I bought this car last week. It has 165k on the odometer. It may be right given the condition of the rubber. Body is rust free. No blowby. Firm shifting trans. Bought it off a neighbor in Altadena, CA. It barely made it home. We jumped it. Dead battery. It idled poorly. No power at tip in but it made good power on steep hills WOT.

The car is really neglected. The epitome of what happens when an owner won’t take care of an mb diesel. Shameful. Every little thing that breaks in these cars was broken and left unfixed. Seat tracks, window regulators, locks, ac
Compressor clutch, sun visors, glove box, parking brake, locks, windshield wiper linkage...the list goes on and on. But I think she has good bones. I’d rather fix all that stuff than weld new sheet metal or load a new engine.

So I offered the guy $1400. He wanted $2000. California has really messed up prices on beaters by offering $1000 buybacks for running old cars. So this is what I could get away with. The P.O. had some kind of emotional attachment to the car. I think it once belonged to a deceased parent. The wife was visibly upset with me. I still don’t know who got the better deal.

Anyhow I went to work on it yesterday for the first time. I decided before I do anything I needed to get it running and move it across LA to my home with the well equipped tool crib. I needed to address the low power at low throttle position first. It responded well to a few spritzes of carb cleaner to the turbo. The vane was sticky at first then it spun freely as I cleaned it up with cleaner mist. It started idling better I set the idle and adjusted the rack damper. It stopped rocking.

I realized it was time to set the valves. I was missing a few tools but luckily I have a Harbor Freight Tools nearby. Amazing pile of disposable tools purchased for $17. I guessed if the P.O. had neglected this car they’d prolly not set the lash. Boy was I right. Three tight intakes and one tight exhaust. After that it came to life. Wow does it purr. It has a little bit of stuttering at tip in. I may have to pull the injectors and test them out. But it is 90% of the way there.

The work ahead is fixing the two dozen or so little problems that forced the couple to abandon ship.

Fun times. I’ll post updates as I whip her into shape. And questions when I’m hopelessly lost.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles
97 C280 147k miles