A little backstory on the car.

It's a 1981 with approx 250k miles, maybe less. I had to swap to a mechanical speedohead from the original electronic speedometer when I did the transmission swap. The car hasn't ever been ran on veg. I'm the third owner, the second owner was meticulous to the point of a full fuel log in the door pocket with odometer read out and mpg at each fillup.

I've owned the car over 3 years and 50k miles, and I've done valve adjustments, engine mounts, engine shocks, oem valve cover gasket, egr delete exhaust manifold, grezzar monark 265 injectors, new injector hardlines, constant fuel filters, alda delete, manifold gaskets, adjusted the rack damper, etc. I've tried to do everything right on this car, and I use all OE and lemforeder parts.

The whole turbo situation is a interesting one to say the least. My original Garrett ground it's compressor wheel clean off (I chalk that up to my dad leaving a nut in the intake). I then replaced that with a used K26 off of eBay, the k26 lasted for about a year before it started smoking then came audible noise. So with the k26 in the dumpster I put out a mayday call to everyone local to me for a stock turbo, as I was trying to make a car rally event that I've been attending for 6 years. User justpassinthru told me over the phone that he had a stock Garrett he'd sell me, he came over but it turned out he forget he in fact had a holset hx30w that he bought off of winmutt. In a bit of a pickle I said I'd take it (regret). The holset was a smelly leaky mess, even with a fresh chra. I just put a factory low mileage Garrett on with my egr less manifold, and it is so nice to have a stock turbo again.

The trans swap has been smooth sailing for over a year now, I had a issue with two clutch slaves dying prematurely, but I finally wised up and ordered a OE slave cylinder. The trans swap is buttery smooth to drive. The only corner I cut on that was not hooking up the reverse lights, but I'm running euro 3 piece bumpers so I don't even have reverse lights.

I'm going to replace all of the rubber fuel line in a bid to cure the hiccuping, but if that doesn't solve it I'll start looking around for a used injection pump. The car was never ran on wvo, but it was ran on pump bio.

I'm also contemplating doing a mild refresh of the engine. Probably re-ring it, valve stem seals, valve job, head remachine, timing chain, tensioners. My dad is currently putting his om616 back together after all of the above due to a vacuum pump failure. So he already has the vital tools like for the head bolts.

-Mike

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1981 300TD 4 speed manual
Euro bumpers, zender valance and skirts, H&R springs, billy HD's, leveled sls, real AMG Pentas 16x8 et11, vdo boost/egt gauges intergrated into ash tray, eurolights, led 3rd brake light

I'll have an '85 injector pump available soon. It works perfectly on my race engine but I'm installing a Dieselmeken M pump so the stock MW will be unneeded. Send me a PM if interested.

I'd reinstall the ALDA. It adds fuel when under boost - this is a good thing. I have no idea why the idea that there is a performance boost to be had by removing it. I have the timing slips that prove otherwise.

Dan

Keep me updated, I'd def be interested.

I actually agree about the ALDA, I took it off when I was still a teenager. I'd put it back on, but I backed the screw out too far on it once and broke it clean off.

A new used pump with untouched Alda is certainly on the shortlist.

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1981 300TD 4 speed manual
Euro bumpers, zender valance and skirts, H&R springs, billy HD's, leveled sls, real AMG Pentas 16x8 et11, vdo boost/egt gauges intergrated into ash tray, eurolights, led 3rd brake light

Owning two W123 300D's and replacing one failed engine, I think they have good and bad points. The worst point of all is the exorbitant cost of some parts ($550/piston), but that doesn't fault the design just M-B marketing extortion. I haven't yet seen a fatal problem like endemic cracked cylinder heads that plague some engines. My other old engines are 60's Chryslers, which were well-designed and rugged, though impossible to beat a small block Chevy on rebuild ease and cheap tuner parts.

The best part recently of diesel engines is that fuel cost is dropping and in CA we can run even cheaper "renewable diesel" which doesn't contribute net CO2 so can smugly drive around "greener" than a Tesla.

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1984 & 1985 CA 300D's
1964 & 65 Mopar's - Valiant, Dart, Newport
1996 & 2002 Chrysler minivans

From your description of the turbo eating habits - I'd say that was understandable given the turbo's had already had a life.

The other stuff is just old car stuff. My solution is to strip everything down to component parts and renew as I go. It isn't necessarily the best thing for everyone else to do. I reckon others do just as well if you can try to enjoy what you've got!

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Untouched, no. Properly adjusted (they change over time), yes.

They're not that difficult to adjust per the FSM, and you can make them a touch aggressive if you really want. From personal experience (admittedly 60x turbos only) I agree that they are a beneficial part of the IP when working properly.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Not sure what I am hearing from you: Done with OM617s or perhaps done with messing with this flavor of old iron?

I tend to agree with others... in the years I have been involved with these old cars and with lists and forums, off and on since '95-ish, this is the first time I hear someone singling out the OM617 for hate mail.

I owned one that I figure had somewhere north of 500k on it, an old SD I managed to get cheap when w126 SDs were at the top of their value. I was happy to drive it for 18 months with the pooched motor, as I was underemployed at the time and could not afford... well, anything. But the whole car was a POS.

Not everyone is going to be attached to these cars forever, or maybe not forever in an unbroken chain.

Right now I have got to the point where I can't deal with mine full time anymore. The fun has kinda drained out of the whole thing. Not sure what 2016 will bring, once we're finished our northeastern winter. I am driving an old Lexus (the small, Camry-with-a-boob-job one) that someone else cast off, and frankly I am liking the near-zero-issues experience.

Not sure if that helps, but patience is finite and after what you've put your hand to on these cars, you can for sure be excused for getting to a point where stuff grates.

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

I like the OM 616 and OM 617 engines so well that I have declined to move up to an 87 300TD because it does not have the 617 engine in it, although I'm sure I would like the car!

The biggest shortfall I see on the 617 engine is the idiots (including myself) that work on them. I personally find them fairly easy to work on, once you get to understand the Mercedes mind set of how to do things.

I'm trying to work through the couple I have so that I have a back up to drive when the DD needs attention, thus avoiding the pressure of "have to" work on the car today to keep things going smooth in the household. There is always something that needs to be done on a 30+ year old car, and I recognize that I need to be willing to tinker with them on a regular basis.


Regards,

W.

Sounds like things that have gone wrong are just maintenance after being used for a significant number of miles. You should be good on what you've replaced. I wouldn't tear into the engine unless there is a reason. I would completely refurbish each system when it needs work or the wear indicates that it will need work soon.

EX: brakes - do calipers, pads (low dust, high quality), wear indicators, wheel bearings & hoses if you think the calipers are high mileage. Consider an OE master cylinder or not depending on mileage. I bought the OE master special order here and it is working flawlessly as is the entire brake system. Cardone reman calipers are also working well but sometimes Cardone is a crapshoot and I always buy locally for remanned crap if the price difference is so great that I decide to take a chance.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

I personally prefer the OM602 (NA) to the OM617 (turbo) or OM616, mainly for the belt design, hydraulic valves, and a reliable Denso AC compressor. Increased fuel economy also helps. OM617 certainly is better for changing glow plugs.

As for things I am fed up with, the M103 is on the top of the list. Poor belt design, poor tensioner design, poor amount of space to work on the front, expensive yet simple ignition system, CIS, and overheating issues.

I plan to fix most of that when I install a 3.0 M103 into the car later in the year with Megasquirt 3, a better tensioner design, and an air-to-oil cooler. Still have to deal with limited space, unfortunately.

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Current: 1975 450SEL, 83 300D, 88 Yugo GVX, 90 300D OM603 swap, 91 F150 4.6 4v swap, 93 190E Sportline LE 3.0L M104 swap, 93 190E Sportline LE Megasquirt, 03 Sprinter, 06 E500 4Matic wagon.

Ah... the M103. I have it in two cars, bottom end is durable as can be... the thing always seems to leak oil. Drives me nuts. One has a 40,0000 mile head gasket leaking again. I am convinced these leaked oil when new.

100% agree on the tensioner. I received about eight years of service from one and around 90k miles. It was okay for the cost I guess. Should it have had a mechanical tensioner? Yes. Change the belt by loosening the alternator.

CIS-E is silly, but once setup and not fiddled with... works fine for me. Mine never over heat. But I agree they should have had full size radiators. That makes no sense to me, when they heatsoak they are slugs in the summer.

I am actually deciding if it will be easier to install a V8 radiator in the 300SEL and make my own radiator hoses or get a custom radiator and use stock hoses. Either way the car will receive e-fans. Thoughts?



Best thing I ever did was a Sanden conversion. I know I sound like a broken record there.

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I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

I have to admit, I also prefer one of the more "modern" Benz diesels, my OM606. Aside from the glow plugs you mentioned, all the other benefits far outweigh the cons of the (one-time expense) wiring harness, somewhat annoying fuel leaks that are typically every 150k or so, and those nasty glow plugs.

Still, I feel the OM617 is a bit easier to work on, and is certainly the toughest engine I've ever seen fit in anything commercially available, and that includes the mighty 5.9 Cummins.

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1995 E300 Diesel
~300k

Really? Have you ever seen the internals of a Cummins B series engine? I'm guessing not.... because in comparison the OM617 internal parts look like something you'd find in a cracker-jack package.

You realize the Cummins engine is a medium duty commercial truck engine that is certified to be used with chassis weights up to 66,000 lbs? How do you thing an OM61X engine would do in such an environment?

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98 Dodge-Cummins pickup (137K)
13 GLK250 (157k)
06 E320CDI (341K)
16 C300 (89K)
82 300GD Gelaendewagen (54K)

You guessed wrong

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1995 E300 Diesel
~300k

My 617 has caused me more headaches than smiles.

Given the praise received on this board, I have clearly had an exceptional experience, but I very seriously doubt I will ever own another. Could have bought a SBC and rebuilt it three times for the cost and hassle I've had with my 617.

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap