An elderly gentleman went into a dealership in Dallas yesterday, and traded a 1990 350SDL in on new Lincoln. Only has 51,000 miles on it. I grabbed it.

The belt tensioner appears shot, the belt is in bad shape and is banging around making all kinds of rumbling noises when car is idling. I was able to talk dealer down several thousand dollars because of it and couple of other problems.

I can't remember, but think I had read something about the tensioner. Tensioner is common problem on these cars, but was there some kind of recall on them or a redesign?

When I replace the parts, is there some kind of updated design, or just replace the worn stuff with new?

Don

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1991 350SD 265,000 miles
1981 300D 320,000 miles

1990 350SDL 144,000 miles (wrecked)
1991 350SD 225,000 miles (sold)
1985 300D 113,000 (sold)
1987 300SDL 183,000 (sold)
1984 300D 360,000 (sold)