W124 with the 2.5L Turbo?

[Hit Man X]

Does anyone on the board have one of these cars? If so...

How's the power delivery? The motor looks basically like a 603 with one cylinder less. Typical fuel economy?

Anything else weird/bad about them?

Thanks!

[pmckechnie]

I have a 91 that has over 300,000 miles on it, runs good, plenty of power for me, mileage is around 23 with mostly short trips (1.5 miles per trip) to 33.8 for the last highway/city mix.

[Diesel Giant]

I sold one a few months ago. I liked the car well enough and the power was very nice, not real fast but compared to the 123 body, much smoother. Just has a lot of electronic gizmos on it that I dont like very much.

I like cars that dont have ABS, MIL, TC or any other 2 or 3 letter acromym.

[Hit Man X]

EGR computer controlled on it?

[Diesel Giant]

Yep. Even the '85 had comp controlled EGR. Well precomputer controlled anyway.

[speedy]

My mileage is very consistent. 27mpg with the A/C off, 26mpg with it on. City or highway, slow or fast, seems to make very little difference.

-David

[Ether]

Mine runs like a top with 300k + miles. 29mpg city 32mpg highway.

It's a good bit quicker than my 116.

[occb2]

I love my 300D 2.5. I get great power, up hills at 65, 70 MPH. I get steady 30 to 32 miles per gal. in my 65 mile each way commute. I've had a 123 300D got around 25 to 27 mpg a 126 300SD close to the same. A 240D, about 24 to 25 MPG with no speed. This is by far the best one I've owned. Also has alot less miles on it, just cracking 150,000. It runs like a gasser. In fact I have a 91 300E and I would have to say that it is alot faster off the line that the 300D but after it gets going it can go just as fast in the same amount of time.

rob

[bfd]

My 92 300D has about 98,000 on it. I have had it for a year now -this is some of what I have discovered.

The car pulls very well for a 2.5, the turbo helps and can be noticed around 1500 rpm after which point you can start to feel the power being applied.

I typically get around 27mpg in mixed city/highway driving. The best I have achieved is 32mpg on the highway (and that was without trying too hard). Max torque is produced around 2400rpm which equates to about 65mph on the motorway -I think at this speed you will get your best economy.

At about 15 years of age, you can expect all rubber and plastic parts that have been exposed to heat to need replacing (if they have not already been replaced by the PO). I have had to replace the following;
1. delivery valve seals and o-rings.
2. stop lever o-ring
3. plastic injector line clips
4. diesel return lines
5. glow plugs
6. rubber caps on brake reservoir

These items are all reletively simple jobs to do and shouldnt put you off.

You should be aware that there was a QC problem with some of the timing chains that were installed in the 2.5 turbo diesel engine. I think the bad chains went into cars manufactured around 1992 (you could try searching the archives for the exact dates). The bad chains were prone to wearing out faster than they were supposed to.

As already mentioned, the EGR is computer controlled, if the computer senses that the system has been tampered with it switches to 'limp-mode' -poorer performance.

I am very pleased with the car so far. No oil leaks in the engine bay and I have not been able to perceive any oil usage between oil changes.