In response to TXBill's last posting. My 240D had a similar problem. That spring coupler thingy, I wasn't getting full throttle. I could get full throttle by cutting a piece off from a carbon arrow and using it for a linkage plug, but that didn't seem to be such a good idea, cause it would sometimes fall out and I'd have to put in a spare.
My end result was to drill straight through the throttle rod and that steel tube and push a Roll Pin into the hole, Not sure that would be enough, I drilled another hole behind it and a 2nd roll pin went in. Now it is a direct link! Virtually no play at all. The only play is all those ball and socket connections, but I had pinned it so that I'd have a boit of play, so that I could have full throttle and still have more pedal. So that if in the future I decided to screw in the stopper bolt on the pump I could and still gain more pedal.

Prior to this arrangement, 82 was total maximum speed - But I figured out I wasn't getting a full throttle. So after the pinning is when the car got up to about 88. I could follow a suburban which broke the wind for me and get up to 90+.

After using the Diesel Kleen, that is when I could get 90+ by myself without a wind breaker.
But if there is a bit of a breeze and not in my favor, 89-90 is all she wrote!
Straight into about a 20 mph wind and I can only get a solid 85 mph.
I run the tires at 35 psi, a bit of a harsher ride.

My 1974 115 when I first got it, it was lucky to see 72mph. It is slowly but surely getting up to that 80mph mark. Today I did get a 80 marker with a 3 mile run.

What is considered a good MPG for a 240D with an automatic tranny?
I was kinda thinking it should be better than 23.7 mpg. My 240D 123 gets up to 32 mpg - probably more if I would baby it.

Oh, do you or anyone know if the Mercedes Benz starter solenoid is like the Chevy whereby you can turn the main positive 180 degrees and have a good contactor again ???

just my non-confrontational 2 cents:

1. Gillybenztech is discovering the secret. The "throttle plate" is an air damper, used mostly for limiting the air when starting and low engine speeds. Tweaking the rod that goes over the valve cover...

2. The fuel shut-off is a three position deal if you have a gorilla glow-start switch with a cable for a fuel shut off. When you pull the gorilla switch to start the cable pulls the shut off past the full throttle position, at least if the cable is adjusted properly. Gives the engine an "extra" shot of fuel when starting.

3. I agree with benz240D with regards to Power Service Diesel Kleen. The best lubricant and cleaner we've found. Keeping the nozzles from leaking will do a lot for performance, starting, and glow plug life. As far as injector pump overhauls: mostly o-ring replacement because the sulfur in the fuel acted as a lubricant. Bendix really scrambled when the low sulfur fuel came in. New material o-rings solved the problem. Haven't seen a problem with the Bosch pump on daBenz.

4. We're here to help each other. Listen to TxBill.

Pictures of the Renntaxi...
 

Hello 240 D, welcome back to the thread
:)

Here is a picture of the W 115 Racer with the more than 100 hp OM 617.

Uli Gauffres, one of the guys, who did build the car, is today Chief Engineer at Brabus. And if they don't know how to get more power out of a car...

Kind regards
Eberhard

Another picture...
 

...these are the competitors, the Diesel had to cope with:

Opel Kadett B, Opel Ascona A, Ford Cortina, Mercedes W 111, in the background you can see a Volvo Amazone.

The Diesel reached, thanks to the high reving engine and the larger wheels, a top speed of 190 kph going downhill at the Fuchsröhre.

In the article they mention that the biggest competitor was a Porsche 912. Faster on the straights, the Merc catched him in the corners due to the better chassis setup :)

Kind regards
Eberhard

Thats how we tested fuel efficiency...
 

...seperated fuel tank in the trunk.

Could be weighted on a scale down to 1/10 th of a gram.

Multiplied by the density of the different fuels you got pretty exact numbers.

The storage of the fuels...
 

...all at the same temperature.

Off course we checked...
 

...power output in the appropriate manner :)

Thats the whole crew...
 

...and the picture which made it into the magazin Oldtimer Markt, biggest german magazin for historic cars with more than 400 thousand copies.

Thats the way you get reasonable results :)

Kind regards
Eberhard

Neat pics EW - thanks

Thanks a lot Eberhard Weilke ! It is very intersting.
Did you work at MB in Stuttgart ?

Thanks...
 

...nope, don't work for MB. The whole fuel test was just a leisure time task. Well, took a lot of leisure time :) :)

We got a lot of help from Paul Wurm, the guy who puts catalytic converters into old Mercedes cars.

Kind regards
Eberhard

When those test have been conducted because the pictures you have send seem to be pretty recent ?

I would kill for one of those euro 123 taxi's with the headlight wipers.

The tests have been done...
 

...September last year, the results have been published November.

Kind regards
Eberhard

And do you where it is possible to have a look on the results ?

Thank you