Parts car? Maybe not after all. New purchase - 1985 300D - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

wildest · #16 02-21-2014, 10:27 PM

The shifting on my 85 is quick with a light pedal, when I drive it like I stole it it shifts way higher. It seems to be correct for the load I place on it, and consistent.

uberwasser · #17 02-21-2014, 10:39 PM

Good to know. I adjusted what seemed to be excess play out of the bowden cable today. I'll test drive it after doing a few things tomorrow.

I just found that it seemed to be lugging along at 20mph. I know I'm used to my '79, which starts in 2nd and holds it until 20mph or so. So I'll fiddle carefully, and with lots of test drives between fiddles!

uberwasser · #18 02-22-2014, 05:27 PM

Bled the brakes today. Went well, lots of gunk, lime green fluid...but it's clear and fresh now. They engage firmly, and smoothly. I checked and the rotors have very little wear, and there is lots of life left on the pads. It even looks like someone put on new or rebuilt rear calipers; they are very clean. I think they are rebuilt as they are silver in color, instead of gold?

Drove it about 15 miles around town today getting new Michelin Defenders put on, picking up a new air filter (the local place actually had a Wix filter for the car), getting emissions done (passed with flying colors) and getting the title transferred and the car registered ($50 total, gotta love old cars).

Seemed to do well. Solid 2 bar oil pressure. 80C on the temp gauge. Suspension was fairly quiet and smooth.

The throttle linkages definitely need adjusting and lubricating. I didn't get to that yet. Maybe tomorrow.

uberwasser · #19 02-23-2014, 09:51 PM

Did a quick interior detailing today. Nothing too fancy, just wiped everything down with some mild soap and water and cleaned the carpets. It cleaned up pretty nice.

Before:

After:

Also GummiPfledge'd every seal on the car, all the exterior rubber including window seals and bumper trim, and the new Michelin Defenders.

Gave the outside a quick wash. The Maaco job turned my wash mitt, and my chamois, a shade of pink...

RLGDiesel · #20 02-23-2014, 10:53 PM

Nice rescue!

MagicBus · #21 02-23-2014, 10:58 PM

What did you use to clean those carpets?

uberwasser · #22 02-23-2014, 11:28 PM

A full bottle of Blue Coral upholstery cleaner. The blue one with the brush on the bottle. I like it because it goes on wet and foamy, give it a scrub with the brush on the bottle, and you just let it dry and vacuum it up.

Oh and under the car cover, in the back seat driver's side footwell, I found a black box. Turned out to be a complete, apparently barely used 90 something piece Husky ratchet/socket set with some channel locks, an analog multimeter, and a few other things...

And I found about $1.50 in change during the detailing. Just keeps getting better and better hah!

Mojoan · #23 02-24-2014, 03:21 PM

Aaaand suddendly the car's value tripled

Very nice

65aircooled · #24 02-24-2014, 05:22 PM

What an amazing buy, congratulations!!!

JB3 · #25 02-24-2014, 07:05 PM

That is definitely an extremly solid car. What a score. I'm going to x2 zacharias, the lack of rust on anything in the southwest is amazing

Adriel · #26 02-24-2014, 09:44 PM

Congratulations!

1985 is the best year except for the extra emissions devices and the Bowden cable that easily breaks. The P.O. of mind had that happen, so just J.B. Welded the adjustment. I needed to adjust it for my liking, so made the shifts slightly longer by bending the bracket ever so slightly to the passenger's side. I also eliminated the emissions vacuum leaks and then went one notch on the transmission vacuum making it slightly harder.

For the non-working tachometer, check the over boost protection relay under the passenger side dash on the far right side aft. There is also a fuse on top to check. Hope this helps.

uberwasser · #27 02-24-2014, 10:59 PM

Thanks! The fuse was pointed out by someone on another forum but they didn't happen to mention the relay it was attached to. I'll check it this weekend.

I'll be driving it to/from work this week. Did today, a 15 mile round trip. All is going swimmingly so far. The transmission seems to be adjusted quite nicely already for firmness, and my slight tweaking of the bowden cable has me fairly happy with the shift timing.

I found the car has Monark glow plugs in it. Found the old plugs in Monark boxes in the trunk. I've read enough about them being less than reliable to replace them out of due diligence. I have a set of five Bosch plugs coming this week for installation this weekend.

I also have a few other things on the to-do list for the weekend. The one I'm looking forward to the most right now is the speedometer cable. The current speedo works but doesn't start moving until you get over 20mph; then it works until you come to a complete stop again. Thankfully the odometer works, and so does the clock and temp and gas gauge. No funky jumping gauges like on my '79.

Adriel · #28 02-24-2014, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uberwasser

Thanks! The fuse was pointed out by someone on another forum but they didn't happen to mention the relay it was attached to. I'll check it this weekend.

I'll be driving it to/from work this week. Did today, a 15 mile round trip. All is going swimmingly so far. The transmission seems to be adjusted quite nicely already for firmness, and my slight tweaking of the bowden cable has me fairly happy with the shift timing.

I found the car has Monark glow plugs in it. Found the old plugs in Monark boxes in the trunk. I've read enough about them being less than reliable to replace them out of due diligence. I have a set of five Bosch plugs coming this week for installation this weekend.

I also have a few other things on the to-do list for the weekend. The one I'm looking forward to the most right now is the speedometer cable. The current speedo works but doesn't start moving until you get over 20mph; then it works until you come to a complete stop again. Thankfully the odometer works, and so does the clock and temp and gas gauge. No funky jumping gauges like on my '79.

Glad to be able to help!

Always nice when they behave!

Good to see all is well, especially shift timing.

I prefer Beru as still made in Germany, but didn't lengthen the glow light. I gave up on correcting that as prevents easy theft.

Interesting symptom. How does the cruise control work? I found out having the tachometer read helps. Bet the cable also does.

uberwasser · #29 02-24-2014, 11:13 PM

Good question. Haven't tested it yet. My '79 obviously has the old potentiometer cruise that never ever works, it seems, so I almost forget these cars are equipped with cruise!

uberwasser · #30 02-26-2014, 06:52 PM

Tachometer is working again thanks to the tip from an earlier poster about replacing the fuse on the over-voltage protection relay. Done and done. See video.

Successful Tachometer Repair W123 1985 300D - OVP Relay Fuse - YouTube

Meant to include some pictures of what I found. The OVP relay, and the fuse: