240D for me!

[newtodiesel]

Best to flush all the old brake fluid out and have a fresh batch in there. It is recommended to flush it I think once a year or once every 2 years..get yourself some PB blaster and soak the heck outta that bleeder..maybe a day or two, try to tighten then loosen..maybe that will help.

I got over zealous on mine and broke it off completely. Plug your small vacuum lines on the BIG vacuume line that goes between the booster and the vacuum pump..then you can tell if the brakes are working right. Just be careful removing the little lines...more than likely they are 20 something years old..I broke mine and had to replace that hose $40.
The injectors can be "pop" tested I have never had to do this, so maybe someone else can help you with that. They are supposed to pop at a certain PSI and have a certain spray pattern. I think a local diesel place or a bosch repair place can help you with that. I think there are also DIY threads about homemade pop tester. Some one will have the specs you need

[BrassMonkey]

I agree on the flush of fluid. I'll do that when I replace the calipers. I might as well do the front lines too.

How do i adjust the parking brake? It doesn't hold either.

I ran out & pulled the valve cover expecting to find a broken spring somewhere. Everything looked good. I dont' own a feeler guage yet so I can't set the valves. This week though.

Now - I didn't find the thread on how to test the motor mounts but I read quite a few of them. It seems the rubber collapses. The passenger side rubber mount is SIGNIFICANTLY thinner than the drivers side.

Plus - 1 of the mounting bolts for the air cleaner was broken and the linkage was definately rubbing.

So - I need 1 rubber motor mount. I will probably use one of those self tapping metal screws to hold down the air cleaner. I need front brakes & lines and I need to figure out why all this oil is blowing out the exhaust (stuck ring?).

Plus - I need to get the car to shut off when I turn off the key.

After all of that -I believe it will be safe to ..... wait ... I need to get the gas tank back in too. But that is soaking now & will only take another several days of cleaning and it should be ready. After all of that - the car will be safe to drive on the road. Maybe by the end of the month I'll be ready to license it. We dont' have inspections here in central IL so the smoke thing will have to work itself out if I can't figure it out earlier. Maybe some marvel mystery oil in the tank and oil & the ring will unstick?

It may just need a few miles put on it to loosen things up.

[mercmad6.3]

The nozzles on the end of the injectors wear with time and cause a sound known to diesel people as "nailing". it sounds like a loose nail in the combustion chamber. Really loud and sharp. Because nozzles are supposed to inject the fuel in a fine spray,they wont if they are worn and in that case the fuel doesn't burn properly but causes clouds of smoke.
A dirty air cleaner will do the same, not enough causes bad burning and lots of smoke too.
Tappets=valve clearance. really important on these engines so do them before proceeding further.

[newtodiesel]

Originally Posted by BrassMonkey

I agree on the flush of fluid. I'll do that when I replace the calipers. I might as well do the front lines too.

How do i adjust the parking brake? It doesn't hold either.

I ran out & pulled the valve cover expecting to find a broken spring somewhere. Everything looked good. I dont' own a feeler guage yet so I can't set the valves. This week though.

Now - I didn't find the thread on how to test the motor mounts but I read quite a few of them. It seems the rubber collapses. The passenger side rubber mount is SIGNIFICANTLY thinner than the drivers side.

Plus - 1 of the mounting bolts for the air cleaner was broken and the linkage was definately rubbing.

So - I need 1 rubber motor mount. I will probably use one of those self tapping metal screws to hold down the air cleaner. I need front brakes & lines and I need to figure out why all this oil is blowing out the exhaust (stuck ring?).

Plus - I need to get the car to shut off when I turn off the key.

After all of that -I believe it will be safe to ..... wait ... I need to get the gas tank back in too. But that is soaking now & will only take another several days of cleaning and it should be ready. After all of that - the car will be safe to drive on the road. Maybe by the end of the month I'll be ready to license it. We dont' have inspections here in central IL so the smoke thing will have to work itself out if I can't figure it out earlier. Maybe some marvel mystery oil in the tank and oil & the ring will unstick?

It may just need a few miles put on it to loosen things up.

Try plugging the lines that I told you about on the big vacuum line that attach to that yellow do-dad. Your shut off valve has a brown vacuum line running to it. You can disconnect it and suck on it hard a few times (no kidding) while the car is running and if the car shuts down it is not your shut off valve. More than likely it is a vacuum leak somewhere in the doorlocks most likely. All the extra vacuum stuff is connected to that yellow do-dad, plug it off and see what happens.
Mounts for the air cleaner are cheap, just get all 3. They have heat sheilds that go with them too
I have never done a valve adjustment yet, mine starts and runs good, so I have not messed w/ that yet, and have not had to do the parking brake either, maybe that link you have can tell you how to do that..it should be simple tho...I only really know how to do the simple stuff! And have soaked up a lot of info just reading here! So the more complicated stuff the other guys will have to help you out!!! I do know that most of the guys swear by the Marvel mystery oil.

[mercmad6.3]

Ok ,regarding tappet adjustment. it should be checked at least once a year because as the valves wear they close the gap will eventually burn the valve head leading to loss of compression and hard starting.
next.. the timi8ng chain while you have the cover off. if you look at the cam chain wheel there is a washer behind it with a notch. that notch is Number 1 cylinder at top dead center. On the pedstal behind the cam chain wheel is a little raised line about 5mm lng and 1 mm wide . Line the washer notch with this line first.
now look at the crank damper, the timing marks should be there and ideally the pointer will be aimed at 0 ,if it's aimed 5 it's OK but getting old. Anymore than 5 it's worn out and needs replacing.
A worn chain makes a mercedes diesel damned hard to start.

Hand brake adjustment:
Lift a rear wheel off the ground and remove ONE wheel bolt. turn the wheel so the missing wheel is at the top.
turn it slowly until you see the star wheel adjustor(use a flash lite to see into the hub ) . Poke a screwdriver or starwheel tool in there and move the wheel so you are tightening the adjustor until you can't turn the wheel .
Back it off a notch. Then do the other side.
Now apply the e brake .and check that the wheels do not turn.
At this point you can now adjust the cable so there is no slack,NOT tight! . It's a brake cable not a guitar string. release the brake and make sure the wheels turn without any dragging or sounds like dragging.
you should now be able to lock the E brake up at 10MPH.

[BrassMonkey]

Originally Posted by newtodiesel

Try plugging the lines that I told you about on the big vacuum line that attach to that yellow do-dad. Your shut off valve has a brown vacuum line running to it. You can disconnect it and suck on it hard a few times (no kidding) while the car is running and if the car shuts down it is not your shut off valve. [bold]More than likely it is a vacuum leak somewhere in the doorlocks most likely. All the extra vacuum stuff is connected to that yellow do-dad, plug it off and see what happens.[/bold]

I have the yellow vacuum lines unhooked in the trunk right now becaue the gas tank is out. This would be my vacuum leak. I'll give that a look tomorrow evening.

I will also get a feeler guage tomorrow and set the valves. The car is kinda hard to start now. But it sounds like that could be the valves, or the injector.

The air cleaner is brand new. Changed that with the oil before trying to start the car.

I'm leaning toward the injector issue - Its crazy to think they can make all that noise and blow smoke because they are warn out. I should probably throw a set of them on the parts list. But I'll adjust the valves first. No need to get ahead of myself.

[newtodiesel]

YUP I would try the free stuff first! Adjust valves..most times vavles get overlooked for a long time
See that yellow doo-dad looking thing? Do you have one of those under the hood near the brake booster? Yours could be a different color. That goes to the vacuum system that supplies the door locks the fuel flapper and the trunk lock. If you unplug that yellow thing, then plug the vacuum line under the hood on the side closest to the front of the car, that will isolate some of your problems and then you can check to see if your shut off valve is working. Usually the leaks are after that yellow thing, going into the firewall...I hope this makes sense

[BrassMonkey]

I do have that yellow thing. I'll isolate it tonight & see what happens.

I got the feeler guage too - I'll try to get out there this evening & set the valves.

[newtodiesel]

such technical terms eh?

[mercmad6.3]

I am not sure about Left hand drive cars ,but i dont think that accelerator link should hanging in the breeze like that .

[newtodiesel]

This is a borrowed pict from one of the DIY's BTW I do think that could be the shut off valve in his hand, maybe someone else can confirm?

[BrassMonkey]

** Update **

I set the valves. Most were in really good shape. 2 exhaust valves were really tight & I had to back them down to get them set correctly.

After doing this - I tried to check the degree marks on the crank pully - but none of them lined up with the tab. I don't think the chain could be that far out of whack so maybe I wasn't looking at the right place.

I buttoned the car up & unplugged the vacuum line as described.

2 things - 1 the car started super fast - significantly faster and easier than ever before!

2 - when i sucked (yuck!) on the vacuum line to the shut off valve the car immediately shut down. Actually on this - I saw a brown vacuum line going from the shut off valve into the firewall and another coming out of the firewall and attaching to the back of the "yellow thing". I disconnected the brown vacuum line from this & that is the one I sucked on. I did this while the key was turned off.

So this tells me the shut off valve is good - I didn't plug up the leak in the line in the trunk yet. I'll do that tomorrow and see if the car shuts off.

BTW - It still smokes like a chimney and runs kind of rough - but - since I set the valves and removed the bad air cleaner mount the rattles are pretty much gone!

I need to route the glow plug switch I have rigged up into the passenger compartment so I can control those from the driver seat instead of running out to reach under the hood.

Interestingly on this - when I engage the glow plugs - the yellow light on the dash comes on and runs for a period of time & then goes out on its own. Plus - when the engine is warm these do not come on at all. I do not have the glow plug relay even in the car - so the timer is coming from somewhere else as is the connection to this light.

[BrassMonkey]

I fogot to add - I kind of bent the linkage so it wasn't touching the manifold. It really didn't help. Still pretty sticky. & it just doesn't feel like I has the full range of motion it should at the gas pedal. Maybe I'm used to driving american cars - but I dont remember my 83 240d from years ago having this feel to it.

I just don't think I am able to open the throttle up like I should.

Parts list still to do -
* motor mount
front brakes (calipers, pads, lines)
very likely injectors.

I need to complete the cleaning of the gas tank. Its still soaking in chemicals. maybe this weekend I'll throw it back together.

So far - I have a grand total of $750 in the car. That could jump another $600 if I replace all 4 injectors with new. I don't want to do that. & maybe another $250 for brakes before I feel the car will be safe to drive reliably. That does not include the state registration fees which are in the neighborhood of $200.

I'm searching for cheap injectors - but the cheapest I've found are about $90 each. Still too much for what I want to spend but may be necessary.

[Skippy]

This site has them for $66 each. The link I tried to post must have been too long. If you go to the link for "Buy parts" and search for your year and model, it's under diesel injector.

$200 to register one old 240D That's less than I pay for both of mine.

[BrassMonkey]

Originally Posted by Skippy

This site has them for $66 each. The link I tried to post must have been too long. If you go to the link for "Buy parts" and search for your year and model, it's under diesel injector.

$200 to register one old 240D That's less than I pay for both of mine.

They only have 3 available. I may just run them as is for a while & see if a few miles doesn't clean them up.

I need to concentrate on the brakes and my vacuum leak to get the car to shut down.