Hey guys, This is my first post. however I've been lurking around on this forum for hundreds of hours! Let me start by saying I would love any advice on the "search" function of these threads... I seem to either get hundreds of hits or nothing found. I purchased an 83 300sd about 6 months ago as a project to fix up/restore/drive. the car drives great. It also has every problem that most of us DIYers come across in these cars. Thanks to this forum and others. I feel like I have a pretty good idea how to ATTEMPT to fix these, they include(but not limited to): Odometer,cc amp,tach,gauge lights,climate control, I'm drawing a blank on others i'm sure. The car is really really straight! Minor dings scratches but it needs really minor bodywork and paint and it will look like new! It has newer "14 rims(I'll add some pictures). Interior leather is in great shape. Dash sucks of course... I would really like to enhance the beauty and the performance of this car. I'm interested in opinions on what I should do first engine wise?? Valve job? Banjo bolt? ALDA removal? Diesel purge? rack limiter adjustment? New or re-built injectors? egr remove??? The list goes on... I finally cleaned out the garage and moved her in for surgery Now its time to do some serious research. Your help is really appreciated!

First get it running to original specs with everything working. Only take apart the minimum to repair an item. Put it back together then move to the next thing. Many perfectly good cars end up as parts cars because someone got happy taking it apart for a "restoration". Avoid the WhileI'mAtItItis. Paint is last. Clean, leak free engine compartment, working climate control, smooth shifting trans go a long way.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

Welcome! If you look at the "resources" tab on the very top of the page and click on DIY links you'll find almost everything you need divided into categories. More writeups with pictures are available in the DIY articles section.

First thing is to get the car running well. A valve adjustment is a must (in the DIY section is a how-to), diesel purge helps to clean old crud out of the injectors but many high mile diesels need to have them rebuilt. Cleaning out the banjo bolt will help get your turbo back to stock boost. I would wait on the ALDA removal and rack damper adjustment. Just take a deep breath and think about what you can tackle first, do all the little things and see how it runs...you might decide you don't need to yank the rack limiter or remove the EGR. Looks like you've got a decent list of things to tinker with for a while!

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

What they said.

I use google to search this site cause it seems to work better for me. Just type in your search, then site:www.peachparts.com, which will limit your search to this site. Works for any site.

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1982 240 D, 308,000 - 321,127 miles (sold)
1982 300 TD,166,500 - 226,000 miles
1998 E 320, 120,000 - 144,000 miles
2005 C 230 K, 26,000 - 77,000 miles (sold)

I'll agree with tbo... valves first. Make sure all the lines concerning the ALDA are clear. If you're going to do a purge, replace fuel filters after. Do an oil and oil filter change. Adjust other items only if needed.
The heating problem may or may not be fixed by making sure all the solder points are good.

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83 SD

84 CD

When you search, use the "Advanced Search" option rather than the quick search. On the advanced search page you can refine your search in a number of ways (e.g. by date, by author, etc). For me, the best way to search most of the time is by Title. That way you end up with threads specific to your topic of interest and not a bunch of threads where you search word(s) were mentioned in passing by someone leaving a comment.

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'95 E300D ("Tank") - 231,000 miles
'79 240D ("Biscuit") - 197,250 miles (Sold)
'83 240D ("Ding-Ding") - 217,000 miles (Death by deer)
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"Back off, man. I’m a scientist” ~ Peter Venkman

Searching by "title" would work even better if titles always related to the subject - not like "Big problem tonight on the way home". Steve

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1980 300 TD

1997 Dodge Pickup/Cummins 5.9 12-valve

For prioritizing repairs or upgrades I went with:

1) Make it safe - that meant stopping and steering: brakes and suspension
2) Make it reliable - that meant starting: valves, fuel system
3) Make it comfortable - interior stuff: still working on it
4) Make it pretty - not there yet.

x2 on using the RESOURCES button as preferred to the search tool. That'll point you to the wiki. Also read down on the main page for the DIY section.

Other advice: get the engine bay clean(ish) first and start identifying leaks. The local pressure wash place is your friend.

I'd balance the "while I'm at it advice" with a dash of "I'm in there anyway" perspective. For example, if your oil lines are leaking AND your motor mounts are suspect, that's a two-fer at the same time. And before you start, you might want to check if your oil filter gasket is leaking, since disconnecting the oil hoses is part of that job, too. Don't fix unnecessarily, but it sucks to repeat a task that you just did.

Buy a copy of the service manual (aka FSM) and sign up for EPC online.