Bill,

Thanks for the further suggestions. I expect that if I need valves I will use them from the fresh head, but the guides are probably gone in the old head and seats would need to be freshly recut. I have found a VERY good machine shop. He came through on all three statements about him; slow, expensive and GOOD. I will let him do it.

I will get together a fresh head, and if the engine turns out to have too much blowby, I think I know where I can get the stuff to build a fresh short block. At that point, I can use the fresh head and some other pieces I have such as a completely new timing chain setup and build a totally fresh engine. If I take time to do that now, the car will be down too long. Plus, that will give me time to get the work bay clear of the POS Vette and make the whole thing more convenient and pleasant to attack.

Thanks again for all the suggestions,

------------------
Larry Bible
'01 C Class, Six Speed
'84 Euro 240D, manual, 533K miles
'88 300E 5 Speed
'81 300D Daughter's Car
Over 800,000 miles in
Mercedes automobiles

Larry, you haven't said what caused your daughter's 300D to have low compression.
The suspense is starting to build again.
Now I'm going to settle down and watch my lovely VOLUNTERS of TENNESSEE whop Vanderbuilt.
Please do keep us posted.
Bill Lewallen

Bill,

I wear an orange and white cap with a big T on it as well. Did you know that the University of Texas and University of Tennessee have the same colors and the caps look exactly alike? The only thing is, mine has a small orange pair of long horns on the back.

I got the head off this morning and I'm trying to tell for sure if the head gasket was leaking. It appears that it was leeking along the manifold side across the front four cylinders, but I can't say for absolutely sure.

The cylinders look really good. I am going to take it to the machine shop Monday morning and hopefully get it back before next weekend. If the weather will cooperate next weekend, I should have her in it on that Monday.

I'll let you know how it comes out.

Thanks and have a great weekend,

------------------
Larry Bible
'01 C Class, Six Speed
'84 Euro 240D, manual, 533K miles
'88 300E 5 Speed
'81 300D Daughter's Car
Over 800,000 miles in
Mercedes automobiles

I've been following the thread with great interest. I have a newly acquired '81 300D... and know little abt Diesel.

How much do the likely scenarios cost to remedy - either via shop or as advanced DIY'er?

With '81 300D market value of several thousand dollars, it seems like cost to fix problems (both time and money) could be high compared to how much the car would be worth after it's fixed.

Help me with the value proposition.

Thanks.

------------------
Bullet Bob
'86 300E 120k (Midnite)
'81 300D 190k (Bullet)

Larry, I know Texas and Tennessee have the same school colors,orange and white. On Jan 1st.1954 my wife and I watched Texas beat Tennessee in the Cotton Bowl.But I don't hold that against you. I think the score was something like 6 to 0.
I believe you will have your daughter's car up and running by next weekend.
Keep us posted.
Bill Lewallen

PCU2000,

Don't let any of this scare you. I've driven 123 cars many totally trouble free miles. When I bought this one for my daughter it turned out to be less than it appeared and additionally the person lied to me about oil consumption, which is one of the most important indicators about these cars.

If you have a car that has been well cared for, and you continue to give it good care, it will serve you well for many miles/years to come.

I do believe that, generally speaking, the four cylinder cars are more trouble free than the 300's. The four cylinders are much more simple to work on as well. Give me a four cylinder diesel 240D for absolute simplicity and long term reliability.

Enjoy your diesel,

------------------
Larry Bible
'01 C Class, Six Speed
'84 Euro 240D, manual, 533K miles
'88 300E 5 Speed
'81 300D Daughter's Car
Over 800,000 miles in
Mercedes automobiles

As far as expending the time and $ to repair Larry's car, it still probably beats the alternative. The car with a nonfunctioning engine is worth maybe $400 to 500, or less. But a functioning car is worth about $2000. Will Larry expend $1500 in time and $ to repair it...depends on how much he figures his time is worth. If it's like a hobby, then zero is his labor cost.

And that analysis is only good if you assume market value is the determining factor. For many of us, these cars are worth much more than their market value...that's why we own them. A good running 240 or 300 of the early 80's may have only a market value of $2000. However, we know that they can give you a couple of hundred thousand miles of very low cost, safe, transportation. No matter how you slice it, it's a great deal.

Joe

It's running again, I think.

I got the head completely redone and everything back together. After it was together enough, I did a compression check on number one cylinder. It was up from 100 to 200, disappointing. But I finished putting it together anyway.

With the cam timed correctly, I check start of delivery and it was perfect.

I plugged in the block heater about 9:30 this morning and went out to give it a try about 2:00PM this afternoon. Once it got fuel through the system, it busted right off!

I checked over everything and gave it a good test drive and look over after the test drive, everything seems okay.

The question now will be if it will start tomorrow morning without the block heater plugged in. She has no way to plug in the block heater once she gets to school, so I don't want her relying on the block heater.

Hopefully, the side benefit will be lower oil consumption after the valve guides and everything.

Thanks for everyone following along,

Larry,

I know this thread is a bit old.

I hope the car is running fine now. I had a '75 300D with a block heater. I found that I could start the car reliably in temperatures down to about zero. Below that, it was a problem without the heater. I replaced glow plugs, batteries (I once had a 1050 cold cranking amp battey from a Lincoln Continental Diesel) to try to speed up the crank to help.

The starter finally gave out one day and I had one shipped to me from a salvage yard in Texas. Boy, what a difference! I never knew that the engine was supposed to crank that fast! I never had a problem starting after that.

__________________
Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

Michael,

This is the same car that I now have apart to bore. I am awaiting some more parts to come in so I can finish it up.

When I started this thread I did the head, it was winter and I didn't want to do the whole engine and though I could get by. Well, as it turned out I'm doing it later. You know, pay me now, or pay me later.

I'll keep you informed,