Hello all,
I'm having a problem here. I had a vacuum leak in the door locks on my 85 300d. I started ripping the doors apart and testing everything. I discovered that my passenger front door has been replaced and repainted. The inside of the door was blue. Anyway, the vacuum actuator in the door to operate the locks is the older style with the 2 rubber diaphragms on the top and bottom and the plastic in the middle is blue. From what I have seen these actuators should be on cars from 1980 and earlier. The 85 is supposed to have a black plastic kind. I am wondering if I can just take the old one out and put the new one in. anyone have experience in this? Here are some pics of both actuators.

The one difference between the two, is the rod that connects to them. the blue one has a small "C" clip that holds it to the actuator.

The black plastic one has a rod that looks like it has threads on the end that fits inside the plastic "snap over" connector.

If you source the rod from a junker/PNP etc.... the new style should work.

The blue ones are pricy compared to the plastic ones.

You might have to drill a hole or two to bolt the newer one in, not sure though.

Charlie

__________________
there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

just .. who need vac door locks ?
lock em all manually ..

__________________
current fleet
Ford f350 dully 7.3L 1990 . ats turbo , zf5
Mazda 4x4 b2600 with 617 20-26 mpg
Past fleet
1983 240D w123 232k 25-30 MPG
1984 Ford f250,1979 ford 150 300-6 (sold@ 251K )
81 300D, 79 240D , 2x 76 300D ,74 240D , 2x 89 grand prix , 85 grand fury , and several other fords

Custom machine shop work ..

i have an early car and a couple of spare late-style actuators. if you are interested in trading just PM me.

__________________
'77 240D, 504H, OM617.952, etc.

Thanks for the info! So...anyone have a rod that will work with the new plastic ones? I can buy 4 of the black plastic ones for the price of one of the blue ones.

How 'bout NOOOO!

I forgot to mention that the old blue actuator I pulled out of the car is leaking. dry rotted and what not. I did see I could buy new rubber parts for it and change them out. That would be a little cheaper I guess. I just don't know the process of doing that.

I ended up ordering some replacement diaphragms. anyone replaced these before? Is there anything weird I should know about while doing this so I won't break something?

I think you are going into new territory, I didn`t know the blue actuators could be taken apart, and that there is even diaphrams for them.
Charge on my good man, lead on, be the leader of men, and show us what you discover.

Do you have PNP type junk yards in your neck of the woods? the rods are not difficult to remove, just time consuming taking the door apart to remove them.
When I see an order car in the yards, usually the blue actuators are gone, or not working.

It is amazing the price for the blue one`s compared to the plastic ones. I saw them for $145 a few yrs ago, compared to $25. not sure what they are now or even available.

Charlie

__________________
there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

i have read one claim on here or the other forum in which someone described successfully repairing the diaphragms with a piece of a bicycle inner tube. perhaps it was with some kind of rubber cement?

__________________
'77 240D, 504H, OM617.952, etc.

There is a tiny c-clip or (Jesus clip as it was called in my day, as in, Jesus, where did it go?!) that holds the rod to the small frame that is attached to the two top bellows. Definitely have a magnet, but if it makes a brake for it, they can usually be found at a good hardware store.

There are two vacuum lines that plug in to one end, a piece of tape on the top one will help you from mixing them up.

Two screws that hold the actuator in the door and it will be out, the rod may be snug in the small frame, but it will come out.

You will see that the bellows have aluminum heads in the center, and the lock rod frame has slots that those heads slide into very snugly, a slight press fit, or it wedges as it is installed.

Take a screwdriver and carefully work the frame off the old bellows and you will get a feel for the tight fit so you know what to expect when you reinstall the new bellows.

Once the frame is off, the bellows are held on by a plastic cap that has a tab on each side, be careful not to brake the tabs because if you do that is it. There will be a tar residue all over the thing so your hands will get a mess.

The upper and lower bellows are the same so there is no mixing them up, put then on first, then install the frame.

If you stick your finger over the ports and try to move the frame up and down you can check for leaks.

The little clip can be a bugger to get back on the rod, I have put it on a small magnet and pushed it on with that.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the replies guys. As for the PNP. I'm not sure that we do have any and if we did it would be a long shot to find a w123 in there. I only know of 3 people in this "city" (3rd largest in WV) that own a w123. I had to drive to TN to get mine. My friends thought I was crazy buying this "old throw away car" as they called it. Ignorance is bliss? I'm not so sure...they don't own a mercedes diesel!

I know what you mean about that c clip. Luckily I have a big sweeper type magnet that I used to find that little guy. I thought for sure it went down in the door, but it flew out onto the driveway somewhere. I was freaking out until I remembered my magnet.

I'll take pics and document the repair process of this actuator and post the results. I'll probably screw it up the first time like I usually do, then learn from the mistakes and get it right the second time...it's how I roll.

Did you get the new bellows from msource? I need to replace some of mine but can't see paying, what they want for one replacement.... eventually I was going to just do the rubber cement and latex glove trick...

__________________

Yes I did. 20 bucks for 2 of them. That's better than 55 for an old used one that has questionable quality or 154 for a new one. I tried patching these, but it didn't quite work. they are in really bad shape. I didn't think about the latex glove though...hmmmm...I may try that

Very true, I have been holding out hoping someone else will start making them. I read a post where a guy said the rubber glove trick worked for a few years....one day I will tare into my doors and get them fixed...though manual door locks aren't so bad

__________________