JenTay,

I think this is honor of the Italian automotive heritage represented by Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Lancia, Lamborghini, and other manufacturers that made road cars based on racing machines, that would get fouled in normal city or public road driving. It was typical of these machines to require a regular run up to red line to keep the plugs clean and the valves/piston rings clear. So, often wealthy owners would take their pampered machines to have a tune up, and the mechanic would take the car, after the wealthy owner was out sight and ear shot, and drive it "like he stole it" for a bit, come back with a big grin and charge the customer for a "tune up." The car was then in top running condition until the owner drove it around in city traffic and it needed another "tune-up." These cars became infamous for being "temperamental" and other similar emotional vs. technical adjectives for their tendency to run poorly in normal conditions. I think it helped keep the mystique alive, and the mechanics sporting big grins and fat wallets.

Hope this helps, Jim

Since reading the "redline" thread about driving around in "S" I haven't used "D" at all except on the highway. Very nice inprovment in overall drivability. Now, my engine does not see anything below 2500rpm except at take-off from stops.

I can't believe how clean, smokefree ( ;) ), smooth running, and stronger (Very noticable on take-off) it's been lately.

EDIT: BTW, I do wait for the engine to get warm (60*c+) before I even think about going over 2000rpm.

300TD, aint it the truth. I just spent a day around town, just driving, enjoying the car. Town driving is SO much easier in S, the on/off throttle nauture of traffic and the way a turbo diesel works, especially with this trans, it's just better all around.

I also matted it and pulled 3rd to redline, shifted cleanly, and pulled 4th to about 90mph on the way home. God it feels like a new car again, especialy just as you said, the low end and take off at part throttle. It feels like adjusting the ALDA all over again. Strange stuff. And it's not like I baby this thing, I just havent been on the interstate lately, it see's 3500rpm shifts several times a day at least.

Never heard of a Mongolian tune-up specialist!
(Now Jen is really going to go after me)
rsl007

The thing you want warmed is the oil and the oil is far from operating temperature when the coolant temp gauge gets to 60C. The catch 22 is that if you go easy on your Diesel you'll be across the state before the temp gauge reads 80C.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

add hills
 

I've heard that load is better than just wide open throttle. Find a long steep hill, and floor it going up the entire way.

For us older oilburners, going uphill makes it easier to avoid a speeding ticket. Can't speak for the 1998.

I'm in agreement that the critical aspect is not the rpm's but the load and the time under load. I recently had the opportunity to take the 126 on I-64 from Norfolk all the way through West Virginia and into Ohio. I-64 has a five mile uphill climb going westbound with a 7% upgrade most of the way. The maximum speed that the 126 could sustain was 68 mph, and, at the very top of the hill, where the grade increased slightly, the speed dropped to 62 mph. It was a rather sudden drop and was slightly disconcerting. But, no issues. The five minute run under maximum load at approximately 3100 rpm definitely produced the desired results, without the need to suffer transmission wear due to high power shifts and without the need to run the engine at maximum rpm. I wish that I could find more grades like that locally.

load is good
 

Hello Everyone
A diesel is a load engine.
Put it under load and it is great.
Red line it with no load and junk it.
Idle it around town, do not let it work and it loads up with crud.
Further data:
http://mbz.org/articles/engine/diesel/italian/
Have a great day.

Ahh the memories... :( *sniff*

My poor car hasn't seen anything past 3000 RPM in at least 3 weeks now, and that only on the freeway (except when running at 65, I haven't let it get any higher than 2500 RPM).

I need to get my hands on a boost gauge so I can safely open up the throttle on my car. I've actually noticed, since starting to drive the car like an old lady, if I go over 1/2 throttle, I can see quite a bit of smoke behind me...

Im glad you recycled it. I just did this today in my car as my wife had been the only one driving at it was going more than 5 or 6 miles a day. I havent filled it up with diesel since early Nov right before our first cold snap. It was a beautiful cold clear day here today so we went for a drive in the country. I pushed her up to 80 on the flat roads. Got the fuel tank down to 1/4 and filled her up again and drove home along Crowleys ridge on a curvy teo lane with a few straightaways and a couple of good uphill climbs. My only problems I had today was that the engine temp never moved up much(between 40 and the little notch above) and I believe I need to adjust my steering wheel play(spooked me once on a curve) I also seem to have some sort of rattle coming from to front of the engine when its cold?

Just want to add here that my first week driving the 91 300D 2.5, I was driving through the mountains on the way home and there were lots of 6-8% grades where I would be doing 100km/h at full throttle in 3rd gear and barely gaining any speed at all because of the great hills... Still, I've never seen any smoke come out of the back of my car, not even on those hills. I've never been able to get it to smoke like is talked about in this thread. Is that normal for a 602? I'm guessing it's probably a good sign that stuff isn't getting built up in the engine so there's nothing to burn off. On those hills, the coolant was rising to about 100 on the uphills and on the way down it would drop to about 75. These were long climbs, and long descents. I'm talking 2-3 minutes of uphill in 3rd gear at full throttle and full load. Then another 2-3 minutes of downhill. The car loved it, I can tell you that much. But I've still never seen an ounce of smoke come out of the car except for a little puff off idle and a little puff on starting. Oh those mountain roads were great! :D (BTW, it was Hwy 3 between Hope and Princeton in B.C., and from Princeton on back to Ontario...)

My 300D smokes very little. I just about always floor it when I leave a stop sign or green light. The 300SD smoke was down to a minimum, but since my dad started driving it, it smokes, black smoke at that. I figure flooring it a few times along with a ULTRA cleanup dose of Power Service Diesel Kleen (all 32 oz.) will clear it out.
-Joe

Certain Nationalities are "chosen"
 

An Afghani tune up is done while smoking a water pipe. :sultan:

The references to Mongolia are limited to something or other concerning a "cluster". :smhair2:

A Russian tune up is done after a pint of Vodka. :beerchug:

A South Central tune up refers to the literal "drive it because you stole it. :afro:

There must be more, eh?

I think its known as the Italian tune up because rich Italians used to baby their Ferraris and Lamborghinis and as a result the cars wouldn't run correctly. The Italian mechanic would then drive the heck out of the car and it would run better.

Scott

Still done to this day, even, possibly by your local stealership. My dad worked at the local MB dealer for some time, and they had a problem w/ an older lady who had purchased a new SL (one of the last 129s I think). Anyway, she drove it, well, like an old lady, and would come back in every couple of months complaining that it ran terribly and that they should fix it. The only thing wrong w/ it was that she went light to light and never got over 2k rpm. So they would "exersize" ;) it and give it back to her (no charge-under warranty). They told her to drive it in third and take it out on the highway, and all she would do was threaten a lemon law lawsuit.

Then they did something very immoral, :eek: however effective, that I think I will refrain from explaining, lest someone get in trouble, as most of the techs involved are still employed by that dealer and are all very nice guys....

-M-