I need to fix my front gate so it will lock.

For those loooong trips
 

Get some books on tape. You can swap them for new books at any Cracker Barrel restaurant, or buy new ones at any WalMart.

Al you need is a cheapo cassette deck and a set of earphones. Great for bus or driving.

Roger that on the books on cassette. Listened to a Western from Houston, TX through a couple of states. 100 mph and Louis L'Mour

Don

When I go to... uh... that other state... to get my new car, I will bring a small stash of CDs... It seems the radio was replaced with a CD player. I think I can live without a radio.

Another swap that the previous owner made was a clock for the tachometer... THAT I'm not sure I can live with. I can do just fine driving down the road not knowing what time---or even what day---it is. But I think I really want to know how fast that diesel is twirling around.

Did the the 240D originally come with a tach, are they easy to come by in junkyards, and is it run by flex cable or what? Yeah, I know this is one of those "small things" that I should overlook when buying a car, but like many of you, I would feel that driving any manual transmission car without a tach is only slightly better than driving blindfolded.

Are there aftermarket tachs (for diesels) that could be mounted is some other available place? Actually though, I think I'd rather have the tach mounted right where it belongs---and mount a clock on my wrist.

I'll have to wait to see what the story is... it could be that the tach drive (wherever that is) was busted, the dealer quoted some outrageous price to repair it, and the owner just put a clock in its place.

I figure some of you have a pretty good theory of what happened with the tach... any thoughts?

The 240D's never came with a tach miraculously. However, the 300D Turbos did, and they never came with a stick. So...MB made a dumb call on that one.

How strange. The owner told me that his grandfather had installed the clock. He sent a picture of the dash---and I thought that the clock looked like it really belonged right there and mached up with everthing else.

I just found a thread on this board that deals with the problem:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/71806-tachometer-pickup.html?highlight=240D+RPM

How do you guys with the stock arrangement tell if you're over-reving the engine?

The dots on the speedometer tell you the limit in each gear.

And what would you guys be willing to do for a factory OM 616 turbo with a ZF TX-18 5 speed from the European 300D?

Yea, I spotted that on eBay earlier this week, and made a thread about it in for sale. I would kill for that car, but not at that price, and its not an automatic (my Saturn is a manual... if I ever get my 240D I want it to be an automatic).
~D.J.~

Hey D.J., welcome to Mercedeshop!!!!!

Thanks for tellin me about this place.. I have learned a load so far.. I have been lurking for about a week and a half now.
~D.J.~

Dieselpower:
I've shipped a sailboat engine from Florida to NY (about 500lbs) with Forward Air for $125. Check them out. Much cheaper than truck freight. You have to be near one of their depots. They are located near major airports.

I took Amtrak from Denver to LA to pick up my 409d last May (24hrs). It needed a couple of days of work repairing a leaky radiator and getting new tires before I could drive home but it was worth it. Camped at Huntingdon Beach while doing the work so I can't complain about that.

Give us the route back, city by city so if you need assistance you could get volunteers here. Have you asked anyone on the board to check it out before you take the trip. If someone's close by I'm sure they'd be polite enough not to steal it away from you and give you an independent opinion before travelling that far.

One thing I know I'm going to encounter with this "new" 240D is an oil change en route home. It's coming from a southern climate to a northern climate--and it's got 30W oil in it right now. I don't think it wise to make the switch to synthetic in the midst of a long journey in an unfamiliar car. I've been reading some of the "oil threads" on this board, and I sure don't want to rekindle that ongoing debate here. Whatever the owners manual recommends for dino winter oil is what I'll put in--probably at a (Gasp!) Jiffy Lube---but I will not let them touch ANYTHING else on the car--(too many bad memories of my first and only experience watching them pour windshield fluid into the coolent cannister... "Don't get so upset sir, that won't hurt a thing..."

Probably will have to shop around some for a filter. With a little luck I might find a little independent shop that deals with MB and can take care of the whole detail.

-----
Kerry-- nice to learn there's another sailor here. Some years ago I put our family of four aboard our Nimble 20 and cruised for 13 months...upper Ohio River to Florida Keys to Chesapeake Bay. Made our family very close.

I'd like to hear more about your sailing adventure. Perhaps a post on the open discussion? My sailboat is on Lake Ontario between Niagara Falls and Rochester so that kind of cruise is in my future at some time.

I'd take a filter with me on the bus. I flew across the Atlantic to pick up my 307d in London in the dead of winter. I'd only seen a 15 yr old picture of the vehicle but trusted the seller. The owner had already moved to Spain so I picked up the keys for a newsagent in the nearest town. I think the taxi driver thought I was nuts. Carried lots of tools. The airline inspectors must have thought I was a terrorist. The next time I flew over I had oil filters an oil changing plastic bucket and a water pump. Put all my socks and underwear in the oil change container for the trip.

Well, I LIKE the 240's clock...
 

even though the clocks in BOTH of my 240s are inert, for now.

I've never felt the need for a tach in any stick auto I've driven, always been a matter of "feel".

BUT...If one MUST have a tach, can the tach/clock/etc "dial" be swapped out of a 300D into a 240? The clock part of this instrument in my 300CD works...quartz...even though the tach only works off and on.