Located beside the engine. You should see two little black pieces on the forks of that universal. It appears yours is an 83 240d as is one of mine with that joint.


So you should have it. Or you can grab each side of the linkage and hand twist one against the other section. It is an open cage rotating assembly to observe. You do not want to see excess slop.

One problem is those small sleeves rot and just fall off at times so they are no longer even present. In your mind when examining the joint they never existed in that case. So you are not expecting them to be there.


As for a driving indicator. You have no top end beyond around fifty miles per hour. Plus poor acceleration without them.

Depending on your background and what you have on hand. Heat shrink tubing might replace them if needed but it may not stand up.

Personally I really like these 616 engines. They will last a very long time if you become aware of where the issues are with them. Plus address them. Cheap to do as they demand very little really.

Not periodically checking and keeping the fuel system in good general condition. Makes a drop in available power and a noisier engine at speed. Plus a rougher idle sometimes. I still suspect it also damages the engine longer term.

Mercedes marketed their four cylinder diesel engines first. There are some small but important differences in comparison to the later five cylinder turbo engines. The lift pump for example is weaker but can be upgraded to the output pressure specifications of the later version. Simply by changing the lift pump pressure spring.

It is a very reliable type of fuel pump as well. Yet they are so old now. They should be rebuilt with a ten dollar or so kit. Or their output pressure gauge checked. Just to maintain if needed the reliability and pressure function they originally had. Adding the pressure spring from a turbo diesel lift pump at the same time to upgrade them. Is better than not doing it. Reduces the impact or resistance to flow of the secondary filter restriction as it contaminates.

Another area that I have been thinking about. Is stay on top of oil changes. I thought it always was a good ideal because of the rapid soot buildup in the oil.

Now to add to the list. The viscosity improvers in our multi grade oils wear out. So the running viscosity of oil not changed often enough falls. At the time these engines where marketed only single grade oils where available.

I have been looking for anything that may be other than running low fuel pressure. As the reason or a contributing reason to the eventual failure of the first rod bearing for a long time now on the 616 engines. Running multii grade oils too long without changing them may also be a factor.

Single grade oils may get really contaminated if left in too long as well. I suspect that they will still hold a better viscosity than the multi grades do. The multi grade enabler is a plastic additive that does wear out. Apparently the molecules increase in size as the temperature rises.

So my guess is that if two engines were operated for seven thousand miles. One with normal single grade oil and one with a multi grade. If you pulled a sample and checked the oil sample. Plus heated it for a viscosity reading. There may be lower viscosity left in the multi grade in comparison to the single grade oil. Just a suspicion at this point.

Yet we still have people suggesting that we can run multi grade oils for longer intervals if they are synthetic. Without a clue of what viscosity is still present at say 300 degrees F. As they get older. They both employ the same plastic viscosity additive I suspect.


Oil labs do this test I suppose. Reporting the viscosity of the oil is still okay. What is okay and what is it in comparison to the single grade oils? Okay is not a lab test result.


Perhaps the viscosity has dropped back to say 30 at high test temperatures. Thirty while adaquate or okay for most older engines is not enough for these engines.

Again just remember that the additive to make oils multi grade. Does wear out. So the oil will not thicken or declines too much at high operational temperatures as that additive deteriorates. Reducing the increased viscosity protection.

The lower engine blocks are built strong and operate at far less rpm than they could. Yet there are certain failures that Mercedes would have corrected if they were a design flaw existing.

So I am going to add that overdue oil changes may also be a small contributor. Yet still not the primary cause of the number one rod bearing failures on 616 engines.

I as an old guy want to pass one 240d down in our family. So it is important for me to keep it in good shape. I have one good spare engine on hand. These engines are not cheap to rebuild properly and good used ones will become really scarce all too soon.