Hi I bought a very clean 91 350 sdl that was reccomended to me by my mercedes mechanic two months ago. It has run very well until two weeks ago. When I start it it runs rough and blows clouds of light colored smoke until warm. I thought it could be the fuel and replaced it with fresh fuel and added a diesel fuel additive and the smoke has subsided.It still runs a little rough when cold but once it is warm it runs great. I took it to my mechanic and he did not see any mechanical problem.The car had new injectors and glow plugs installed last fall. Any Ideas?

Chris,

You did not indicate how many miles are on the vehicle. Irrespective of that, I'm afraid you may have potentially gotten yourself into quite a fix with the 350. The '90-'95 350 SD/SDL/S350 has the OM603.97 engine which as a history of premature failure. Rather than articulating the details here, I recommend you visit this link to learn more about the reasons behing the problem, as well as symptoms.

http://www.mbz.org/complaints/350D/

Did the mechanic that recommended it work for MB? Regardless, I would engage him/her immediately and make an effort to hold him/her accountable. Any decent MB mechanic should know of the history of this engine. Sorry for the news.

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Chris

'04 ML500 - 53k, Inspiration Edition, Desert Silver
'11 Audi A4 Avant - Brilliant Black
'87 300SDL sold
'99 C280 Sport sold
'85 190E 2.3 sold

Hi the car has 119000 miles and burns no oil no leaks or anti freeze loss. it appears to be sound up until this rough idle when cold.

Check your glow plugs. Mine runs rough until you take off and get the rpms up. Only smokes if I haven't added any red line to the fuel for a while.

If it's less than 40 F I aslo plug in the block heater for at least an hour before starting.

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1991 350 SDL
183,000 miles

1982 240D
130,000 miles

Thanks that sounds similar to mine. I am a little scared about the engine after reading about it but mine really is nice and has been very well cared for. I am hopping that it will last and run as well as my 85 300d did.

Before you panic and spend money run a couple of tanks of diesel with a good dose of conditioner first. A bad tank of diesel can really mess up an engine. It takes several refills to purge the crap from the tank. Keep close track of oil and coolant.

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Mark
82 300SD 110k
91 Caprice SS
92 Jetta TD
97 Cadillac Concours(300hp)
84 Celebrity 4.3L diesel

I bought mine with 106k on it. You may also want to change every fluid there is, brakes, rear end trans, etc. I did just to know what was in it.

Email any news of your 350. There are several owners here in the shop but only non owners blat the bad press from mbz.org. Have yet to hear someone who takes care of their car tell the story.

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1991 350 SDL
183,000 miles

1982 240D
130,000 miles

I just had the same problem with my 300D. It turns out the car had a bad glow-plug.

I would like to hear from some owners who have had experience with this car. I bought one two months ago and it has been great. All but my little problem with some poor quality fuel. This car is so clean and the engine runs so well I have trouble thinking that soon the engine will fail from the no. one cylinder wearing.and eventually bending rods

Well guys I have one of these vehicles that has had engine probs....total new engine at 103K(warranty).
I bought the car at 90K and the car appeared to be very clean and taken care of...but none the less at about 98K it started smoking and by 102K I was burning a quart of oil every 180 miles
So now I have a new engine with a MB 48/50 parts and labor warranty
The MB regional MB rep said that some people never had problems with this engine so it could very well be a maintenace issue..but in any case there must have been several modification done in late 1994 early 1995 to alleviate this "problem" as I have seen no newer cars with this problem and there seem to be no repeats of this problem with the people that had new engines installed..I guess MB found the weakness and corrected it
In any case I think MB will offer goodwill on this engine if it has less than 75K and a documented MB dealer service history. I know of two gentleman in Texas who have gotten repairs at least partially paid for by MB out of warranty
But again I have seen these cars with excess of 200K with no problems..

Warren
1992 300SD 113K
Columbus Ohio

Chris,

I got my 91 350SDL almost 6 years ago at 79 kmi. 'Few months later I noticed a "skip" at idle. MB dealer tech. showed me MB notice about the prob. at # 1 cyl. MB refused to "help" with repair. 'Few weeks later, I had decided to "bite the bullet" & get repairs done. Couple of days before appointed time to repair re. skip, timing chain broke at 89 kmi!! MB refused couple of times to help with repairs. MB finally paid 50% of parts. Much work to top of engine, new valves, lifters, guides, seals, shaved head, lots of stuff I don't remember. No work on lower part of engine. Car doing great since; now at 144 kmi. Fantastic car!! Best riding, best driving I've had! Hard to beat!!

Thanks Wilton I am hoping that I will eventually hear something better than that about the engine or I fear I will be selling mine. Hearing this makes me wish that I would have kept my mint 85 300 D. That car will be around for a long time. By the way wilton do you have an estimate on the cost of your repairs?

Chris,

Total bill was almost $2700; MB supposedly paid a measly $600. The whole episode still makes me damned mad! I bought the car because of 300D's history of long-term dependability, etc. I was trying to get the latest I could "afford" at the time. Who would have thought "they" had screwed up a very good engine by trying to tweek it a little more & called it "350". MB has known it for years & they keep trying to deny it! 'Wish I had bought an 87 300SDL. Good luck.

Wilton,

It sounds like you fared pretty well if you ask me ....Some of the people with these cars(including myself) have needed
repairs that were in the $9-12K range
I even know of one guy who paid for his own rebuild(MB rebuilt engine was not available years ago when he needed it)to the tune of $8500.00 out of HIS OWM POCKET.He did get a brand new head which is of a totally different design he said
My car has a completely new MB engine(sans the turbo,but all parts from the valve cover down) and the dealer tech told me the there were some major modifications in the new engine versus the old.From the totally redesigned head to suport parts such as the engine mounts and shock.
The regional MB rep claimed no foul on MB's part with this engine.Because I had a heated conversation with him as to how this could have happened The problem,he said, was caused by lack of maintenance and bad fuel.....but two things are curious here...1.The immediate next day availablity of a complete MB engine for a car that was a very low volumme seller and 2.The myriad of design changes of the new engine versus the old...
I live in Columbus Ohio where there are probably no more than 3-4 W140 diesels in town and incidently there was another 1992 300SD that was also having the engine replaved at the same time as mine. That owner also paid totally out of his pocket(but I was told the dealer did the job at cost because he was a longtime customer)

My repair bill by thy way would have been $10,500
My work was done at Crown Mercedes in Columbus Ohio which I will say I am very satisfied with their service. My car has made them scratch their heads a few times..but they have seemed to have gotten it right

Warren
1992 300SD 113K
Columbus Ohio
turner@greif.com

Warren,

My repairs were only to Top part of the engine (head)& timing chain. The big problems with lower part of the engine haven't shown up yet.