I finally got the new to me '77 240D registered, so I took it out for a little excursion this afternoon. Some things I noticed:

Engine

The glow plug system was rigged to a manual switch by a previous owner. The glow plug relay was mounted to the right inner fender, and appears to be the unit off a GM pickup with a 6.2 diesel. Works just fine though.

When I bought it, the car smoked a lot when cold and continued to smoke a little at idle even when fully warmed up. I was hoping this was from the fuel being old, since the car sat on a lot for at least six months and probably hadn't been fueled since around fall of '05. I filled it up with fresh #2 from my station of choice. After running some errands, the smoke went away. There was a little cognitive dissonance spending nearly sixty bucks to fill up a $480 car, but I'll get over it.

The manual idle adjustment is a great feature. Why didn't my 300D come with it?

Power was adequate, but not thrilling-exactly what I was expecting from a 240D. I was able to climb the big hill on US 395 going north from Carson City at about 47-48 mph. This is (I believe) a 6% grade. For comparison, my 300D maxes out at 75 mph up the same hill (speed limit 65). I haven't taken the Samurai up that hill lately, but I think it would do it at about the speed of the 240. On the flat, I was able to manage a hair under 85 mph. It felt a little like the fuel wasn't flowing quite right, so fuel filters are on the list.

Transmission

The clutch system is leaking fluid. I haven't had the car up in the air yet, but I'm pretty sure the slave cylinder is toast. The "sweet spot" on the clutch pedal moved around during the first part of the drive, making it rather difficult to drive smoothly. After a while it settled at about 2/3 of the way down. I'd like it a little higher. We'll see what happens when I repair it. OTOH, the leak seems to have diminished greatly from when I bought the car, simply from use. Maybe I'll just drive it some more and see if whatever dried out seal swells back up and fixes itself.

As with many German cars, reverse is "pull up on shifter" followed by all the way left and up. 1st is just all the way left and up. This makes it just a little tricky to hit 1st immediately after reversing. I very quickly learned to pull the shifter over to the right to make sure I had reverse locked out before putting it in first. I think the conventional passenger car pattern of having reverse all the way to the right and back would be better, but I'd really prefer the heavy truck pattern where reverse is all the way left and up, and first is all the way left and back, with second being the second hole from the left and forward.

Speaking of heavy truck transmissions, they usually have a lot of gears to allow a heavy, relatively underpowered vehicle to have the engine at the right speed in any situation. With 120 horsepower on tap, four speeds are plenty for my 300D, and I think it could even get away with three (but a five speed manual with overdrive would still be really nice). The 240 OTOH needs more gears. I'm thinking six would probably do it, maybe a three speed primary (preferably unsynchronized) with a two speed splitter box, so it would work like a Super Ten only with fewer gears. Still, the shift throws are shorter than anything else I drive (Suzuki Samurai and an old Freightliner), and the action is slick. I was unable to slip-shift the 240 like I can with the Sammy, but you really aren't supposed to do that on a synchronized tranny anyway.

Manual transmission cars should come with tachometers. The big clock is ok, but I, along with pretty much all other Mercedes-Benz owners, am also a wristwatch owner. A tach would have been a better use of the instrument cluster.

Suspension and Steering

The handling of this car is above and beyond what is needed for a 3500 lb vehicle with 67 horsepower. A previous owner sprung for Bridgestone Potenza Re930 tires in 195/60R14. This makes the car sit a little lower than my 300D with the same tires in 70-series. The 240 also lacks the suspension clunks caused by (I think) old dried out bushings. I dare say someone had all the rubber in the suspension replaced. Somebody with lots of spare cash LOVED this car. No complaints about the handling. The steering wheel, of course, is the huge 20-inch or so thing that all 123's came with. I'm ok with it, but I could see how a "large" person might run into some space issues because of the wheel bottom's proximity to the driver's seat cushion. I think the steering wheel in an MTVR (military 7.1 ton 6x6 truck, around 30,000 lbs empty) is a little smaller. Still, I have no complaints about the steering and handling of this car.

Despite the shorter tires, ride quality was a little better than the 300D, probably those darned bushings dragging the 300 down. I didn't go on any really rough roads though, so we'll see what it does on my largely non-paved commute later.

Brakes

The pedal is hard, but easy to modulate. I think the power brake booster has a vacuum leak. I received some advice in another thread on a possible fix. Still, if you get on the pedal hard, it stops VERY well. I've owned several American cars from the same era, and Mercedes brakes were well ahead of what the domestic OEM's were putting out.

Body, Cab, Hood, and Hull

The body is a little wavy in a few places, and the rear bumper is uneven. It's definately been hit in the left rear corner, and maybe some other places. The car was repainted relatively recently, and it's bling-bling white. They even re-did the blue pin stripes. Upon closer inspection, paint quality is not great. I'm guessing MAACO was involved. The underbody is remarkably clean, and there is no sign of rust anywhere. Major Grrr-there is no passenger side mirror. After driving large trucks for a while, you get very accustomed to using both side mirrors. Visibility through the greenhouse is good though, so I'll manage. Hood release at the grill is broken off, but the car came with a hook bent out of heavy steel wire for getting the hood open. Good enough for me.

Interior is dark blue, which is aesthetically pleasing, but it does get hot. AC in inopperative. Heat works well, but it was warm today, so I wasn't using it. Also, the interior is freaking trashed. I think one of the PO's had kids, or dogs, or kids with dogs. The upholstery is ripped in many places, and the driver's seat is collapsed. I added a seat cushion to simulate stock seat geometry in the driver's seat, but I think I'll spend the money to have the seat rebuilt. All windows roll up and down (manual), and the locks all work, which is more than I can say for the 300. Original Becker Europa radio works, but doesn't seem to get very good reception except for a few stations. Further investigation revealed that the antenna was not fully extended. All gauges work. Driver's door sometimes needs to be slammed to close fully.

The windshield is cracked rather severely, and I may have it replaced. It has three inspection stickers on it. One at top center, fom Iowa expired 1977. The next two are from Nebraska. One expired 1978, the other 1985. Back glass has "University of Okoboji" lettered across the back. I did a little research and found that this is a fictional university in Iowa created by three brothers in the '70's. They still sell tee shirts and other memorabilia for it.

In the trunk, I found a regular full-size spare, along with two mounted studded snow tires, the jack, five spare oil filters (FRAM and very dusty-I'll probably throw them out), the jack, and some shop rags.

Overall Impression

Exceptionally good for a car that's older than I am, and for which I paid a veritable king's ransom of $480 (I've seen bottles of booze go for three times that.), or if we assume 3500 lbs that's 13.7 cents a pound. Aside from the interior, this car is acutally in better shape than my $800 300D, and I almost feel bad about my plan to use it as a commuter car.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

I bought my 82 240D three years ago here in Las Vegas and use it as my commuter. The body is in good shape, as well as the engine, which was rebuilt in CA several years ago by the prior owner. Sounds great except that it uses plenty of oil; about a qt. every 750 miles, and smokes to prove it. But it runs great and starts up right away, even when the temperature has been down to 19, and then runs/idles smoothly. I've done lots of work on it since buying it, like the starter, AC compressor, both front seats replaced, brakes, master brake and clutch cylinder, etc. Good luck with yours.

I bought my 79 240d in Maryland while visiting friends on a three month vacation. I thought I'd buy a car to drive while there to save on a rental. I fell in love. Ended up driving it from Maryland to North Carolina and back to California. I did have to pull the tank to clean out the fungus and change the fuel filter, but that was easy enough. I also owned a 83 300TDT, which I have since sold. This 240 has more power than I ever imagined based on what i've heard. Yeah, it slows on the climbs, but it has more power than my 86 Nissan pickup, and is a blast to drive. The 4 speed tranny makes all the differance in the world.

Enjoy!

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Resurrected Nov 2010 - 79 240(SD) with 83 617 engine and 4 speed manual, 2.88 rear and 2.5" straight pipe unknown mileage (Salmon)
83 240D parting out
96 Dodge Cummins 5 sp 4X4 long bed - 310k

http://flickr.com/photos/11103112@N03/

Interesting. How does the 4 cylinder idle smoothness compare to the 5 cylinder? And is it true the 240D's have stiffer springs? I have heard of them handling better than their faster 300D brothers.

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

I think the 4-spd improves handling over the 300D. There's nothing like downshifting into a tight curve instead of using the brakes. And you can drop into 3rd gear at/below 60mph. Topping the gears means alot when it comes to generating torque that improves handling characteristics. Also useful for downhill runs when you want some engine drag to slow the car down.

After getting used to paddling around with the 4-spd 240D constantly grabbing and dropping gears, you wont want to drive anything else. Even standard shift gasoline MB's dont compare with the narrow 240D power band where you are litterally peaking the gears all the time. A genuine hammer-down diesel with lots of special effects.

The four can get a little lopey if you turn it down too low, but generally speaking it idles and runs smoother than the five cylinder. I haven't pulled the springs and checked the spring rates, but I would imagine they are similar. In my case, the 240 handles better than the 300, but the 240 is lighter, has lower profile tires, and seems to have had the suspension bushings replaced. The 240 also has only 218,000 miles compared to 295,000 on the 300.

The manual trans does make a difference. If the 240 (or the Sammy for that matter) had been automatic, I would not have even considered them.

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

Skippy, you'll throw away your "new" cars if you drive a W115 with a manual transmission. Light enough that they don't need power steering. Your radio doesn't get many stations because they didn't have too many stations back then (hee hee).

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daBenz - 1970 220D

After driving the 300, the 240 feels like a racecar.


EDIT: The extra 300lbs that the 300D carries around really makes a difference, but there must be more to it than just the weight. They are essentially the same, but the 240 just feels lighter.

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1976 BMW 2002- 100k
1995 BMW 325i 175k
1984 Mercedes Benz 300D Turbo Diesel- 270,000 mi

1981 Mercedes Benz 240D- Estimated 300,000+ mi Returned to the earth

Well, it sounds like you beat my record of $500 for a nice 240 stick shift.
It does seem to be lighter on it feet and steering.... more so than the few hundred pounds difference in weight...
You need to replace your valve stem seals. Only about $25 in cost... nice on top area to work in .... takes some time and care but not much expertise.

The oil burning could be caused by something as simple and cheap to fix as the valve stem seals? I'll get out my manual and see what it'll take to fix that. Right now I have no idea. Aside from the manual, I'll also look at the threads on this site. Thanks,Ralph

I've searched the site for tech help on replacing the valve stem seals but nothing comes up. What does the job entail? Where is a good place to guy the seals? Thanks again, Ralph

Update:

I got the car jacked up and checked some things. Some mental genius decided to fill the jack holes with some sort of blue goo. There is no trace of the rear jack points, and the front ones are now too small to use with the OEM jack. I got a 2-ton bottle jack from NAPA, along with spare 17 mm and 19 mm wrenches (so I can do the two-wrenches together thing) to replace the missing tire-changing wrench.

Front brakes were checked. Rotors are a bit wavy, but there is plenty of material left on the pads. The slave cylinder is done. I have a new one on order and it should be here Tuesday. It's leaking brake fluid into the bellhousing, so after showing the car off by driving my co-worker with vehicle problems to work tomorrow, the car will be grounded until I get the new slave cylinder in.

I looked in the owner's manual, and the original owner wrote his name and city in the front pages. He's probably not living anymore, but I'll try to look him up anyway to tell him where his car is. There are also some records of maintenance, with a gap from 1980 to 1993. I'm thinking the car may have sat in a barn or something for 13 years. NBFD, my '63 Dart sat in a barn for 20 years before the owner before me revived it. The car racked up a LOT of miles between '77 and '80. Records show that the clutch was replaced at 196,000 miles. It currently has a bit over 218,000.

Suspension rubber is not new. It's soft and pliable, however, so I dont' think it's original.

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

Torquing the rubber bushings and engine mounts can sometimes save replacement. I think its 10mm allen that torques engine mounts from underneath and 19mm wrench for suspension bushings.

Valve seals involve setting each cylinder at TDC while you dismantle the valve train and replace the seals. Special tools include a valve spring compressor and special bent handle valve adjust wrenches. Same as everything on the 240D notso hard to do. But what kinda oil burning are you getting? If it aint less then 1,000 miles per quart I'd leave it alone.

Meanwhile with clutch slave in the works, Its an excellent opportunity to flush hydraulics with fresh DOT 4. Thats something that nobody ever does. MB recommends complete hydraulic flush every 30k miles or so.