What to do with my dad's 240D? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

w123fanman · #1 11-27-2011, 10:10 PM

Well my dad wants to keep his 240D manual but its in rough shape (sort of). It has been one of his favorite cars he has owned and has told me he wants to fix it up so it can be driven again. The engine is not running and our mechanic (who loves the car, and our sprinter, the extent of the love for the cars and us as customers could be summed up as: he forgot to put the owner's manual back into the glove compartment in the Sprinter after we picked it up so he immediately stopped what he was doing and drove to our house which is about 30 minutes away to give us the manual) quoted $1500 to get it going again. Also it has some minor issues (which I shall document later) involving the interior and such. Also the paint needs to be redone (its the original paint and the car has been outside all of its life (and surprisingly no rust on the under carriage, only a few bubbles on the wheel wells and the trunk). The plus side of the car is obviously the lack of structural rust and the fact a majority of the suspension has been rebuilt recently. So question is what to do? This is in two areas on this car:
1. Should we get the original engine to work or should we swap in a OM617.952 (added power would be nice with the 4 speed manual that is in there)?
2. Should we keep the original paint color (that yellow tan beige color that has a specific name) or should we paint it black (we want to try to do this painting ourselves as we do have many of the tools required for such work, but out mechanic did quote $1400 or so for his shop to do it)?

We are planning to go get some of the needed exterior and interior parts from vstech (a nice 5 hour drive in the Sprinter) once we compile a list of needed parts. Any other thoughts are welcome. I shall get some pictures whenever we go over to the shop to make a list of the needed parts so you can guys can see what it looks like. Also, of course, we shall get pics of the car during and after this simple restoration (that is if it happens).

JiveTurkey · #2 11-27-2011, 10:21 PM

What's the cause of the current engines "non running" status? Since it's been in the family forever you should have a pretty good history of what's been done for it in the past.

Unless you've painted a few cars before I'd recommend against trying a black color swap on a four door. Black is the most unforgiving color for bodywork errors and you'd be sanding and painting a lot of doorjamb space on that car. Then there's the whole engine bay... It can be done. But I'd focus on getting the beast running reliably again before even bothering with paint and body work.

Wouldn't you need the 617 flywheel to adapt a 240 manual trans to a 617?

w123fanman · #3 11-27-2011, 10:39 PM

I figured a color swap would be difficult (my dad idea, my brother's to do the painting ourselves) and I happen to be a fan of the color that is on it. Now I don't know the exact causes of the engine trouble but my dad lent the car to one of his employees (a great employee and person but not the best at listening) for a couple years and the employee apparently put the wrong oil (after my dad had told him what oil to get) into the engine and it overheated. Now I'm not quite sure if that makes sense but that's what I heard. All that I know is the engine isn't currently able to run

.
As for what it needs to do the swap, I'm not sure, I guess I would have to research or someone might say it on here

t walgamuth · #4 11-27-2011, 11:13 PM

Well to make an intelligent comment I would need more info about your current motor. If it is something simple obviously fixing it is the way to go.

If the engine is too bad to get up and running again then switching to a 617 is not a bad idea. To do so you need to change the radiator, engine, cross member, speedo and diff. There are other things too so it is best to buy a running car that has other issues such as massive rust hail damage or a trashed interior.

As for painting it black, the color you currently have is a prototypical eighties mb color and would be hard to beat at resale time. You can scuff it and get it painted inexpensively or if you have some skills you can paint it yourself.

There is nothing more reliable than a 240d and swapping any 617 in makes a really nice car with great power and still quite good fuel economy.

NJ300sdl · #5 11-28-2011, 06:12 AM

Recommend the same body color.

engatwork · #6 11-28-2011, 07:52 AM

I'm not so sure that running the wrong type of oil will stop the engine. If oil caused it you should be able to drop the lower oil pan and tell immediately if it caused it because of the amount of sludge/build up. Did it use much oil when he loaned it out? Could he have run it without oil in it?

If he ran the engine hot enough (drove it till it quit after losing coolant) then it is probably going to need a rebuild. My first wife did that to a Mazda MPV 4 cyl one time and fried the rings.

vstech · #7 11-28-2011, 10:00 AM

... dad loves the car...

... the engine stopped running, after he loaned the car to someone for... a couple of years...

...wrong type of oil apparently caused the engine to overheat...
um, more likely the total lack of oil changes, or oil at all, caused the engine to seize up...

it is possible that a coolant leak was ignored, and the motor overheated, but the oil comment has me worried about the state of your engine.

you MIGHT try draining the oil, filling with 6 quarts 0w40 motor oil, and 1 quart of marvel mystery oil, and spinning the motor over on the starter only. DO NOT LET IT START! disconnect the glow plugs totally, then crank the motor for about 45 seconds unless it starts, then shut it down and let that concoction brew for a week, then spin it again for another 45 seconds, and wait another week.
then drain the oil, and the filter, and fill with fresh delo or your choice of dino oil 15w40 and crank that over for another 45 seconds or so, and let the starter cool for a day, then reconnect the glow plugs and give the car a try to start.

if it starts up, check the coolant for bubbles from a cracked head or blown gasket... if it passes the bubble test, see what you got!

Air&Road · #8 11-28-2011, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vstech

... dad loves the car...

... the engine stopped running, after he loaned the car to someone for... a couple of years...

...wrong type of oil apparently caused the engine to overheat...
um, more likely the total lack of oil changes, or oil at all, caused the engine to seize up...

it is possible that a coolant leak was ignored, and the motor overheated, but the oil comment has me worried about the state of your engine.

you MIGHT try draining the oil, filling with 6 quarts 0w40 motor oil, and 1 quart of marvel mystery oil, and spinning the motor over on the starter only. DO NOT LET IT START! disconnect the glow plugs totally, then crank the motor for about 45 seconds unless it starts, then shut it down and let that concoction brew for a week, then spin it again for another 45 seconds, and wait another week.
then drain the oil, and the filter, and fill with fresh delo or your choice of dino oil 15w40 and crank that over for another 45 seconds or so, and let the starter cool for a day, then reconnect the glow plugs and give the car a try to start.

if it starts up, check the coolant for bubbles from a cracked head or blown gasket... if it passes the bubble test, see what you got!

I've done quite a few "motor flushes," but vs's method is a new one. I like it though. The only thing to add is when you finally DO drain the concoction, make sure the engine is as warm as you can get it without overheating and let it drain overnight.

Zacharias · #9 11-28-2011, 11:15 AM

Two things against the idea of black:

1. As noted, most unforgiving colour for a colour change. Will require a huge amount of body prep as each and every imperfection (parking lot dings, minor ripples, in other words normal age-related warts) will be magnified 4x on a black car. Sanding and edging will need to be top-notch as well. And as noted, the door jambs will take as much time as the rest of the car to do that.

2. No offense intended, but you're in Hotlanta. I mean, really, black? How well does the AC work? I had a black SD and it pretty much cured me of black for old Mercedes, forever. And where I live we get maybe two or three weeks of your summer-season weather a year, maybe.

Based on what your mechanic is quoting I'm not sure what to say about the motor. We would need to know what the estimate is based on, exactly.

Follow vstech's advice and see if you can at least get it to cough and say AAAHHHHH for you....

vstech · #10 11-28-2011, 11:43 AM

oh yeah, be sure and keep the block heater plugged in after the initial spin on the MMO

piccolovic · #11 11-28-2011, 12:14 PM

On the paint . . . since it has no rust, it probably only needs a good buffing!!!! It might look like chalk right now, but will immediately buff up to looking new, if the paint was not damaged by scraping, accident, etc. The wonderful thing about MBZ enamel paint, is that it does not fade, ever . . . just oxidizes and beautifully buffs up to original color with a good wetsanding. Before you go shopping for paint, or sanding the original coat to prep for paint, try a wet-buffing with rubbing/polishing compound, and bring up that original shine.

You might wanna pick up a running engine for $400 and install (exact match). Upgrading to 5-cyl? That's up to you, but why give up the great mileage???

w123fanman · #12 11-28-2011, 07:01 PM

Well I had the engine story totally wrong but I told it how I heard it. Apparently what happened was that the fuel pump went causing the engine to overheat. Now I'm not sure if even that was the real cause but all I know that is correct is that the engine overheated. I for one do like the color it is and the AC like most of these things, stops working at random times but did work last time the car ran. Would you suggest that if we were to have the engine swapped, that we would obtain a running 300D that may or may not be in great shape (such as rust, rotting interior, etc) for a grand or so (not a hard find in Atlanta it seems).

vstech · #13 11-28-2011, 07:07 PM

keep in mind on the 300 transplant, to retain the manual transmission, you will need to MODIFY both the drive shaft, and the shift linkage, and you will need to obtain a transmission crossmember from an auto 240... and when all that is done, the flywheel in your car will be too light, making for interesting shifts between turbo lag, and such. and if ALL that is acceptable, the 300 Powertrain will likely vibrate.

w123fanman · #14 11-28-2011, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by piccolovic

On the paint . . . since it has no rust, it probably only needs a good buffing!!!!

Well there are a few bubbles of rust on panels (again none on the undercarriage) and some have broken through will be obvious but if your word it true (which I have no reason to doubt you) maybe those spots will just need to be treated and then repainted.

vstech · #15 11-28-2011, 07:10 PM

oh, and the fuel pump won't overheat an engine either... I'd love to hear what the mechanic wants to fix for 1500 on an overheated 240...