The diesel sounds like a wide open 454, or a 460 after the exhaust falls off. It is the coolest sound I have ever heard. When you rev that thing, it brings tears to your eyes, lol.

Rode in a '95 SAAB 900 convertible the other day. What a POS, you can't even hear the radio because of windnoise, engine noise, and tire noise. I think a 240D would've been quieter at 65 mph. Not to mention the lack of legroom. What a poor design, IMHO.

BTW, Warden. I know you don't like gassers, but try driving a Mercedes V8 at highway speeds. You'd have to make sure the engine was still running, lol.

If you think thats cool try driving an S600 at 100.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I became addicted at 16 when my girlfriend recieved a 1978 300D as a hand me down. I had to have one.

My first was a 1984 300DT. That was 4 yeas ago, and since then ive owned an 85 300DT and now my daily driver, an 84 300DT. (Ive accumulated 2 others that I dont drive, the midnight blue one has a thrown rod, and the other orient red one needs nothing except for registration and insurance). Ive put 6K into my daily driver so far, shes in exceptional shape, and ive kept every recipt on file down to the MBZ logo tire vale stem caps I bought. Shes absoultely beautiful. Please, visit my profle and click on the link to the photos!
Once im out of college and am making decent money I plan on putting the other 2 on the road.

Funny enough, a girl I dated after my girlfirend with the 78 300D also owned a 300D... an 85 300DT. Some may question my motives in dating them.... LOL

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Nate

1995 E420
1992 BMW 525i
1984 300D Turbo sold
1993 Volvo 244 sold
1995 Volvo 944T R.I.P!


"The details are not details. They make the product."
-Charles Eames

www.cbs.nu

Diesels generally I fell for in 1962 or so when my dad changed jobs and became a truck driver. I remember my first ride in the loud old Int'l rock-hauler truck. It did not even have a passenger seat in it. I sat on a tool box. I remember going up the small hills between Denton and Decatur, Texas and thinking how powerful this truck was as I watched the exhaust plume trailing beind in the side mirror.

My dad moved on to many other trucks after that and I rediscovered diesels when I worked part time during college and worked on several nice 190Ds. Finally, this year, I came back to MB diesels with this '84 300SD.

And it is contagious. My wife hated this car when I told her about it and when we took delivery from the car carrier, she would not even get out of her van to come and look at it. Her only comment that night was "it has a lot of rust." Later, she accused me of getting "just another project car" (my restored 300ZX Turbo--2nd Place Dallas Autorama 1999 in Altered Sports and my 1978 Toyota Land Cruiser rock crawler being the latest of many).

But now, guess which vehicle she wants us to take to dinner, drive to church and to her mother's house. She (and not I) keeps watch on local "for sale" listings of MB diesels. Of course, when I spent most of last Sat. changing out the Guide Rod Mounts, she had no sympathetic comments and I knew better than to complain that night that I was tired or that my back hurt.

BTW she promises me a CD changer for anniversary coming up.

So here is what I am thinking now. I have a 1965 FJ45 Wagon--a rare Toyota Land Cruiser--without engine, transmission or transfer case. How sweet would that be with a 617, MB auto-tranny and divorced NP205 transfer case.

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1984 300SD 326,997 miles and counting . . . No wait, my odometer is still dead

I would use a manual tranny; otherwise sounds sweet!

My dad used to have a '75 FJ40; unfortunately, it had a blown engine and he didn't realize it until after he bought it...wound up having to sell it; no $$ to fix the engine... I wish I knew now what I didn't know then

Yes, manual tranny would be good if I can find a suitable donor. There is a 5spd manual MB on e-bay--hmmmmmmmmm......

Sometimes I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then either.

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1984 300SD 326,997 miles and counting . . . No wait, my odometer is still dead

Had to be on the farm with the IH diesels that started on gasoline and then you switched over to diesel fuel. Carb on one side of the engine, and injector pump on the other. 2 Pint gas tank and 12 gal diesel tank. It was a '44 MD. Went in the army and worked and drove diesels and multifuels; then as a maint mgr on big Cat diesels that started on Pony motors....

It was just a VW Golf, but it started the diesel wingnut in me.
So I've had and serviced 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 12 cyl diesels. Love em all....

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71 220D 169K wrecked
83 240D 118K sweet 4 speed
91 350SDL (one of the 60% good engines) 156K
84 300d (loaner to my sister) 189K
79 300SD (partswagen)
86 420SEL partswagen
70 220d (partswagen)
68 280s GASSER!!! under construction now
85 300sd 310K miles winter beater car retired
93 300d 2.5 turbo 168K wife's car
83 280SL euro 5 speed 155K
69 250S newest project 54K

LOL!! This goes back to my mechanic's suggestion of installing a gasoline primer kit! You all convinced me it's a bad idea, but here's a real life application! How well did it work?

Dave

I keep my diesel "addiction" at bay by owning a few gassers at the same time.

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

for the 1930's 1940's.
I would not do it on modern diesels.

Some say GM's long-ago failed experiment in converting V-6 and V-8 gas engines to diesel is to blame for the average American's aversion to compression ignition. But even the best oil burners that gained some U.S. popularity in the wake of the 70s gas crisis were rough, noisy and smoky and required an annoying wait for glow plugs to warm. And the fuel smelled badly on your hands

Now, following a long absence here and enormous growth in Europe and elsewhere, diesels are back in North America in limited volumes just as gas has gotten a little more dear. Compared to those in our memories, they are relatively quiet, surprisingly smooth and powerful and essentially smoke free, and this shining mid-range Mercedes example is capable of converting many to diesel addiction

Besides prodigious torque and impressive economy, this turbocharged 24-valve 3.2L inline six achieves far lower emissions than previous-generation diesels largely due to high-pressure full-electronic injection, which until recently was considered technically impossible. CDI stands for Common-rail Direct Injection, through which the fuel line loop supplies very high (up to 23,000 psi) constant pressure to each of the six solenoid injector valves

While diesels produce more oxides of nitrogen and particulates than gas engines, they typically emit significantly lower CO and 20-30 percent lower CO2. With precise electronic control of fuel delivery and oxidation catalysts, the E320 CDI passes emissions in all states except California and four others that adopted its stricter standards. M-B says its engineers are optimistic that they can meet still tougher 2007 U.S. requirements when low-sulfur diesel fuel becomes available here late in 2006.

Standing on the right pedal demonstrates one good reason why modern diesels have become so popular in other markets. Once the (somewhat lethargic) electronically controlled 5-speed automatic gets around to responding, this $50K luxo-sedan accelerates like a rocket, and the shifts are smooth enough to disguise the 201-hp, 369 lb-ft diesel's relatively narrow torque band. We used only about 5/8 of the tank and saw 28-33 mpg in a week and 409 miles of mixed city/highway driving. The E320 CDI's EPA economy is 27 City, 37 highway vs. the gas-engine E320's 19/27, and it blasts from zero to 60 mph in 6.8 sec. vs. 7.1.

Electronic control of fuel injection also enables softening of the power pulses to smooth and quiet the engine, even at idle. You still hear the engine's characteristic growl especially at idle and low operating speeds, but it's far from the nasty marbles-in-a-jar racket of old

Mercedes debuted the world's first diesel passenger car--the 260D--in 1936. Today, diesel engines power some 40 percent of M-B passenger cars worldwide. More than 75 percent of M-B's North American passenger cars were diesel powered In the 1980s, but they tapered off through the '90s until the last one, the E300 Turbodiesel, disappeared in 1999.

Now this one is back, and it's a gem

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'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

The new V6 320CDI is even more impressive, as it uses piezoelectric injectors, where electricity is used to alter the crystalline structure of a piezoelectric material. This allows up to 5 injections (!) per power stroke, and finer fuel atomization.

Back to the original topic, I don't own a diesel car, and I've never imagined myself being interested in owning one. But reading about the Benz diesels in this forum has definitely piqued my interest in these cars. Where I live are a number of VW Golf TDI cars, and when one of these clatters by, it always makes me look. And lately I have been scanning AutoTrader for W123 turbodiesel wagons ...

I got obsessed with compression/ignition when I first learned about biodiesel. Then when searching for a reliable, comfortable (I'm 6'7") car I learned about the 300 series Mercedes. Now I'm obsessed with not only biodiesel, but veg-oil and MB 300's. I don't know where I'll find the time to feed the obsessions! or the money

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1983 300td 240k (down with bad tranny)
1984 300d 222k (daily driver) "Olive"
1997 GMC K2500 105k (sled dog limo)

"The scenery in ANWR is as spectacular as the Grand Canyon and the wildlife is more impressive."

I'm not real mad about the price of fuel lately, since gas costs so much more than diesel! Have to rub that one in from time to time when I hear people whining, WELL if you drove a DIESEL then you wouldn't have that problem!

Still working on the veggie oil thing, hopefully I'll have something good to say about it soon (like I'm burning it ).

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Jeff M.
Mercedes W123 DIY pages are now located here.
1983 / 1984 300D Sold
2000 CLK430 Cabriolet ~58k Sold
2005 Avalanche 4x4 ~66k