After owning a 1984 300D Euro for nearly two months, I decided to take it back to the friend who sold it to me, in order to trade it for a US spec 300D. Over the course of about one week, I became disillusioned about MB grey market importing. With the kind help of Robert Talley (member TCCBass), the Dieseling Doktor, and the folks at Nykaza's Distinguished Autos, I came to understand that my Euro was the victim of shortsighted mechanical skullduggery. I had not been familiar with the layout and configuration of US 123 turbo diesels, so what I saw under the hood did not strike me as unusual, though I knew that an intercooler was out of the ordinary. After Robert drove the Euro briefly, he commented that there was no real turbo boost. I later confirmed that the turbo was spinning up normally, but after conversing with the Dieseling Doktor, I realized that this car was missing a very significant piece of machinery. There was no boost signal coming from the intake manifold, as there is on US models, via the banjo fitting/ADLA unit. Though the engine was getting an ample amount of cool compressed air, the injector pump was not receiving a corresponding signal to increase fuel flow, hence I only got a superficial 5-7% boost. Apparently, some fairly extensive engineering would need to be done in order for this Euro car to match the horsepower of the US version. I suspect (as does Robert) that this car was originally a non-turbo 300D, with a nice turbo and intercooler slapped on by slope-headed mechanics with little forethought.
Anyway, I was a little sad to see the Euro off. It had loads of charm in its own right, with the manual sunroof, roll-down windows, flawless cloth seats, etc. But now I have a "real" 300D, though it is not without its share of problems as well. So expect many forthcoming questions and comments regarding my new acquisition...and thanks for reading.
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Matt
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'84 300D Euro
07-19-2000, 11:17 AM
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