Fit new filters and run off a separate fuel supply to find out for sure. I suspect that won't be enough and you'll need to at least get the injectors rebuilt and calibrated. Try a bottle or three of Diesel Purge directly into the IP. If things improve, don't hook it up to the fuel tank until it's clean. I didn't go through the thread - is there a history of untreated and unheated WVO in this car's past?

Sixto
83 300SD

I'm in the process of removing the veggie system. It was a properly treated and heated tank everything was set up correctly. The previous owner and owner before that barely used the veggie. I bought two bottles of purge and suspect I may need a third. I've already consulted with greazzer that I will likely be doing an injector service with him. It's difficult because to know what's been done to this car, there is zero records and the owner didn't know anything. He told me he drove it six months no problem, then gave it to his brother to drive and it was parked I'm assuming because of its current condition. I will hopefully know tomorrow when FedEX drops off my main and pre-filter and I purge it.

__________________
Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

Working on it more tomorrow with the purge and draining the tank. But here's the car in question. Photos of the day I brought it home up until a couple days ago when I cleaned it. The interior is flawless, not a rip or tear to be found. Crackfree dash too.

__________________
Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

Nice! looks like you got a steal, not a deal!!!!

That's what I'm hoping and I truly believe!

Purge is in order tomorrow with fuel filter replacement and draining of the old fuel and replacing with fresh diesel. I really want to start driving this car soon. All I need to do is replace the transmission cooler lines, both sides and the brakes all around and a muffler and don't see why it won't pass inspection in PA.

She is a beauty. A true gentleman's car. I'll take better pictures when I wax it too and bring back the shine in it.

__________________
Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

Has the interior been replaced? There's no way that car can have 310K and be in that condition inside! Hell, just the front seats alone are worth what you paid for it, consider it a replacement interior with an entire car attached for free!

My SDL amazed me (and everyone else) how well it polished up. Midnight blue and sat out in a field for 10 years with no attention, who knows how long it had been since it was waxed before it was parked. Paint was rough, rough, rough. After many hours of "quality time" with the buffer, the paint looks showroom new everywhere but the hood. Everyone familiar with the car refuses to believe it's the same paint!

__________________
Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

Nope everything is original. My paint is just dull, but when I applied some wax on areas the shine came right back. I attribute the condition of the interior to being MB-Tex. Everything works in this car except the sunroof. AC is ice cold, original R12. Even the seat springs in this car are like new and don't sag.

I'd love to see before and afters of your SDL. My car has been sitting for approximately a year or two.

__________________
Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

I used a dual-action polisher with Meguiar's Ultimate Compound followed by the companion polish and finally TurtleWax paste wax. The compound/polish steps are the most important with the dull paint, it gets rid of the oxidized bits and brings back some life. Mine was so far oxidized that it was physically rough!

Regarding the interior - is the MB-Tex known to age better than the leather? My SDL is leather and the sun has done a good job of turning it into a crunchy parchment-paper like covering in the back seat area. I intend to reupholster the car in the future (not a priority right now) and prefer to use the better material to withstand the summer heat.

I need to quit being lazy and start a "Dieseasel" thread in the long-term project forum. I have a bad habit of not taking pictures of things I'm doing, so my threads tend to be lots of me blabbering on about what I did and how I did it.

__________________
Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

Wow, your paint sounds a lot worse than mine initially! I have some clearcoat issues on the trunk. I'm going to wet sand it and re-clear it though! Mine is just dull. That's it! Wax does a huge deal for my paint and cleans it up nice.

The interior: MB Tex is known for its durability around the forums. The leather has to be properly cared for and not baked in the sun. Most owners don't know proper techniques for leather care and it gets deteriorated. I'm going to start a long-term thread on the project forum. MB Tex is also very easy to care for. You can use simple-green dilluted (some might frown upon this, but I've done it off and on for years and it hasn't done any damage at all) and scrub it down and then protect it with vinyl protectant and it looks like new! My seats are dirty, but rip-free and crack free!

__________________
Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

The paint was pretty baked. The trunk lid and roof aren't 100% perfect, but they're certainly acceptable. The hood has pretty bad clear-coat failure, but after polishing, it isn't offensive. The trunk lid unfortunately has an "inspirational" message keyed in it (not appropriate to repeat on the forum!). The paint was so rough you couldn't tell it was keyed under there, only after the polisher went over it! Eventually I'll have the whole car repainted and the various little knicks and dings popped out in the process. That's a ways down the road, so I spent the time to polish what was there so it didn't look like some seedy criminal was driving through my neighborhood casing the place!

It's good to know that the MB-Tex holds up better. I'm not a fan of leather upholstery and refuse to own a daily-driver with it. Personally I'd love a cloth interior in the SDL, but I'd have to have that custom made and shell out big bucks for it, so MB-Tex it will be when the time comes!

__________________
Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

Cloth interior is hard the come by on a W126. It was an option for US models, but no one ordered it when they could have leather. I've seen one US spec W126 with cloth. Your best bet would be finding a euro spec car on ebay and buying the interior. I prefer MB tex over leather to be honest. I will have this car repainted one day too, same with black 99 W210.

__________________
Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

I wouldn't say that tex holds up better than leather, but it does endure neglect better than leather.

I've had both, my original leather cars always looked showroom after many years and miles, as did the tex. The early leathers in Mercedes cars (before about '91?) were pretty much industrial / saddle grade stuff, not very comfortable and I feel that the tex was more comfortable. In later years the leather became more supple and perforated, and was more comfortable IMO than 'tex, ... but still requires much more proper care than MB-Tex.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

My experience is that the MBTex fabric is hard to kill, but the foam pads will disappoint. The other common problem is that the seat bottoms edges are held in by a cardboard flange, which starts to go soft after a few decades.

Purge complete and filters replaced.

No more smoke cold start smoke. Runs perfect on diesel purge. Once off the purge, it begins to get noisy and nail again.. I'm gonna converse with greazer and arrange an injector service. Good compression. Best $300 car ever!

Here's the purge bottle.


The pre-filter wouldn't even drain the screen was so clogged.

Pre-filter:


Here's how the car sounded upon purchase. Ran horrible.
https://youtu.be/qJ6vQRImgOA

during purge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtkSzWsR_4s

post purge:
https://youtu.be/nDZJoHh2Ie4

It does nail as you can hear, but no more smoke.. Still smells like unburnt diesel. After the injector service, this thing should be fine!

__________________
Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k