I went to leave for work today, and my VERY SOCIAL 7-year-old neighbor walks up behind my car as I'm getting in it. After I started it up, she moved and then came over to the window and asked why she hadn't seen me all week (this kid really keeps track of the neighbors), and added "I can always tell when you're leaving because I can hear 'bluh bluh bluh bluh bluh'" (that's a diesel engine noise impression, apparently). "And I can see smoke coming out of there." (points to tailpipe). "And I can smell it." OK kid, I get it, my car is loud and smells bad. Maybe if you wouldn't stand next to the tailpipe when I start it up after it's been sitting for 20 hours ... Needless to say, my efforts to explain diesel technology were lost on her. Made me chuckle.

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Sounds like she will make a great HOA president some day.

Maybe it's time to invest in the new relay with afterglow. You'll get quieter start-ups with less smoke. And maybe then your neighbor won't even catch you leaving.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

Using biodiesel (pure or blend, B20 or more) will eliminate the stink. The noise I think you're stuck with.

__________________

"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

That's nothing compared to the daily abuse I take from my family and friends.

Just today I took my newly spruced up wagon by the office to show it off and the nicest comment was "hey, you can polish a turd".

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1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

It's actually quite quiet for what it is, especially since I got the new lifters put in two years ago. I think the fact that I'm starting it in a mostly-empty garage amplifies the noise significantly, plus you have to keep in mind this kid is driven around in a regular, recent-model gasser, so she expects basically no noise. And she was standing about two feet from the tailpipe when it started ... I don't find that that particularly smells good on any car. AFAIK my car rarely smokes and doesn't smell that bad (it stinks mightily when it gets really hot out ... so does my Jeep .. and I've noticed that has been much worse since the ULSD, oddly enough).

Hard for me to see my car from someone else's persepective, especially an ADD 7-year-old.

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Thats a good one! I'll have to remember that!

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

The correct response would be "Does everyone in your 2nd grade class all look, dress, act and smell exactly alike? Of course they do not, and it's the same with cars- they are not all like the car your parents choose to buy and drive. Now run along".

With a little education, she may be a future 300D owner.

Or without the education a prejudice poke my nose in your business bi&*^.

I probably would've said "Little girl, where are your parents? Do they know you're playing around cars? I'm sure they wouldn't like that, why don't you go find them?"

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

I think folks have it all wrong.
Take pride in the noise! Revel in the smell! Dance around in the smoke! Display the diesel attitude!
We don't want to be like no stinkin' gasser........

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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

I'm an obnoxious character, in person.

I like an obnoxious car.

When my lifters were gone, I used to take pride in starting my car late at night, after the church evening service. In a very small parking lot.

I deliberately started it without glowplugs, had the idle set low internally in the IP, so it sounded like it was on its last legs. Finally she would fire, CLACK CLACK CLACK, and smoke clouds would billow out the tail pipe as I brought the engine revs to 2K for a few ticks, and then back down. Plus, the excessive fuel that was being pumped out of the IP made for some really nasty conditions.

The kids think it's cool. Sort of like that "monster truck" stage they sometimes go through. The adults, OTOH, think I'm an immature pr*ck (which is probably closer to the truth).

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1987 300SDL (324000)

1986 Porsche 951 (944 Turbo) (166000)

1978 Porsche 924 (99000)

1996 Nissan Pathfinder R50 (201000)

Sorry your car got dissed by a child.

I am glad to hear it though because when I was first starting my newly acquired 190D, it would smoke and I thought something was wrong. Sounds pretty normal now.

We live in a rural neighborhood... some of the houses are about an acre apart, but we live at the end, kinda to ourselves, so no one sees my car when I start it.

Yesterday though I started it and seen some relatives going down the lower driveway heading down to my grandfathers who lives next door. I had just started the MB. I bet they did not know it was a diesel and was thinking what kind of crap I had bought.

Yeah, I have tried to teach her a little bit about cars in the past, but to no avail. She came over while I was doing an oil change on the Jeep a couple weeks ago, and stood there throughout the process, following me around the car and asking questions, most unrelated to the car. I tried to explain a couple things to her or show things to her, but she would interrupt with another question unrelated to whatever I was telling her. Very nice kid, major ADD I would say (and I mean real ADD, not the kind of ADD people just use as an excuse for their kid). I had a hard time explaining to her what oil was, as she told me her dad doesn't change the oil on their car because it doesn't use oil, just gas. I explained to her that the car does have oil, but he probably takes it to a shop to get it changed, and tried to explain what the purpose is. No interest, just wanted to tell me her dad's car does have any oil in it, then went on telling me how much she likes lightning bugs. I'm good with kids, but this is a tough one to impart any knowledge to. And impossible to politely get rid of. I just try to be nice and keep explaining things whether she gets them or not ... maybe she'll pick something up. At least she's outside rather than inside playing video games.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)