Why is it that on all forums, and even when for sale, people always add a T to their 123 diesel model description if it's a turbo? Ex. 300TDT, 300CDT or CD-T, or the most confusing 300DT, which leaves you wondering if it's a wagon or not. There is no such thing as a CDT, or DT, or TDT. Aren't the facts of this matter that the 123 D's, CD's, and TD's from 1982-1985 (123.133, 123.153, 123.193 respectively) were all turbo's, and that the TD was a .193 in 1981 as well, and that any 123 prior to those (123.130, 123.150, 123.190) were not? (run-on sentence pet peeve post to follow) Am I the one who is confused/missing something here? Do factory 130,150 or 190 turbos exist? Isn't the model year sufficient for determination of turbo?

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1982 Mercedes-Benz 300CD
1982 Mercedes-Benz 240D - stick

"Why is it that on all forums"... because the same people constitute every forum....

I think I have an answer , but will have to do some reading... film at eleven.

What you say is true in the US and probably all of North America. The rest of the world doesn't follow that shcedule. But it's only here that all 123D variants were turbocharged from 82-85. It's also only here that there is a Diesel or turbodiesel tag on the right side of the trunk lid.

If I were supreme ruler of the forum, I'd mandate the use of a lower case T (e.g., 300Dt or 300TDt) where people feel compelled to denote a turbocharged engine.

Sixto
300SEna
300SDLt
300SDt

There were 300TDs that were not Turbo Diesels. For the TD's, the turbo engine didn't get here in the US until model year 1981. Previous to that, they were simply TDs. There are those of us who can tell just by model year, what exact engine is in a particualr car. Others don't, they may not realize that their Turbo diesel engine was the only one available, so they may want it to be known that they have the turbo version of the engine.

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1999 MB SL500 (110,000 mi)
2004 Volvo V70 2.5T (220,000 mi)
2014 Tesla Model S 85 (136,000 mi)
MBCA member

What? Do you have a problem with my T3T0T0DTDTTDTT ?



Ken300D

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1982 300D at 351K miles
1984 300SD at 217K miles
1987 300D at 370K miles

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It starts with the Factory Shop Manuals.... which list some of the wagons , for example, as 300 TD-Turbo... so people started doing that also shortening it to TD-T.....

I'm with Leathermang:

It was the wagon that started confusing the issue. Therefore I always note wagons as TD's and the others as D's or D-T's

Don

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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

bjcsc,

Leathermang has the story on the right track. Another item that figures into the scheme is that the brochures for these cars in the late years of the model run (1984 and 1985) show the Europeans did not have a 300D TurboDiesel. And they called the 300TD wagon, with a turbocharged Diesel engine a "300TD Turbodiesel." So it stands to reason, if they had a 300D with a turbocharged Diesel engine, it would be called a 300D "Turbodiesel." Hope this helps, Jim

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Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)

I'm irritated by it but then I'm also irritated by all the "leather seats" that are actually Tex. I guess most people are not quite as fanatical about technical details as some.

- Peter.

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2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

"Aren't the facts of this matter that the 123 D's, CD's, and TD's..."

My pet peeve is when people use apostrophes as if too many of them were manufactured, and they need to be used up.

"...123Ds, CDs, and TDs..." is correct.

An apostrophe denotes either a contraction (as in "It's a great day for a ride in the Benz") or ownership ("Hop in the Benz and go to McDonald's with me!"), NEVER anything else.

===Splitting hairs in Fort Worth===

-Matt

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Matt
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1995 E300 Diesel (Die Blau Frau)

I understand where your coming from, I get more irritated by the new "marketing" Mercedes "Class names".

As far as the TD turbo issue, I subscribe to the lower case t school of thought:

190D 2.5(non turbo) 190Dt 2.5 (turbo) 300TD with turbo = 300TDt

Though this is mainly for forum purposes, discussing engine issues, as my two beaters are pretty well known,190D 2.2 with a turbo, don't think so! 87 300D without a turbo?? (Well maybe in Europe, I don't know.) Hmmm, 190Dt 2.2 (601 Turbo sounds kinda neat!)

The one that torques me, is calling a 602, 2.5 litre a 300D in the states, when it's a 250D, what gives??

Cheers, Mack

Touche on the apostrophe use, I was thinking of the model numbers when I was typing. Just to beat the dead horse a little, when an abbreviation contains internal punctuation, such as 123.153, the correct formation of a plural is 123.153's, but when it does not, as in CD, you are correct. I knew this and still made the mistake (happens more than I'd like!)

I think I'm with the small "t" folks, but I now understand it's the Euros that throw it off.

Cheers!

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1982 Mercedes-Benz 300CD
1982 Mercedes-Benz 240D - stick

You can't use the puny and feeble small 't' to designate the more robust model of the two...... that is against intergalactic Kharma Rules, bound edition , page 3, as referenced in The HitchHiker's guide to the Galaxy.

Whoa, geek check!