I have a question. When pulling on a up ramp traffic behind and getting on. If you have your foot on the accelerator glued to the floor, is it normal for an 80's model benz to laying out some black smoke going thru the gears getting up to the speed of the traffic flow??

How much black smoke are we talking?

James Bond smoke screen or just a stream of smoke?

and by 80's model do you mean a 1980 300D non Turbodiesel?

I am talking about a stream of smoke out of the tail pipe...like if you look in the mirror you can see it.

SDL only smokes if its cold or has been run around town for awhile. When first opening up the throttle she will puff a bit of black smoke because the ALDA is turned up. But even so most diesels do that its pretty normal.

SD smokes a bit, leaves a nice stream but the timing is off on that car. I don't feel like fixing it.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

My 85 does not smoke at all. Which sucks, probably due to the broken ALDA. I have yet to install the new one.

my 87 smokes when cold if I really lay on the throttle. When I leave work, my wagon is always cold, and I have a long, steady uphill to climb out of work while trying to merge with 60MPH traffic. I always see the smoke when I do that.

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-justin

1987 300TD, 1987 300TD
2008 R32, 2000 Passat Wagon

Nothing to worry about if that is the only time it does. I had one where that was the only time it didn't smoke!

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

Jimmy, some how some day the cause of that ex problem of yours that frustrated you will be found. You still release clues periodically. The present clue sounds a bit like totally rotted valve rubbers. I am starting to become a little more suspicious of them as time goes on with 123ds.
Depending on several variables. Sometimes they totally fall apart, Sometimes they go rock hard. Probably no consistant pattern. My attention was directed there a while ago when people stated after changing oil at quick oil change places they were getting a slight runaway condition. Normal seals would not let a dose of oil get by as usually the design has a lot of oil being flung around up there.
I would not think of running a mercedes with the valve cover pan off for example. It would repaint the interior of the hood and perhaps the walls and ceiling as well. I have been starting to wonder how big a factor those seals are even though most of us almost ignore them. Some of them are still the original ones the cars where delivered with. Most seem to be standing up pretty well. There may be some out there that are not.
When you just quoted that you lost your smoking during high speed acceleration it made me think. I was never sure before if it was oil or fuel in your case. That proved it basically was not fuel in my mind. Sorry to temporarily hijack the thread. It is easy to determine bad seals on their gas engines. You might have just stumbled on the test for their diesel engines. Basically most the smoke stops on reasonably heavy acceleration. But not so hard you are proccesing a lot of unburnt fuel. The colour of the smoke with someone following to identify it might be required. .Just a few more of my abstract thoughts from way out on the tree limb. At least it has not broke yet. I hear it cracking though.
Jim, did you change those seals? I remember you changed out a few things when you had that problem. I also feel pretty confident you will get to read this note. With a thread title like diesel smoking I know you will be back. Kind of like a magnet and I fully understand. Season greetings.

I am not sure what valve rubbers are. I assume you are not referring to valve stem seals (which were checked/replaced).
Yep, "smoking" in the title sucks me in like a moth to the light........
I always look to see if it is a Silver wagon in Florida first!

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

Yes Jim, unfortunatly I was reffering to the valve stem seals. Your search continues. That particular problem you experienced has always bugged me. No smoke under heavy load might have also eliminated oil pumping by the rings perhaps as well. It might have been worse under load. Or less come to think about it but unlikely. Very irritating.