My Easter gift to my wife (and myself) is a '83MB 300D ...finally (thank you Mr. Easter Bunny, sir). The car has 211,000 miles and the body is mint . Apart from that I know nothing about Mercedes.I have had several diesel VWs and presently have a 1997 Jetta. I have two issues that I would like some help on: 1) There are no dash lights, which I am assuming to be bulbs burned out. I read on the board in reference to another model that the speedo cable should be let go from the tranny to allow the instrument panel to be pulled out far enough to replace the bulbs. I can pull out the instrument panel about an inch but do nor want to force it any further. Am I on the right track?
2) On cold starts , which are the norm at this time of year in Newfoundland ,the idle is very rough and the engine is noisy. (Is there a trottle advance in the Mercedes). The sales agent where I bought the car tells me the owners manuel -which isn't with the car - recommends
putting a quart of transmission fluid in the tank every 1000 miles to clean the injectors. Is this true ? The roughness goes out of the idle when the engine warms up .Would this suggest an injector problem, a sticky lifter,or something else .
3) I would like to get a manuel on this car; what should I be looking for and where might I find it?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated .
Happy Easter !

David,

You do not have to disconnect the speedometer cable at the transmission on this model. Remove the kick panel under the dash. To do this, remove three small screw covers by prying them out, then remove the three phillips screws. Then release the grey plastic phillips looking fasteners below the panel, one on each side. Release these grey plastic fasteners by turning them 1/4 turn either direction and then pull or pry them out.

After removing the lower panel, you will be able to reach behind the instrument cluster and push it out. You will also be able to disconnect the speedometer cable. You will need to disconnect the 10MM oil pressure line to the guage. Don't forget to back up the line connection with another wrench to prevent damage to the oil pressure guage.

There also is a round black connector with about 10 or 12 wires that connects to the cluster. You will also have to remove a few other single connectors, paying attention to where they go, so you can reconnect them correctly.

Once the cluster is on the bench, check the potentiometer, the brightest setting isn't half bright enough, so if the potentiometer is bad, don't hesitate to jump it, just use an ohmmeter and think it through, before you solder anything in place. If all the bulbs are out, you will probably find the potentiometer to be the problem.

On cold starts, the engine will run rough for a little while. On the 240D there is a manual idle speed adjuster, but there is none on the 300D. It could be that there is some automatic idle adjuster, but I don't think so. This model has pin type glow plugs, which I have found only last a few years, in your climate they may not last that long. If you have any starting problems, a glow plug change is always in order, they are inexpensive and easy to change.

I have never added ATF to the tank, but I doubt that it would hurt anything. There are plenty of quality additives that would probably do a better job.

The manuals are available from several sources, I'd start with the parts shop on this site. They have a CD that's very complete.

Good luck,

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Larry Bible
'84 Euro 240D, 516K miles
'88 300E 5 Speed
'81 300D Daughter's Car
Over 800,000 miles in
Mercedes automobiles

Congratulations on your new purchase. Do not add ATF to the fuel tank! There are many other diesel injector cleaners available, better yet, have the injectors inspected, cleaned or replaced.
As for the owners manual, call MB Custumer Service at 1-800- for-merc. Good luck, Ed

David,

congrats and welcome to the diesel club. I have a '85 300D and I absolutely love it. One thing that another member recommended to me was to add a bottle of Red Line Diesel Fuel Catalyst to your tank before filling up. Then add a little every time you fill up for maintenance. It seems to make it run alot smoother. You should be able to pick it up at
any auto parts store (Pepboys if you have them up there)

Happy motoring.



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FrankieZ
84 500SEL EURO 87K
85 300D 267K (and still goin' strong)

David,

Welcome to the club! I am the self appointed safety rep (on mechanical items only, since I am a terrible driver which my wife will attest to!). I know Larry Bible would be very disappointed if I did not provide saftey tips in response to your first post. So here it goes....Always remove rings, watches and jewelry when working arounf electrial circuits. The voltage won't hurt you, but if the jewelry shorts, you have an almost instant red hot burner that can cause you to loose a finger or hand. There are several posts with first hand knowledge in response to this warning I have given before, use the search function. Electrical fires start when a wire shorts and turns cherry red. You can not effectively extinguish an electrical fire using standard home extinguishers, unless the heat source (ie battery) is removed from the circuit. There fore, I recommend that you always disconnect the battery, NEGATIVE terminal first. When reconnecting after electrical work, hook up the positive first, followed by the negative. Always be prepared to discnonect quickly, even with wire cutters if need be!

I think you will find a wealth of technical knowledge on the BB. Larry provides a lot of detail and old codger stories that are absolutely great, as you saw from his details on the dash lites! Just don't ask him about tractors!

Happy Motoring!

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Deezel
87 300TDT
150,000 miles

This is a VERY good idea on the removal of jewlery before working on the car!!!!!!!!!

We sell the leading brands of Diesel additives in the partsshop.

------------------
Benzmac:
Donnie Drummonds
1992 500E (very soon I hope
1981 280GE SWB
ASE CERTIFIED MASTER AUTO TECHNICIAN
SERVICE MANAGER FOR 14 BAY FACILITY
MERCEDES SPECIALIST 8 YRS
PARTNER IN MERCEDESSHOP.COM

David,

Comgrats on 300D!! Re. no instrument lights, had same prob. with my 81 300D purchased about 2 months ago. From my 15-year experience with 80 240D, however, I remembered that the dimmer may be turned down. Dimmer is left one of the two small, identical knobs protruding from bottom of instrument cluster; larger, black, key-looking knob farther down and to the left is the manual idle speed adjuster. In the dark with the car lights "ON", turn the small dimmer knob back and forth slowly and see if you get instrument lights. 'Did this on mine and suddenly had instrument lights, though still somewhat dim for my liking. Pushing the same knob resets the trip meter (lower part of odometer). Small knob to the right is for setting clock.

BTW, my 81 300D does have the idle speed adjuster just like the 240D. Good luck!!



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Wilton Strickland
Goldsboro, NC
91 350 SDL. 81 300D

BTW, again, David, I spent a couple of pleasant nights (about 3 months apart) in St. John's on trips to Greenland in 1978. Thanks for the hospitality!!!



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Wilton Strickland
Goldsboro, NC
91 350 SDL. 81 300D

David,

Welcome to the group.

If you do pull the cluster, once you have it cracked open, I would suggest replacing all of the dash bulbs. As the bulbs age, they begin to darken significantly, almost appear silver coated. Since the cluster is on the bench, and the bulbs are cheap, why not change them out and pick up a few extra lumens?

Other than that, I can't do much but envy you, since I don't have an oil burner...yet. The experience here is great, the members have dang good advice, and the knowledge shared by some members, gets you looking and checking things you might not have ever considered. I do spend an awful lot of time reading through the old posts, just learning.

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Mike Tangas
73 280 SEL

Wilton,

The 300D doesn't have the idle speed adjuster like the 4 cylinders do. I'm glad you told David to check the instrument light dimmer adjustment. I didn't think to tell him to try it first, although I can't imagine anyone having it at any setting besides max because the lights are so dim to start with. But, it is possible that someone fiddled with it with the lights off wondering what it did.

Have a great day,
Larry

[This message has been edited by LarryBible (edited 04-25-2000).]

Larry,

Thanks for all your good tips!!
Re. instrument lights, PO of my 81 300D or someone had turned them "OFF". As with other things on the car, PO may not have known anything about it.

Re. idle adjuster, I certainly don't mean to seem argumentative, but my 81 300D, built in Dec, 80, has the adjuster knob in the usual location on the instrument panel and the cable going to the throttle assembly at top of engine. The adjuster assembly is not working now because the cable sheath is severed (pulled apart) at the mounting bracket near the throttle assembly, and the knob and cable are "jammed" - will not move with normal hand/finger force, but the entire adjuster assembly is in place. Cable is attached to throttle assembly in normal manner - just like I remember on the 240D, though it has been almost 5 years since I saw it last. PO may have never used it - knob looks like it has never been touched - PO probably never knew about it. If this is not idle adjuster assembly, what is it? 'Sure looks like same assembly owner's manual calls "idle adjuster".

How many miles on daughter's recently purchased 300D? How's it doing? How's she lking it?

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Wilton Strickland
Goldsboro, NC
91 350 SDL. 81 300D

wilton,

I stand corrected, the 300TD turbo my wife had, as well as my daughters normally aspirated 300D did not have the knob. My assumption was incorrect.

Have a great day,
Larry

Thank you guys so much for your suggestions and support.Larry,you should have been a teacher! The trouble was with the optimeter.Deesel's comments on safety were well taken also.
I have another question: The 300D headlamp switch has settings at 1 o'clock for the park lights and 2 o'clock for the headlights.The 11 o'clock setting turns on the right side only park lights while the 10 o'clock setting turns on the left side only park lights. In the meantime,the inside set of headlights or driving lamps or whatever they are don't turn on at all(...remember I don't have an owners manuel as yet). I'm assuming the two are connected? Could someone advise what might be going on here ? Thanks again .

David,

In Germany if you leave your car parked on the side of the road you must leave a light on for that side. The two positions to the left are "standing light" positions for each side of the road.

If you pull the headlight knob out two positions you get a brake light strength tail light on one side for a fog light. Only German models have this function hooked up.

Thank you guys for your responses.As usual, you are right again. My lights are fine and I guess I have a German model Mercedes.Thanks again .