New to me 1977 300D, ex Inzgary, ex Oracle12345

[my83300cd]

219k miles, kinda hard to start cold, smokes like a house on fire at start up, and not after warm up. Drivers side window was the only one that worked, brake light on, door locks inop. No dash lights. Has a 240 heater control setup, and the york ac compressor is in the trunk. Pretty much rust free body; paint is pretty oxidized.

Inzgary was a good guy to deal with, and he knew the PO's handle here, so I could read old posts about the car.

Picked it up last weekend, drove an hour home, cruised well on the highway. Had some time this weekend to start in on some of the issues- and now have all the windows working again (clean switch contacts and electrical connections), brake light off after resetting test switch on MC.
Hooked the idle adjuster back up (all the small bits were in the center console) which helps the start up, and found that with the block heater on, the smoke at start up is less.

Next will be glow plug testing and a valve adjustment. Injectors might need to be redone.

After letting the 300cd go (rusted out, unsafe to drive) and giving up on the rusty 190e (radiator held in by zip ties, front end rotted out) it feels great to be back in the saddle again!

[vwnate1]

Sounds good .

Do the normal things in the proper order, #1 is always the valve adjustment, even when they claim "I just had them done" because few do them correctly .

#2 in February is the glow plugs of course....

The factory cold starting drill is quite specific and says you should cycle the glow plugs twice before cranking then hold the accelerator to the floor until all five cylinders are firing .

This was the trick to make my '79 NA 300CD start easily in any weather in spite of a worn out, low compression engine and worn out injectors .

[koooop]

Originally Posted by my83300cd

219k miles, kinda hard to start cold, smokes like a house on fire at start up, and not after warm up. Drivers side window was the only one that worked, brake light on, door locks inop. No dash lights. Has a 240 heater control setup, and the york ac compressor is in the trunk. Pretty much rust free body; paint is pretty oxidized.

Inzgary was a good guy to deal with, and he knew the PO's handle here, so I could read old posts about the car.

Picked it up last weekend, drove an hour home, cruised well on the highway. Had some time this weekend to start in on some of the issues- and now have all the windows working again (clean switch contacts and electrical connections), brake light off after resetting test switch on MC.
Hooked the idle adjuster back up (all the small bits were in the center console) which helps the start up, and found that with the block heater on, the smoke at start up is less.

Next will be glow plug testing and a valve adjustment. Injectors might need to be redone.

After letting the 300cd go (rusted out, unsafe to drive) and giving up on the rusty 190e (radiator held in by zip ties, front end rotted out) it feels great to be back in the saddle again!

This is quite possibly the best post I’ve ever read.

[inzgary]

I'm glad the car is in good hands, and that you've made some progress with it.
Gary

[tdoublenastywitit]

Yes I really love the post.

In my experience, simply just driving the car everyday for a month or 2 will clear up nearly all of the smoke.

But obviously in combo with Valve adjustment, Diesel purge, filters blah blah blah blah..... The best way the get rid of that smoke is to do the VA, swap swap out the filters and oil and just drive that beast

[my83300cd]

Diesel injector cleaner into the tank, filled half used tank up, topped up the atf in the transmission, checked the oil, and been running some Italian tune ups on the Rt 9 entry ramps. The engine is running better and better, as we all know it will.

Buddy of mine has apparently bet my wife the car will not last 6 weeks. I asked if could get in on that, given the 220k miles on it. He has yet to return the call

[my83300cd]

Trying to run down the color code and interior color- and it turns out the vin on the door and windshield post are different than the tag screwed onto the core support under the hood. Between that and the replacement hood and windshield I'm thinking that this car had a rough life.
Emailed the classic center to see what they might have to say.
Meanwhile gearing up to make valve adjustment wrenches.

[vwnate1]

Thanx for the update .

Keep us posted .

[my83300cd]

Got a little side tracked on the wrench bending, as the key stopped turning in the ignition switch. Knowing what a nightmare it becomes if you can't get it to 2ND position, I got it to turn finally and left key in till i could take the assembly out. Now back together sans key cylinder, and the push pin and steering wheel lock ground off. Car starts right up......with a pair of pliers. That will do till I get another cylinder and keys.
Bonus was fiinding out leds were installed in dash, rheostat is gone and jumpered. Now to figure out why dash has no lights...

[vwnate1]

The good news is :

Getting a new one from M-B is only $15 or so more than the price of one from an aftermarket supplier and it will have the correct key....

[my83300cd]

If I could get it from MB to match the vin, that would be nice. The cylinder that I pulled out is an MB cylinder, and there is a different key for the door and trunk. The lever in the steering wheel lock is worn to fit the key profile, so I think that is the real issue. With the steering wheel lock and the setting pin ground off I am tempted to clean and lube the lock and put it back in. Otherwise tempted to salvage the entire assembly out of the 300cd I sold as an engine done and am buying parts off of. That key works like butter...

[vwnate1]

I prefer having only one key to run each vehicle .

Less keys means less stress on both the lock cylinder and less damage to the dash from things bouncing against it as you drive along .

[my83300cd]

Cleaned out the lock cylinder, dry lubed it and popped it back in, works like a charm.
Not too concerned about no steering wheel lock!
Valve adjustment yesterday, 2 tight exhaust, 1 exhaust too loose, now all in spec.
The surprise was despite all the "2 14 mm bent wrenches" needed in the on line tutorials, that I bought and bent a few weekends ago, my engine has 15mm lock nuts.
Nothing that a parts run and a torch session couldn't fix.

[torsionbar]

Sounds like this car has lived a hard life. Good on you for addressing all of this "deferred maintenance" and bringing it back into serviceable condition.

[my83300cd]

Car has been running like a champ, have replaced the belts, and now going after the radiator hoses. The radiator has a capped nipple for an expansion tank that gave up the ghost, resulting in a tow home when it began to get too hot. The buddy doing the tow was concerned about how low the exhaust was hanging, it turned out it was on with one hanger and not much else. A center patch clamp had vanished in the last 2k miles.
After surveying the past repairs and welds and patches, I am picking up a new system from the manifold back. Down pipe came in from Germany, and with the replacement radiator hoses to be down, it's going to be a busy weekend.
Had to take it round the block sans exhaust, and as my son put it, sounds a little throaty!