+), first time poster. There aren't many forums that have survived the social media apocalypse, and dang it feels good to be back on one! There's just too much to cover before this car arrived, so we'll just start with my purchase...

I told myself that if there's one unequivocally good thing about living in California and working from home in 2021, it'll be that I can justify having a classic car as my one and only car. That's the most romantic part of the California experience to me: driving with the windows down, along the coast, in something old without a speck of rust. But what car would I choose? I'm also at the point in my life where I'm starting my family. That adds a very interesting spin on my usual automotive philosophy. Nevertheless, I sold my flawless Lexus GX470 because the market is so dang hot and decided to buy something far less nice but with greater emotional return. Here were my requirements...

1) Something older, cool, and will provide a *new* experience for me.
2) Reliable. I come from the 80s BMW scene, and I've wasted enough of my life fixing cars or having broken cars.
3) Efficient. I live in CA now. The taxes here are insane, and I'm looking at $5/gal for gas and $4.50/gal for diesel.
4) Safe and practical. There's lots of old cars I think are cool, but what's something I could put a family in without being too too reckless?
5) Dirty, but not damaged. I love to detail and I want to bring an original car back to life.

The plain answer for me was the W123. I almost bought one in 2012 but it never panned out. Kinda like my white whale, kinda. So I spent 6 months searching and digging through junk, and three months without a car in general. I've never not owned a car before. I didn't want to rush this or make a mistake though. I wanted to spend my time and do it right. Then one night, while scrolling through FB listings, she appeared...

1982 240d
White on Red
Automatic
134,000 miles
1 Family Owned
All Original
No receipts
Fairly dirty
Driven very little for 15+ years (3k miles?)
Amongst a collection of other diesels

The car was a perfect match. but I gotta say, the buying experience was uncomfortable and challenging. I tried my best to be respectful, personable, and honest with the seller - but in the end was let down by his personal conduct. He had 4 other W123s and was getting his Masters Degree in education right now, working in the CA public school system. God help those children. After about 5 or 6 weeks of trying to collaborate schedules, I finally had the green light to fly up, take a two hour taxi into the woods, and pick her up. She was far up north in CA and I'd be taking the Pacific Coast Highway all the way down...

When I arrived, the car was mechanically in worse shape than I was led to believe from this "mechanic and collector". To be honest, I didn't mind the extent of the neglect in theory, I just wish I had known about it BEFORE my roadtrip. It would be a bit of a gamble to drive back in one piece, but I had to do it anyway. I still liked the car as a whole and wanted to make the best of the situation. Frayed belts, leaking vacuum all over, shaky worn brakes, misalignment, broken/clogged air cleaner, engine temp sensor not working, and 14 year old weak battery be damned...

May I introduce to you... Bootsie ....

[engatwork]

Welcome aboard and good pics.

[Bootsie]

Originally Posted by engatwork

Welcome aboard and good pics.

Thank you!

I made the 10 hour trip back, and far faster than I had expected. For all the heat this thing catches for being slow, I had no problem doing 70-80mph much of the way home. It may take some time to get to 60 (at my watch, 25seconds) but once you're there everything feels wonderful. I'm very impressed. This is what the driving experience is like under neglect too.

The first thing I did was go to the local DIY wash. I wanted to take inventory of what we're working with and wash off the basic grime. It may not look dirty, but it felt dirty, bumpy, and rough. It's been sitting parked outside for the past two or three years but otherwise was apparently garaged by the car's original owner from 1982-2018.

[Bootsie]

The good news is that nothing seems to have been modified or jerry-rigged.

The bad news is that nothing seems to have been touched for many years.

This is exactly the engine-bay I was hoping to see though. I wanted something dirty but structurally solid.

For over a decade I've been hearing about this dreaded vacuum system nightmare. I'm not very mechanically inclined, so the fear grew and grew in me over the years, to the point where I was very much intimidated. But after seeing all this for myself, I gotta say I'm very impressed and not that worried about fiddling with vacuum anymore. I think I prefer it over electrical. It's so rewarding to replace the little cracked hoses and have dramatic improvement to the performance of the vehicle.

Here's my top-10 problems so far:

1 - Figure out the temperature gauge issue
2 - Replace cracked vacuum hoses and connectors, it early-shifts and jolts
3 - Replace cracked belts, they're fraying
3 - Desperately need a new battery it's weak, but I love that it's OE MBZ
4 - Brakes are warped and I found paperwork from 2011 saying theres only 10% of the pad left.
5 - Shocks are blown
6 - Air intake housing is cracked, filter dirty
7 - Door lock issues
8 - Tires are dry and cracked
9 - Door latches click badly
10 - Rear end sags with any weight

Here's my "before" engine bay...

[Bootsie]

There's nothing more rewarding to me than detailing an old engine bay for the first time. For as much effort that we put into making the exterior of our cars look nice, it's rather rare to see someone clean an engine bay. Especially in the diesel community. As unnecessary as it may be, the before-and-after effect is thoroughly enjoyable. It makes for a better work environment as well. We admire these cars because of their engineering, right? Well, let's show it off!

I also find that the more mechanically-inclined people among us tend to be the most lax about detailing and cleanliness of their vehicle. Since the w123 attracts such a loyal fanbase of mechanical engineer styles, I think its fair to say that most diesel w123 engine bays go without ever being cleaned. And the car can take that, no doubt. Personally speaking, there's nothing I'd rather do more than clean a filthy w123 engine bay. I'll have to do this in pieces and stages though over time since everything here is new to me.

The first stage for engine bay cleaning was super simple though. Just went back to the DIY wash with a spray bottle full of Dawn dish soap and water mix (tough degreasing, but safe formula), a paintbrush, microfiber, spray wax, and the wash's spray gun. Just scrub scrub scrub. The results were amazing and will make this such a more enjoyable place to work and fiddle...

[Bootsie]

I had some time after work to start on replacing some of the more basic and obviously worn components in the engine bay, like the air filter and some vacuum connections. Unfortunately the filter housing's bottom mounts are cracked off from all the shaking. I'll need to address that later. I replaced the air filter early though. I just thought I was replacing some tiny basic pieces - no big deal. The result was amazing though. This small selection of hosing and the filter made a HUGE improvement to the shifting. Now it's far less jerky, and my shifting isn't jumping the gun early anymore! I can't believe how simple this is. So enjoyable!

The other thing I did was take off my front plate. I understand these original blue "1" plates are cool around here, signifying the first round of plates issues. To me, the plate's bright blue color, added mounting, and mere existance clashes hard against the car's intended design. I choose not to use them, despite always being mandatory in my home states. On the rare few occasions I have a cop ask me something, I respectfully just tell them the honest truth and they laugh it off. If there comes a day when they don't laugh - I'll happily just pay the fine.

I also booked an appointment at the local classic Mercedes shop for new belts.

[psaboic]

I humbly suggest that as part of your foray into the inner workings of "Bootsie" you strongly consider giving her a valve adjustment. God knows the last time they may have been done, Not hard either. Here is a link to some great DIY's to keep her running for a long, long time. Mercedes Diesel Maintenance tips

[Bootsie]

Originally Posted by psaboic

I humbly suggest that as part of your foray into the inner workings of "Bootsie" you strongly consider giving her a valve adjustment. God knows the last time they may have been done, Not hard either. Here is a link to some great DIY's to keep her running for a long, long time. Mercedes Diesel Maintenance tips

Hey thank you for the insight! Lemme ask you something... if you feel that a motor is running strong, no hesitation or sense of sluggishness, no weird ticking, and doing 85mph is no problem, do you still need an adjustment? What are the indicators for needing it? Or is it moreso just preventative maintenance and done every X amount of years or X amount of miles? I'm definitely doing the adjustment, I just don't know how I should be prioritizing it.

[Skid Row Joe]

In your introduction you mentioned that you have spent too many hours working on "broken cars," as I recall. I didn't know at that point if you were asking advice on buying a 240D to rid yourself from working on cars. I can't imagine many 240Ds that won't need almost constant work to keep them roadworthy. Any Mercedes-Benz over 10 years of age is going to require a lot of that. Pretty near say 20 year old ones, are many times; projects. At least that's what they often times are.

[Mark123]

I have an aluminum air cleaner housing. Yours for the shipping from Portland OR. PM me.
Disregard comments from people who think you can extrapolate from one bad apple to condemnation of the whole institution if it conforms to their confirmation bias. I am sure 123boy is actually a very nice person. Spoken, of course, by an unabashed west coast liberal.
Congratulations on the "new" car.

[psaboic]

Originally Posted by Bootsie

Hey thank you for the insight! Lemme ask you something... if you feel that a motor is running strong, no hesitation or sense of sluggishness, no weird ticking, and doing 85mph is no problem, do you still need an adjustment? What are the indicators for needing it? Or is it moreso just preventative maintenance and done every X amount of years or X amount of miles? I'm definitely doing the adjustment, I just don't know how I should be prioritizing it.

Well, I do know the MB service manual for my 83 300D recommends it be done every 30,000 miles as the valves tend to tighten up with use. I currently have 360,000 miles on it and I have done it religiously every 30,000 miles for the last 150,000 miles I have owned it. Each and every time every valve except for 1 or 2 was tight and needed to be adjusted. The car always ran fine, so I would expect that they would really need to be out of whack to run rough, however I can always feel the difference in smoothness after I adjust them. As for prioritizing it, I would say on a scale of 1 to 10 it would be about a 3 or 4... Hope that helps

[rrgrassi]

Nice car!!! I had a 1982 w123, 300D. I loved it!!! A rat decided I did not need it any longer. Chewed on my float charger, resulting is a fire and loss.

I now have a w124. I love this one as well. It is actually faster than the w123.

They are maintenance hogs, but, done right, these cars are very reliable.

[psaboic]

C'mon guys........we all have our own opinion on things but quit destroying this thread. This guy has a really nice 240D that he is obviously proud of and wants to show it off a bit as well as get some tips for keeping her going. Granted the OP got a little off topic with an opinion of the cars PO, but how about we knock off the political and biased bull****.

[Bootsie]

Moving right along.... hahaha....

The air filter housing was cracked badly. The utilitarian finish on these aluminum pans certainly shows their age. The filter housing is so large, so inyourface, that I started to consider powdercoating. Normally that would be unnecessarily expensive, but San Diego seems to be packed with painters. I ended up buying another filter housing on eBay and having it powdercoated for only $42!

I also did my thermostat! Normally I don't handle engine work too well, but this motor was a joy to work with. So easy and simple. The confidence this car gives me is very enjoyable. I only wish I had owned one of these earlier in my life!

Then I was able to throw on new Hankook Kinergy 195 tires + alignment. Not only were my original tires cracked, dry, and hard as a rock, but they were also undersized. This goes without saying as a massive massive improvement in overall road feel, noise, braking, cornering, and comfort.

The thermostat didn't do the trick though to fix my temp gauge. So I booked a shop appointment for the engine temp sensor. All better now. No more temperature mystery, all healthy!

[123boy]

Originally Posted by Bootsie

So easy and simple. The confidence this car gives me is very enjoyable. I only wish I had owned one of these earlier in my life!

I can definitely relate to that statement. Very enjoyable, indeed. I got my first, one and only 240D, a couple years ago. I'm in my 60's. Hate to think of all the "one's that got away". Even here, in the rust belt, I'm sure there were some prime examples for sale, over the years. Back before they got so expensive and used car prices "shot through the roof".

It would appear you are "moving right along". You really did find a beautiful car.
Excellent job on the engine/compartment. New tires are always an amazing improvement, in any type of vehicle!

Awesome air filter housing! What a deal! Just an observation....did you notice the "triangles" on the housing and lid? I saw, in an earlier picture, when you first started the thread, they weren't aligned. Small detail, to be sure, but it does make a difference.