87 300D maintenance/updates
 

Since I have my 300D running now (with the help of this forum Thanks!) my thoughts are moving to what maintenance/updates I should be doing to this car before I try putting it on the road. In the process of trying to find the problem so far the following has been done: New lift pump, new (rebuilt) injectors, all fuel filters including tank screen.

The car has 169K on it and is in beautiful shape for its age. I have found no rust at all on the car (even underneath) and the interior is as nice as I could probably find. My dad told me it was stored every winter while the owner spent bad weather in a better climate. So what should I be scraping my nickels and dimes together to replace/update before driving it, or maybe after I have driven it for a bit to make sure it is as solid as it appears? My hope would be to make it as reliable as possible to use as a daily driver. Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks!

Interesting....why did you replace the lift pump? For that matter, why did you do the injectors? Was there a specific problem?

What I like to do with a new old Diesel is to replace all the rubber vacuum connectors in the engine compartment. It will save you a dozen small problems down the road. Otherwise, change fluids and filters, and drive it.

I would drain and change the power steering fluid and filter, change the transmission fluid and filter, and the differential fluid and filter.
that'd be my #1 after oil and fuel filters.

also, as it's a OM603 motor that came with the #14 head, I'd pull the block drain, and radiator drain, and totally flush the coolant out, and refill with a 50% mix of distilled water with MB coolant, or Zerex G05 coolant. then I'd pull the radiator fan, the fan clutch, and the belt tensioner and replace them all with new. for the fan, get the 1998 turboOM606 plastic fan, and the matching fan clutch. (get the fan shroud as well if you can...) while you have the belt and fan out of the way, it's a perfect time to inspect your Vacuum pump, as they have a rep for failing and taking out the motor. pull and replace if it's still got the original crimped on cover, pull and inspect the bearing cage if it's got the bolted on cover.

after you have it on the road a while, get a feel for the steering and tracking of the car. if it's weavy then you need to look into the suspension. ball joints, control arm bushings, sway bar bushings, rear control arm bushing and trailing arm bushing, tie rods, subframe bushings, and links... wheel bearings...
lots of fun stuff to work on back there.

Been There Done That on all of the above...

It's a lot of work but the results are worth it.

You will have to spend north of 5k on parts, and lots of hours of labor, but you will be rewarded with a 30 year old car with a soul.

Much more satisfying than driving a modern tin can.

I don't think you have flushed the PS fluid or filter in your car...:D

Yep I was thinking I might take that on this week.

What's the right PS fluid for these cars?

Are those 1998 fan parts supposed to make the engine run cooler, or is there some other reason for the retrofit? This is a timely discussion for me, as I'm another newcomer to the OM603 club.

To the OP, when I get a new-to-me old car, I like to 'baseline' (i.e. replace) all the fluids first thing, since generally I don't know how old they all are. I don't think anyone has mentioned brake fluid yet, but you might want to bleed the brakes too.

I just use, penzoil PS fluid...

the biggest reason is cost.
the OE replacement 87 fan clutch is over 400.00, the OE replacement 98 clutch is 98.00... but you cannot use the 87 fan blade with the 98 clutch, so you have to change it also. DO NOT USE THE 90-93 OM602 fan blade, IT WILL DESTROY YOUR RADIATOR!!!

Many good thoughts, these are the things I was looking for. Fluids and the like were planned but I didn't know what the common problems with these cars are.

Another thing I was wondering, how are the timing chains for wear on the 603 engine? Is that a point of concern at 169K?

timing chain wear has little to do with the engine type, and EVERYTHING to do with the oil changes... infrequent oil change? rapid timing chain (and everything else) wear. frequent changes? long lasting timing chain.

Replace the fuses with high quality fuses with red metal(copper or brass) components, clean the connections in the fuse box when you do that. Replace the ACC blower 30 amp strip fuse and the 80 amp glow relay fuse, keep a spare of each in the glove box.

Flex disks, hanger bearing, trans mount, anything rubber..... Take a good long look at any coolant hoses, including the one that's hard to see under the front of the turbo.

Take care of the oil cooler lines.... Those things are 500 bucks to replace....

Take car to muffler shop, have the cat cut out. It's plugged almost for sure. Take a look at my thread as an example.

Quality vacuum lines, remove the egr crap. Buy the little block off plate. Check your vacuum pump.

Check anything that has to do with keeping the engine cool.... You do not want to deal with the dreaded 14 head crack. I have.