When did YOU learn the virtues of a diesel engine? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

rrgrassi · #1 12-22-2006, 12:12 PM

I thought this would be a fun and interesting thread. We all learned about diesels and came to the same conclusion. That is why we own them now. It might be a short or long stroll down memory lane...

I'm 41. I learned about the virtues of diesel in the 80's. We lived in the sticks and helped our neighbors with wheat and cotton harvesting. Every piece of equipment was diesel, including thier pick-up trucks. Thier cars were gassers. So at that time I did not care about which fuel powered vehicle I drove.

Anyone remember the made for TV movie, "The Day After"? After the nuclear explosion and the EMP that stalled all the cars? It was the same farmers that explained that diesel engines were not affected by EMP, unless they had electrical controls. That made sense, but my first car was a used gasser. It was fast and I was not worried about the cold war. Being 16, who really cares as long as you could roll down the highway with rock n roll drowning out the road noise?

We, ourselves had an old Ford 8N tractor. Flat head 4. It was fast for a tractor (top speed 35 mph) but it bogged down easily when worked. My father sold the 8N, and bought a Yanmar 220D. It was a 3 banger, non turbo diesel tractor. It was a 4x4. It was slow, but that thing would not bog down. Talk about stump pulling torque.

I started thinking about wanting a diesel. Fast foward to college...I still had my gasser, but wanted a diesel, just could not afford one. After college, a friend of mine had an 82 300D. The car was 6 years old when my friend let me drive it. I was sold. That same car, he sold in '93 with 500,000 miles on it.

Anyway, I longed for a diesel all the way until 2005. That is when we bought the TDI. I had to do a lot of convincing to get my wife to consider a TDI. Gas prices were high, and when she saw the cost savings and longevity of a diesel, we were able to bite the bullet. That TDI takes one fill up per week, where the Altima (in my sig) took 3.

I bought my '82 300D in August of this year. I am converting to diesel one vehicle at a time....dreams do come true!

Merry Christmas everyone!

BOMC · #2 12-22-2006, 12:31 PM

i used to work for a mechanic as a helper, id do small stuff like lubes and minor wrenching stuff, he worked on any kind of car there and i remember seeing how mercedes were just built differently from fords and chevys.

i used to notice how the mercedes had idependent rears, gusseted oil pans, transmission pan drains, heat sinks on the rear diff cover, noise encapsulation panels...all of these things just seemed like common sense to me and i would wonder why american makers didnt do these things, it was here i realized that mercedes (and perhaps bmws too) are just built to a whole different level and are engineered like no other car in the world.

as far as getting into diesels, i am impressed with its efficenecy and the hellish conditions its internals operate under (22:1 compression, OUCH) btw, why has MB dummed down the compression on the cdi's (16.4:1).

anyway, i enjoy physics, intricate engineering and good craftsmanship, so i love MBs!

uberwgn · #3 12-22-2006, 12:32 PM

We've had diesel auto in the family since the late '70's. Been in love ever since

vstech · #4 12-22-2006, 12:53 PM

Whiew, where to start... I'm only 39... well in 5 days anyway, back in the day we lived on a farm also. and in 1980 we got an old 70 Massey furguson tractor with the perkins 4banger 2wd very nice unstoppable torque. there was nothing that beast would not do. it had the fuel tank above the motor, so with the block heater plugged in, starting and running even in the sub zero of the SD plateau (-90 some winters...BRRR) well in about the same year, we got a 79 or 80 caprice wagon in diesel. the thing was a demo model, and we got it pretty cheap we used it to tow our 28' prowler camper... HUGE thing. and we still got around 25 or so MPG... dog slow most of the time, well by the time I was old enough to drive it the thing was wore slap out, we replaced head bolts, filters, etc... we always had that spider of fuel lines pulled off that thing. but it was a good vehicle. again in the early 90's we had another one, it ran MUCH stronger, but it was more prone to cracked head bolts. and it finally got rear ended by a drunk driver... RIP. I got an 82 MB given to me because the original owner couldn't find a reliable mechanic to work on it, it stalled on the wife, so his mechanic told him to junk the car... 82 300SD NO RUST, typical leather seats. HE GAVE ME THE CAR... it needed fan belts replaced on the alternator... and a battery charge.
my respect for MB has only grown since then.
John

janko · #5 12-22-2006, 01:08 PM

a while back i thought mercedes diesels were for #$%*&. 6 or 7 years ago my son was approaching the magic 16 year milestone. and driving on his own. what to buy? something so slow that when he got it up to speed, he would be there. something so smelly and noisy no one would ride with him. walla. 1979 240d. he never wanted any part of this car. i got hooked. until last month had 4 mb diesels. now only two. my storey.

F18 · #6 12-22-2006, 01:09 PM

I am 53....saw an old movie in the early sixties about an Island in the South Pacific in WWII that was being invaded by the Japenese. A priest in charge of an orphanage on the Island had to evacuate the kids to the other side of the island using an old diesel bus so the US Navy could pick them up.
They had no fuel so he ran the bus on Coconut Oil that he extracted in a boiler he rigged in back of the bus. The boiler was fired up by burning the coconut husks. I was impressed then....and I believe the movie was based on a true story!

dougk · #7 12-22-2006, 02:08 PM

I am 19. I have had my everyday driver since I was 17. She is a lovely piece but I have spent the past two years fixing her. I openned my eyes to diesel after I saw how much power and torque they could have. I currently go to school for ag. science with a focus on ag. engineering. I deal with a lot of diesel equipment. I love diesels and am always on the lookout for that nice cummins 5.9 12 valve that I can make my own.

DK

estod · #8 12-22-2006, 02:43 PM

When I was in the Army, I drove boats (yes, the Army). In RVN I was stationed on a SKILAK -- 113 feet, 2 12-71s. The chief engineer filled my head with Mercedes diesel praise -- he had a 60's 190D. I transferred this to my parents, who got a 74 240D with 17,000 on it .... and drove it for 24 years (243K). They loved the longevity, and felt very safe.

I had an 86 Jetta NA which was a wonderful car (43MPG average), despite its having been poorly maintained before I got it. I drove it for 5 yrs. I was going to drive my parent's 115, but there was rust @ the front jacking points and around the headlights, so I sold it when my Indy had to seize a 1-owner 240 Euro with 193K, for nonpayment, 2.5 years ago. I liked the 123 body, and the faster glowplugs. It now has 232k, and has given me no real problems (I do need to rebuild both suspensions).

We had an 8-N also, and I see them all over the country, often restored-looking.

Hatterasguy · #9 12-22-2006, 02:54 PM

I'm 21, I've had the SDL since I was 18, wanted to buy one since I was 15. It was a combo of things for me. When I was growing up my dads friend would always take me on boats he was working on and show me the big diesels. I always thought they sounded cool, and were neat to look at. Then a Dr. that I know introduced me to his 300SD, which is currantly the same SD in my sig. I always thought MB's were cool cars and with a diesel I was sold. They were cheap and being a poor teenager at the time it was the only car I really liked that I could afford.

I like them a lot and am a die hard MB enthusiast. I probably won't always have a diesel Mercedes, but I will always drive Mercedes. They are the best cars in the world, almost anything else is going to be a down grade!

POS · #10 12-22-2006, 03:26 PM

The 80s. My best friend had a 1982 240D with a 4-spd manual, and we drove it from Houston to Colorado. Going up we put the pedal all the way to the floor for 18 hours straight (80-85 mph) - car loved it. Once up there, we drove the mountainous backroads (dirt) with Jeep tours passing us in the other direction. Then we drove it home as we drove it up - hammer down all the way.

Nothing could kill that car. Amazing.

BodhiBenz1987 · #11 12-22-2006, 04:16 PM

I'm 25 and grew up on diesel. We drove a 1981 diesel Chevy suburban when I was really little, and my mom got a 1987 GMC diesel suburban when I was five. That same year my dad got the 300D. I used to be quite embarassed by the big loud diesels, but at the same time I guess I associated the big grumbling engines with all the fun times we kids would pile into the car and go somewhere, and all the time we drove it to Michigan and such. I also remember that my dad used to travel on weekends and would get home late Sunday night. I would be in bed by then, but I would stay awake until I heard the sound of the 603 come up the driveway so I knew he was home. I would be so happy to hear it. We did have a gasser van that I drove when I first got my license, but I also drove the MB a lot ... learned to drive on both of them, later getting a few "lessons" in the Suburban. My sister also got a diesel Jetta when I was a sophomore in college, adding to the diesel family. My senior year in college, the summer before it actually, my father gave me the 300D. I always liked it, but when it became mine to drive everywhere, I fell in love.

I guess you just get used to certain things ... the sound, the smell, the feel of how it drives. And then of course the more I learned about my Mercedes, the more I realized that diesels weren't just comforting ... they also had other merits which I have come to appreciate.

I feel proud to be a diesel driver, and especially proud to be a MB diesel driver. Maybe it's a little irrational, but aren't a lot of things?

captainmonk · #12 12-22-2006, 04:47 PM

Dad got his first dsl benz in '62 I was 9 he has had them ever since I had the 62 in HS when the rust was making the car break in half we welded the back doors to hold it together
Then i quit college to go commercial fishing much to Dad's dismay Been around all diesel's all the time ever since Offshore 100 miles with an engine built in 1920 that turned 600 rpms and you had to stop it and start it in reverse to back up I knew dsls were tufffffff
Had an ole CAT with a gas pony engine to help get it turning over so been der done dat next i'm going to WVA see if Billy puts VIAGRA in dat beard

Biglex · #13 12-22-2006, 05:57 PM

I began my addiction to diesels about a year ago when I sold my Chevy Silverado with a 350 that got 9 miles per gallon couldnt pull my racecar hauler down a hill. I bought an old 1990 ford e350 with the 7.3 diesel. I get better mileage with it, and can pull my trailer anywhere, plus I make my own fuel, so that is great too. Now I have moved on to the benz and simply love it.

I often wondered if the electromagnetic pulse of a nuclear blast would affect a diesel motor, I guess it may affect the radio and such, but i dont see how it would affect the engine.

mattc · #14 12-22-2006, 07:43 PM

Tinkered with cars for years; one day it occured to me that the diesel was the perfect powerplant for any vehicle - especially the family car! What else could be better: no sparkplugs, no ignition points (understand, this was years ago I came to this realization), no condensor, no distributor cap, no rotor, no ignition wires, you can throw the battery out on the side of the highway and keep driving! AND, probably the BEST feature: IF you did get into an accident so severe that the fuel tank split open, your chances of a spark igniting the fuel is rather slim! Really reassuring if you happen to be trapped in that said car. Matt C.

xafman · #15 12-22-2006, 08:24 PM

I bought a new 1976 300D in 75 when they first became available and drove
it 15 years. My Brother-in-Law had owned Mercedes before and offered me
more than I had paid for it new. So I sold it to him and spent years driving
other autos (not Diesel). Tried Audis, Peugots. Volvos about everything over
the next several years. Bought a 1994 Buick Roadmaster new and still own
it---it has just over 7000 miles now. I started looking for a used Mercedes
Deisel and found an 84 300DT this Spring. So I am back to Mercedes Diesels.
This is an exceptionally clean, well maintained two owner vehicle. Everything
works as original. So we shall see. BTW-I am 81.