A fellow MB diesel enthusiast in a work truck from a nearby town followed me home when yesterday he saw my 240D and wanted a closer look, after chatting a little about the car he mentioned something about an older MB diesel model that had a dial located in the center console where you would dial in the amount of minutes to fire up the diesel powered heater that heated both the cabin and the coolant. Anyone hear of this or have a pic of what that looked like?

Yup, they are called webasto heaters (brand name), I've also heard them referred to as fuel burning heaters. They were available on some models from the factory in cold climates (my e290 has one) and also as aftermarket installs.

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2004 F150 4.6L -My Daily
2007 Volvo XC70 -Wife's Daily
1998 Ford F150 -Rear ended
1989 J-spec 420SEL -passed onto its new keeper
1982 BMW 733i -fixed and traded for the 420SEL
2003 Volvo V70 5 Speed -scrapped
1997 E290 Turbo Diesel Wagon -traded for above
1992 BMW 525i -traded in
1990 Silver 300TE -hated the M103
1985 Grey 380SE Diesel Conversion, 2.47 rear end, ABS -Sold, really should have kept this one
1979 Silver 300D "The Silver Slug" -Sold

My Touareg has one of these... great feature!

-J

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1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

Very interesting, thanks for the info!