Evidently not all throttle linkages are the same. Mine are all metal, no plastic. '82 300D. Kent Bergsma of ************** recommends ATF in some one his publications.

Remember that the original manuals are 20+ years old... ATF of 20 years ago is not the same stuff as the ATF of today. Your manual also suggests using ATF in the power steering, but you shouldn't use modern ATF in power steering systems, you use power steering fluid.

Now, modern ATF might work for throttle linkages, but since its a different product than the manual is referring to, YMMV.

peace,
sam

I used a water proof dry spray lube called McLube. Seems to work very well, and doesn't collect dirt.

I use axle grease t lubricate the linkage rods. ATF to me is too thin. Using the grease actually quiets the linkage rattle. I clean and repack the linkage rods every other oil change. This way any grit that gets caught in the grease will be removed.
The side discussion about fluid standard of 20+ yrs ago, is something I have brought up before. How can one tell which modern products can be use don something 2 decades old. An example of fluid standard inproving with time is the oil requirements for MB diesels. My' 1983 TD's owner's manual says that 15W-40 is good down to 23F. Yet the owner's manual for the '87 says 15W-40 is good down to 5F. What changed in 4 years?

I used Redline Synthetic CV-grease, but it seems like the plastic areas are causing a good deal of drag. I think I'll try some stuff like spray on teflon for that. Any other ideas? I know I don't want to put any petro based substance on it.

Technology changed, I believe 5*F is about the standard for a 15w40 oil even today.

That's what it's supposed to do.

Are you certain? My '82 300D has plastic clips inside the female ends of the linkages. You have to look closely to see them.

Yes, I'm certain. All metal. no plastic. Mine have a spring steel clip. In fact, I just bought a couple of replacements, no plastic in those either.

No plastic? That sounds like an interesting future upgrade! Where did you buy the replacements?

Wow, thanks for all the responses. I don't know what I'm going to use yet, but you all certainly gave me good ideas. What do I do to get the rods off the ball joints? I wouldn't want to snap or bend anything.

For the last five years I've used whatever grease I happen to have on hand for the throttle linkage (the brass fittings). I've used wheel bearing grease and plain old multi purpose grease. I've never had a problem.

Scott

The only thing I use ATF for is the throttle linkage :D

Fastlane has the them. You can see the spring steel retainer clip in the photo. (I hope we are both talking about the same thing.)

http://catalog.eautopartscatalog.com/mercedesshop/sophio/quote.jsp?clientid=mercedesshop&cookieid=1EH0TL2AI1FJ0SAAGE&baseurl=http://catalog.peachparts.com/&partner=mercedesshop&year=1982&product=C7025-26867&application=000030452

I recently noticed that a couple of the throttle linkages on the valve cover were making contact (where there should not have been contact). Further investigation revealed that the accellerator bushing on the firewall had somewhat disintegrated and was allowing the a rod to move forward. The bushing itself was made of nylon and appeared to be suffering the affects of old age and perhaps prolonged exposure to the heat of the engine compartment. Had this problem progressed it could have had serious implications. Possibly a jammed throttle or a major loss of power due to lost motion in the linkages.

Use a large flat-blade screwdriver. I just stick the blade between the fittings and rotate so that one side of the blade presses against the male part of the fitting and the other side of the blade presses against the female part. It should pop right out without much force. Unless I have to remove the linkages to remove the valve cover, I find that it's less complicated to just do one fitting at a time. To keep the mess to a minimum, I just coat the male end (looks like a little ball) with grease and leave the female end alone. Then I don't have problems with excess grease leaking all over the place.

Tangofox007, that's exactly the part that I was talking about. Thanks for the info...and they're cheap, too!

I disassembled my accelerator linkage and sent it out to have all the components hard coated with a teflon-graphite coating used to reduce friction by the NHRA crowd. Upon reassembly it was greased with Krytox, a lube developed for NASA's space shuttle. :rolleyes: Slicker than snot on a doorknob. But seriously folks, any old oil or light grease will do..... :) RT