Ok, so I went to look at an 87 300D (as seen in this post http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=206784). Car looked good and drove well on the street. When we tried to get onto the freeway, however, it didn't fair too well. It took forever to get up to speed. Oh man, 0-60 on a hill was like 1 minute. Horrible. So this otherwise great car has something wrong with it. By the way, once we got up to speed, the car drove wonderfully.

At the owner's house, we changed the spin-on fuel filter, which was filled with crud. That didn't fix the problem. The owner (Larry) has been brewing biodiesel himself. I think this is related to the problems. He said he had made a "bad batch." He however had not flushed his fuel system after this bad batch. So, we decided that we should try running on commercial diesel in a bottle hooked straight up to the fuel supply and return. That didn't fix the problem. We had also removed the small see-thru filter since it was filled with crud.

So I'm curious what people think the problem might be. Could this be a weak IP or crudded up injector nozzles due to bad biodiesel??? What if there was water in his biodiesel? What long term problems would that cause? He was talking to us about how he uses water to clean his biodiesel, as a person who doesn't make biodiesel or know enough about making it, that sounds very odd, but my friend who was with me told me that some people do indeed use water in the biodiesel making process.

He also changed the air filter recently. And the IP is only a couple years old. The engine was rebuilt a couple years back as well.

Thanks everyone, any insight would be appreciated, please no anti-biodiesel rants, mistakes are mistakes and this is a car we are talking about, not a living being.

David

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1985 300D. 179,000 miles.

Run dont walk away.

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http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42

Sounds like maybe this guy has been making bad fuel for two years.

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

RUN away from that one.

Mistakes are mistakes yes, but that sounds like he has been making alot of mistakes!

Well, using water to de-water biodiesel is actually a fairly common practice... that said, it sounds like this guy didn't know what the hell he was doing.

First thing, don't panic or "run". The most basic thing to check is the linkage. Sometimes, even though all the sockets are on correctly the arm coming from the pedal going to the "STOP" thingy can break loose on the bottom. If this happens, it will still be possible to accelerate, but it will be VERRRRRRRY slow (it happened to me). I would be somewhat surprised if you missed that when you looked at the engine, though...
If it's not that...

Get some LiquiMoly Diesel Purge and run a purge (instructions here: http://dieselgiant.com/injectorcleaning.htm)

Finally, if that doesn't work, inspect the injector nozzles. If those are full of crud, THEN you RUN.

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'79 300SD
'82 Chevy Chevette diesel

The gist of the story is that if a car that has run on WVO or home brewed bio-d and it does not run properly, it may have some hard to fix problems. If you can fix them and the owner gives you a real deal because the car has problems you may make out like a bandit. If you cannot fix them you and your money are soon parted.

The car might be good, might have serious problems.

Your issue is that you don't seem to be in a position to completely diagnose the problem and rule out the serious problems pre-buy.

If you can rule out serious problems, could be a nice car. If not, it's not worth $2k in my opinion.

So far I have bought three '87s. All three had boost, alda, and shift-point issues, and the last one had trouble making 60mph on an uphill entrance ramp. None of these cars have had anything more serious than a broken switchover valve.

Best of luck, hopefully you can find someone familiar enough with the car to sort it out and still get a good deal, but probably one to walk away from if you can't.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Unless you are ready to replace the IP and injectors I would run away. There is no telling what the condition of the IP is. If it seems to be slow to 60 but good off the line chances the pump is not getting boost signal to adjust the fuel, or it could doing any number of things.

The big question is why is he selling it. Dont buy it without looking at the oil for coolant and diesel. I have always bought junkers and fixed them up and even I would pass this one up.

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http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42

$500 parts carcass.

Another good car killed off by homemade krap fuel.

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Palangi

2004 C240 Wagon 203.261 Baby Benz
2008 ML320 CDI Highway Cruiser
2006 Toyota Prius, Saving the Planet @ 48 mpg
2000 F-150, Destroying the Planet @ 20 mpg



TRUMP .......... WHITEHOUSE
HILLARY .........JAILHOUSE
BERNIE .......... NUTHOUSE
0BAMA .......... OUTHOUSE

The car is suffering from multiple crapitis!

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

I have a similar problem with my '87 and have gradually been working through all of the possibilities. Mine is not quite as slow as the one you are looking at, about 20-25 seconds 0-60. The IP and the injectors are just about the only things left that could have a problem. Everything else has been cleaned, changed, purged, tested, swapped out, etc. Mine was not run on biodiesel (homemade or otherwise) until I got it; it had poor acceleration before as well as after I put it on (commercial) biodiesel.

A problem is a problem; this car may have had performance issues even before the current owner started putting home-brew in it. It could be something simple, like the boost lines to the ALDA or the ALDA itself. It could be something expensive, like the IP. If you can't figure it out pre-purchase, you might well want to look elsewhere.

Jeremy

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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

Even if it was not getting a boost signal, an OM603 in decent health should still be able to push out at least 16-17 seconds 0-60. Since it took a good minute, there has to be other significant problems holding it back.

Maybe, maybe not.

It could be as simple as a clogged fuel tank screen. Step #1 when diagnosing performance problems in these cars is to verify fuel pressure and delivery volume - you should have 10-13 PSI at idle as measured from the line between the secondary fuel filter and the IP and there is also a volume delivered / unit time spec in the engine manual.

It's been my experience that 90% of low power problems are caused by low pressue fuel delivery issues.

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98 Dodge-Cummins pickup (123k)
13 GLK250 (135k)
06 E320CDI (323K)
16 C300 (62K)
82 300GD Gelaendewagen (54K)

It's not a clogged tank screen as we ran off commercial diesel in a bottle hooked straight up, bypassing the whole fuel tank.

Thanks for all the replies everyone. My search for a nice diesel at a reasonable price in Southern California continues.

David

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1985 300D. 179,000 miles.

The car looks good, you say it runs well on the local streets. I think that if it starts good, doesn't overheat, sounds good and isn't smoking, that you have a minor problem somewhere. It looks like a very nice diesel to pass up at a very good price. I would go for it and spend the time and money to get it right.

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Junqueyardjim
Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important. C.S. Lewis



1983 Mercedes W123 240D 4 Speed 285,000 on the road with a 617 turbo, beautiful butter yellow, license plate # 83 240D INDIANA

2003 Jaguar Type X, AWD. beautiful, good mileage,
Mom's car, but I won't let her drive it!