Onto now fixing the mildew 300D - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

jake12tech · #1 03-11-2017, 11:08 PM

Picked up the 92/93 300D from HogWeed today. He's definitely a good guy, don't ever hesitate to do business with him. Real honest dude. It's a great car for the price, and I can't wait to put it on the road and drive it til the wheels fall off. Runs fantastic. Has some issues that I believe are from sitting around for a few years. I won't be able to get much done on it for the next month or so, buying the two cars I have lately have put me out of buying car parts until it warms up in April and I have more money.

Had to drive it 3-4 miles to my house. Found out so far the trans engages reverse perfectly, but it tends to shift late and abrupt. Has a major exhaust leak I need to fix. I will try and weld it. Low on power, but this car does have great compression and fired up so easy. I had a battery small enough to only start a yugo, but with a jumpstart it fired up with little smoke and idles nice. I think a diesel purge will fix it and some fuel filters.

chasinthesun · #2 03-12-2017, 10:16 AM

If its mildew it could be your sunroof leaks ,I do now after coming across this issue that all auto manufacturers design the sunroof as if it always will leak ,meaning their is a catch basin and drain system .Open the sunroof ,clean all the grim from the catch area and with a water hose on very low see if the basin flows water through the drain tubes ,you should see water come out around the frt fenders.
A slow car could need minor adjustments,resource the SEARCH venue ,especially your make , model,and year to get some ideas on were to start.

jake12tech · #3 03-12-2017, 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chasinthesun

If its mildew it could be your sunroof leaks ,I do now after coming across this issue that all auto manufacturers design the sunroof as if it always will leak ,meaning their is a catch basin and drain system .Open the sunroof ,clean all the grim from the catch area and with a water hose on very low see if the basin flows water through the drain tubes ,you should see water come out around the frt fenders.
A slow car could need minor adjustments,resource the SEARCH venue ,especially your make , model,and year to get some ideas on were to start.

Chase, the sunroof was open for hours with torrential downpour and never dried out.. Unfortunately shorted all the wiring in the car and destroyed the seats and carpets.. Just got to swap it all out. I'm gonna reupdate this thread as I go along and when the weather gets warmer.

jake12tech · #4 03-17-2017, 12:08 AM

I've been extremely busy lately and its been freezing outside and snowing.. I got some time though today to get a good idea of what I have to do to this car. The night after I got it, I put it in my driveway and couldn't get the windows to close at all on the passenger side. They opened on their own from the electrical short from the torrential downpour and don't like to go up.

I have like 20 window switches from other cars that work, so I cleaned the contacts and was able to get the windows to go up and down all the way around. The contacts were corroded and moldy. I put in "new" switches and they still go down on their own, but I can get them to go up now on command.

I have to swap all the harnesses from my 1992 300d parts car and swap the carpets and seats. The interior on this car was nice, but it's WRECKED from the rain. That's what my other parts car for is though with a crackfree perfect dash and seats and carpets, door panels.

So far I've collected a laundry list of things to do and what I have planned for the upcoming weeks when it warms up:
A): Replace crankcase breather hose to turbo
B): Oil change
C): Tranny drain and fill & filter and gasket
D): Fuel filters & diesel purge and air filter as well
E): Drop the headliner and rip the seats and carpet and wiring all out and swap them out with my other parts car
F): Clean the ducts and put a ozone generator in there to freshen the AC/heater system up
G): Install the headlights
H): New tires
I): Legalize the vehicle and drive the hell out of it.

I'll be taking pics as the week go by, but I wanted to update this thread.. It's probably one of my easiest project cars yet. There is very little to any rust, it runs fantastic and shifts well.. Most of my other projects had a lot of rust to repair or needed a trans or a lot of engine work.

BillGrissom · #5 03-17-2017, 03:01 PM

My 1984 300D had a thin layer of black mildew all over the interior. The P.O. had left it sitting under a pine tree for years so the needles clogged the trunk gutters and it had standing water in both trunk side pits. All it takes is a little debris to plug those rubber drain holes. I got rid of the mildew w/ just a rag and water, plus a little chlorine cleaner. Still has a very slight "old car" smell inside that could be from leaf debris in the cowl & ducts, but not enough to motivate me to dig into those.

jake12tech · #6 03-22-2017, 12:18 AM

Here's some pictures of the car and the cleaning I've been doing. The car runs awesome. It's missing a lot of vacuum lines that I have to replace. I'm going to bypass the EGR and all that vacuum rats nest and replace the wastegate and update it.

Here's the interior when I first got it:

Todays work:

This arm rest was disgusting. I forgot to take a picture after. After cleaning the seats, it smells a lot better as a result. The carpeting still has a bad odor. I will most likely just swap the carpets from my other parts car and not bother trying to clean them.

It took me about 5 hours to clean the seats and vacuum everything. It was very grimy. Next step is to pull the carpetting and the seats and swap carpets and the harnesses. I will hopefully gut on of the cars this weekend. look for the next update.

here's a short video of how it runs in about 17 degree weather cold. no weird noises cold or warm. perfectly smooth and responsive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nLIJBciD18

redghost · #7 03-29-2017, 12:59 AM

I have dealt with a few cars that sat for too long. The mold and mildew can be defeated with simple Hydrogen Peroxide. Make a spray solution at about 10-1 water to peroxide. You can do a light coating all over and then wipe it down. I like to soak the carpeting and other parts that will absorb it. It does not damage or change the original color and works very well on leather. A sponge and lots of applications of hydrox over an extended time period will kill and begin to remove the musty stench. You just need to keep at it.

The initial application will serve to kill the human detritus that built up and is feeding the fungus. The more times you apply the deeper it gets into fabrics and such. It took four months to return the W140 to inoffensive cabin smell. Not able to defeat the Axe body spray the driver insisted on using. My SDL did not have active growth, but had historical mustiness. I pulled the carpets and saturated them with hydrox. The seats and other less absorbent surfaces got daily applications for four days and a wipe down. Baking soda dusting to absorb other odors. My SD was not so musty when I got it, but I gave it a dousing with hydro for good measure and it was able to clear the human detritus so the mold would have nothing to feed on.

TX76513 · #8 03-29-2017, 09:14 AM

For that big of a project you might want to invest in a steam gun. $50 range will get the job done to a fancy one with vacuum for $130. Well worth the investment for that size of project. Don't confuse this with a steam cleaner - these actually shoot out extremely hot steam.

jake12tech · #9 03-29-2017, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TX76513

For that big of a project you might want to invest in a steam gun. $50 range will get the job done to a fancy one with vacuum for $130. Well worth the investment for that size of project. Don't confuse this with a steam cleaner - these actually shoot out extremely hot steam.

I tossed that interior in the garbage actually. It was waterlogged and so heavy and destroyed with bad odors when I have a good interior in my 92 300d that's next to perfect. I've saved a lot of stuff from the interior but the carpeting and seats got chucked. All the trim, b-pillars, door panels and everything else got saved. If it was worth saving, I would have kept it. I keep every MB part I can.

I took apart the Convenience module that controls the operation of the windows and sunroof. The motherboard was fried and corroded from water intrusion and about every single connector was corroded. The wiring is a mess as well and found exposed wires. It's all shorted out inside, so I've confirmed I'm swapping EVERY single harness from that interior over. It will be labor intensive and it may take me longer than expected, but I will get it done.