A friend recently bought a 1985 190D at auction for $600. The body/interior are immaculate but the odometer is showing almost 400,000 miles! At the auction, it started and ran OK but the broken vacuum pump was in the trunk. It was fascinating to watch the timing chain and gear spinning as it sprayed oil out of the hole in the engine where the vacuum pump was supposed to be! In the bag, with the pump, were some bits of bearing race and cage, a few balls and a broken roller. I warned my friend that this was a big gamble but he bought the car anyway. He had the car towed to my place and supplied a used vacuum pump which I installed, after fishing aroung with a magnet in the pump 'hole'. I changed the oil and also snaked a magnet through the drain but found no additional fragments of vacuum pump. I hope the P O got the rest of the bits out of there. My friend has been driving the car for 2 weeks now without problem. My questions are -

Is it unusual for these 2.2 Diesels to go up to/over 400,000 miles? (Car has a 5 speed)

Can someone tell me, from experience, about problems with these vacuum pumps?

Thanks All,
Mark DiSilvestro
1972 250
1972 250C
1961 180b
1960 220Sb
No diesels yet.

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DrDKW