I have become increasingly interested in installing a boost gauge in my 93 300D. I figured it would be nice to see the amount of boost the turbo is putting out. Where is a good place to find a proper boost gauge? Are they hard to install? I know these are really basic questions, but I would really appreciate the help!

Thanks!

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1987 300SDL 271,000
1999 E300 Turbodiesel 155,000ish. (Dad's)

A possible access Point would be to "T" into the Tubing going from the intake manifold to the to the ALDA on the Fuel Injection Pump.

On the 617.952s there is a removable Plug that could be used for that purpose. However, I do not know if your Intake Manifold has such a Plug.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

No, they are really very easy to install. To measure boost is to measure some pretty low PSI air pressure. To install mine I installed a new plastic line from the fitting at the back end of the intake manifold. That line goes to a few other attachments, but on our vehicles it ends up at the ALDA. So with your boost guage, (I got mine from Harbor Frieght), you most likely will get some plastic line and a plastic tee which fits various sizes of plastic tubing. Pick an empty spot in the big rubber plug which is in the firewall and through which much of the vacuum and electrical wires are routed. The big problemo is where to mount the guage. I mounted three gauges in the ash tray opening, just forward of the console. Not the best place visually, but where else you goina go with em. The guages are 2 1/4 inch I think, maybe 2 1/8, but they mount in there very nice. If you didn't want to mount it permanently you could lay it on a seat and even in the console. I really wanted to find a purely boost gauge, mostly they come as boost and vacuum, two scales, one for boost and the other for vacuum. That works good for cars with turbo's because they still need vacuum. Diesel don't have any manifold vacuum, so that part of the system is not used. If the guage read only pressure, the scale could have been much larger and easier to read. I installed mine on my W123.

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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!

From the resources tab at the top of the page.

Jeff

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1984 300SD 300,000 miles--two tank WVO setup
2.88 diff & 500SEL anti-squat rear end

Thanks for the help! It seems it will be easier than i first imagined. I did a quick google search for boost gauges and this was the first website to come up. What do you guys think of this gauge?

http://www.glowshiftdirect.com/white-7-color-35psi-boost-vacuum-gauge.aspx

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1987 300SDL 271,000
1999 E300 Turbodiesel 155,000ish. (Dad's)

Pretty colours.

Go with the VDO suggestion above. similar price point. Much better look.

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85 300D 3 pedal. Current project.
83 300TD (need rear wiper assembly dead or alive)
84 300SD Daily driver
85 300TD almost 400k miles and driven daily.
98 E300D *sold
86 300SDL *sold and made flawless 10 hour journey to new home.

I got mine from Autozone and put it in the cluster, between the speedo and tach.

CLICK TO PLAY!

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 167,870 July 2025
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

Cheap, easy, looks OE -

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=226379

Sixto
87 300D

There are 15- and 30-psi boost only gauges in the VDO Cockpit series. Try egauges.com .

Sixto
87 300D

Personally, I have a 20 PSI gauge installed on my car. A 15-20 PSI gauge will yield a more accurate reading than a 30 PSI gauge since the car shouldn't be boosting anymore than 12-13 PSI.

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Jason

00 Subaru Legacy (fun wagon)
96 Nissan Sentra (disavowed)
82 300SD (garage queen, will run again hopefully)
87 300DT (Gone: 10/15/2010)

I have a 15 psi VDO gauge in my '87 300D Turbo (W124, OM603) purchased from egauges.com. It's the right-hand gauge in the picture. Works great, looks like the factory gauges (also made by VDO).



There should be an extra 10mm port in your intake manifold, next to the overboost protection switch, closed off with a plug. Get a 1/8" NPT to 1/16" tubing adapter; it will screw into the 10mm hole as the two threads are almost the same. Use TeflonŽ tape to prevent leaks and don't overtighten.



You can get tubing kits along with the boost gauge from egauges.com. Run the tubing through the firewall and to wherever you want the gauge. Remember that your engine will show no boost at idle and very little even if you rev up the engine. The engine must be under load (you have to drive the car) before much of anything will show on the boost gauge. If your turbo is set up correctly, boost should top out at about 13 psi. At a steady freeway speed the boost should be about 5 psi.

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

That's a pretty slick set up! I wouldn't mind doing it that way myself. I might do that eventually... Those VDO gauges do look much better than the Glowshift gauges. I'll be able to do this more easily than i thought! Thanks for the pictures! It'll be interesting to see how much boost the turbo has been putting out. Seems like it has been getting a little lazy, lately.

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1987 300SDL 271,000
1999 E300 Turbodiesel 155,000ish. (Dad's)

got mine at harbor freight $10.

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran, deutschland deutschland uber alles uber alles in der welt

Jermey - you're awesome. I'm having turbo issues and have been told I need to install a gauge - this is the slickest setup I've seen yet - thanks for posting this.

BTW - my name is Jeromie too!

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1987 300TD named Klause
1987 300TD named Spouse
1987 300D named Seabiscuit
1980 300TD names Chloie (now sadly gone)

'Cept you need to refinish the rest of your wood! (Just teasing you - that installation looks great).

Dan