The 85 TD I picked up a while back is starting to be a nice driver.. I picked it up with 87 thousand miles on it.. Well kept except for the last couple years.. Had a few problems but have worked most out..

The lack of power was the fact there was a bad hose at the turbo by pass valve.. a little hose and clean up the bolt in the intake manafold and it works nice..

Needed a new thermostat.. Just was not getting up to temp..

Packed the front wheel bearings.. New brake pads were installed before I got it.. but they did not pack the bearings.. (Hate when people do that..)

Adjusted the valves.. they were not to bad..

Tac did not work.. Owner from before (Original) said it never worked right.. Needed a new tac.. Humm.. Kept fussing around with it.. Traced the problem to the relay that has the fuse over in the passengers side by the glove compartment.. tap the relay.. It would work for a while.. Took the relay apart and did a solder job on it.. would work better some times.. Pulled the relay apart and redid the job... tap it .. would work.. checked the wires in the plug.. no change.. Then found the problem.. one of the post on the bottom of the relay was loose.. did a tightening job with a punch and small hammer.. works like a charm..

Installed a new timing chain this weekend.. Old one was not streached to much.. but had some scars on the rollers.. Can not figure out how they got there.. gears seem fine.. so just replaced the chain.. Went well.. some one must have dropped a washer into the chain at some point in time..

Replaced the radiatior.. the old one was weeping several places.. had things apart so installed a new one..

Took the Starter and Alt apart and cleaned them up.. Did not need any thing.. Just a good clean up..

Found lots of loose and dirty connections all over the place.. Every thing working fine now..

The only thing on my list to still find for the thing is some head rest for the rear.. Black.. Mine are missing..

Sure love this TD...

Ken

Ken,

I was just curious but did you happen to get one of the older chains with the little c-clips to hold the chain links together or did you have to buy the expensive crimping tool to use with the newer type chains? If you got ahold of the older type chain, I'd be interested to know where you got it from..

__________________
Regards,
Aaron

Where exactly is that relay? Is it behind the right most side kickpanel?
thanks

__________________
Jim

Congratulations Ken. That must feel good to get it running up to par. There is a TD in this lot that I drive past everyday thats been there for a few months. I drove it when I was first looking. If I knew a little more about fixing them I would probably go make them an offer. It'll probably be wholesaled soon. I think I'll ask them to give me a shot at it before wholesaling it. I bet I could get it for 1000.

I second the question: "Where is the relay?"

Good work! I pasted and copied the bit about the tach. Very similar symptoms for me.

Don

__________________
DAILY DRIVERS:
'84 300DT 298k (Aubrey's)
'99.5 Jetta TDI IV 251k (Julie's)
'97 Jetta TDI 127k (Amber's)
'97 Jetta TDI 186k (Matt's)
'96 Passat TDI 237k (Don's
'84 300D 211k Mint (Arne- Undergoing Greasecar Conversion)

SOLD:
'82 240D 229k (Matt's - Converted-300DT w/ 4 speed

Aaron.. Nope got one of the new type.. The last couple I have gotten are that way.. Would bet finding an old clip type would be hard.. I just have a friend hold a heavy hammer behind the new master link and use a small flat end round punch and small hammer and take my time and make it look just like the rest.. Just takes some time but does just as nice a job.. I would never buy one of those crimp tools.. to much money.. and have little intrest in getting in line to rent one..

Where the relay is for sure is kind of an open thing.. Several say its out by the battery.. Its an easy relay to spot.. Has an american type two prong plug in fuse kind of lying down on top... But to find the relay that runs the tac on my 85 300TD California .. Drop the cover under the glove compartment.. on the right side mounted to the outside ... up kind of high.. is a relay.. it has a fuse mounted to the top of it.. If the fuse is out the tac will not work.. However in my case after tapping it a playing a while I figured out that it was a bad connection between one round plug leg and the metal that it was crimped to that is then sodered to the board.. I removed the relay.. Removed the fuse.. Removed the two plastic pieces that are the cover for the fuse.. then removed the cover over the relay.. it has a small flat cover over the under part of the board that will fall out when you pull the relay cover.... just sets there to keep the board from touching the cover.. Goes back to gether easy..


Fixing up an old 123 is easy with all the after market parts supplys.. Lots of people that have had them for years like I have can give good advice on where to look to find the problems....... However all mine before have been non turbo.. I did have a 116 300SD but lots of stuff is different with this 85 300 TD California.. But its still just figure.. Ask questions and hang in there..

Good Luck .

Ken

I too found poor connections in a cruise control amplifier for a 300D. The German method of manufacturing electronic modules is open to improvement. The small electrolytic caps also dry out and things like the clock stop working. Keep that in mind when yours quits, a two-bit part will get it back operating (usually).
You mentioned the gear on the timing chain was eated up? That happens when a chain has some slack in it, when the chain "whips" on the gear I believe (never actually seen it mind you!) I have been putting off changing the chain in our '83 300D. It has 230K or so. I examined the gear recently when adjusting the valves, and saw what you described.
Have you bypassed the EGR yet?

Deiseldiehard
'83 300D 230K
'85 300TD 200K
'79 300TD w/ 85 turbo engine and the strongest of them all

On mine the chain was damaged but the gears were good.. Kind of a hard thing to understand.. but the damage made me think that some one had dropped a washer or some thing like that in the chain as it was in a small area.... The Chain had little stretch and the good looking gears makes it all a bit of mistery.. My engine only had 87 thousand .. and now just about to turn up 90..

I have been working on just getting it to run better a little at a time.. I try not to do to much at one time because then I am not sure if one thing or the other helped.. So kind of doing one thing at a time as its running well... I have made the injector pump a half turn richer.. It did help some.. Unlike some I do not wish to make it so it performs real well as we live at about 3000 feet.. but in one day may be at sea level and spend the afternoon at over 8000 feet.. So kind of shooting for a little above average.. While we live in the high country I find it easy to keep the engine running at 2500 to 3000 and above and it pulls nice.. I will work on the EGR and other stuff as it falls in line.. However the two I have seen with the EGR unhooked or blocked so it did not work did not run any better or as good as mine.. Have to wonder if it helps..

The project this week is to try to finish the trailer hitch I am building for it.. Got the side pieces made.. now just have to figure how to get the bolts inside the box frame the bumper is hooked on.. On the 78 CD I could get them in thru holes in the inside the trunk but there are none on the TD.. Going to try to pull the bumper shocks and see if I can see inside the frame from there.. If so I will drill the holes and pull the bolts in ..


Ken

For got to answer about the the boards on the mercedes.. Relays ect.. They often have cold joints.. I have many times pulled the relay or board and redone them.. One good trick I have come up with it to take a flow pin and mark the larger ones out in sections.. and work one section at a time.. If you do not and you miss a couple those may well be the ones you need to do..

Ken

1stimer-

I want a TD to match my CD. Do you know what year it is and how many miles? I could have it shipped back here to CA. Hmmmmmm, might have rust being in Hawaii. Please let me know.

Craig

__________________
1994 E420, Pearl Black/Black. 2.82 rear diff., AMG front spoiler, painted lower half. SOLD

1972 & 1974 BMW 2002tii's.

sounds like you've got a nice nice TD now!

why don't you post some pictures!

eric

__________________
1995 E320 Sportline Wagon "Bernard"
black on black leather

http://i.imgur.com/BdZ7jM3.png

Had a few Min. this afternoon... Its getting dark but did get a pic of the 300 Touring Diesel..

Ken

Attached Thumbnails

 

I had a little time this evening.. So I did play with the EGR Valve.. Unhooked it.. Drove the car.. I live in a small town with hills all over so got to drive up some hills out of town.... Slow speed.. High speed.. Hooked it.. Drove the same hills.. Unhooked it ... Drove them again... Used a stop watch to check time to climb a couple steep ones.. Hooked it.. Did it all again...

I could see no difference.. Am I missing some thing here????

The car came from the SF Bay area.. Had few miles.. The one thing I can tell for sure is the more I drive it the better it runs.. Starting to think I have done about as much as I can to make it run well.. Truth is it does run almost as well as the 79 SD did.. Both lack when getting away from a stop on a steep hill until the engine gets to about 1800 RPM... Then it starts getting away well.....

Ken

I disabled the EGR on my 1985 300CD (CA car) about a year ago. Recently I had to take it to my indie mechanic for a new fan clutch and he said "What's this" as he held a plugged vacuum line. I told him it was the EGR line. He gave a laugh and said that on the CA cars, disabling the EGR has no effect on the performance.

I believe him, and trust him. He's got to be 75, and worked at the MB factory in Germany for many years.

Craig

__________________
1994 E420, Pearl Black/Black. 2.82 rear diff., AMG front spoiler, painted lower half. SOLD

1972 & 1974 BMW 2002tii's.

Thanks for the tip on the relay to resolve the tach issue. I pulled the one out of my 300D and stuck it in the 300TD and now the tach works in the TD. I brought the removed relay to work and will have one of the E&I tech re-solder it for me. My eyes don't let me do that kinda work anymore. The part number on the relay (for the 1985 model) is 126 540 47 45.

thanks

__________________
Jim