One PO of the '80 said that it was the exception to the rule that the 617 motor was Sssssllloooooowwww.
These 3 cars have 229 000, 370 000 & 280 000 km respectively.
The '80 will eat the other 2 in all conditions.

I am swaping this motor into the '82, and will check & remedy IP timing & timing chain stretch before removal.

What else could contribute to the '80's good performance relative to the '82 & '84? Or conversely, their poor performance Vs the '80?

BTW, all 3 are non-turbo & W123 sedan body.

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Tony from West Oz.
Fatmobile 3 84 300D 295kkm Silver grey/Blue int. 2 tank WVO - Recipient of TurboDesel engine.
Josephine '82 300D 390kkm White/Palamino int.
Elizabeth '81 280E, sporting a '79 300D engine.
Lucille '87 W124 300D non-turbo 6 cylinder OM603, Pearl Grey with light grey interior


Various parts cars including 280E, 230C & 300D in various states of disassembly.

gearing? check RPM at steay set speed.


It's been my experience that some diesels just get a certain fuel mileage and have a certain amount of power and you can only do so much to alter it short of motor injector/pump/head work.

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One more Radar Lover gone...
1982 VW Caddy diesel 406K 1.9L AAZ
1994 E320 195K

I feel that my '81 is a lot more "peppy" than the turbo cars. Something about the combination of the torque curve and the tranny shift. Great car around town or on 55 mph two lane blacktop roads. Gets better fuel mileage than the turbo models too - probably because I run them at higher speeds.

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Jim

So I cannot compare RPM @ set speed. I will check out the Diff ratio on each. IIRC from reading on this forum, it is stamped on the front of the diff housing adjacent to the pinion gear.

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Tony from West Oz.
Fatmobile 3 84 300D 295kkm Silver grey/Blue int. 2 tank WVO - Recipient of TurboDesel engine.
Josephine '82 300D 390kkm White/Palamino int.
Elizabeth '81 280E, sporting a '79 300D engine.
Lucille '87 W124 300D non-turbo 6 cylinder OM603, Pearl Grey with light grey interior


Various parts cars including 280E, 230C & 300D in various states of disassembly.

I don't understand. 82 & 84 300D's are supposed to have a tach and a turbo. You're saying all 3 of them have no tach and no turbo?

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

I might be wrong, but if I recall, only North America received turbo 123 cars in the form of a sedan. Europe only got turbo 123 wagons.

Our friend is in Australia.

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'90 300SE 298k
-300K and it gets put into retirement.
'80 300D 255k Purchased new by family in 1980.

Had a:
1973 220 (gas)
1980 300SD
1992 400E

Oh yeah, I didn't notice that he isn't in the US. It makes sense now.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

What rule? Granted mine's a turbo, but once I got my throttle linkage properly adjusted, my 617's actually the fastest diesel I've owned. I will admit that every one of my other diesels have been in trucks, but it's probably on par with my old straight-6 Chevy (one of only two g@$$ers I've owned; the other was a VW Bug with 40 whole horsepower) for acceleration, and I get better mileage and don't have to worry about the car breaking down every week.

I agree with the others; chances are the difference is in your differential gear ratio. This also means that you have higher cruising RPM's on highways with that car, unless you've got 5 speeds in the other cars *drooling*

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2001 VW Jetta TDI, 5 speed, daily driver
1991 Ford F-350, work in progress
1984 Ford F-250 4x4, 6.9l turbo diesel, 5 speed manual
Previous oilburners: 1980 IH Scout, 1984 E-350, 1985 M-B 300D, 1979 M-B 300SD, 1983 M-B 300D
Spark-free since 1999

I climbed up underneath the '81 yesterday and no wonder - the rear end is a 3.4x rear while the '85 is a 2.88. That is why the '81 feels more "peppy".

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Jim