**Questions below; if you want to skip my long story, go ahead.**

As a few of you already know, I bought my second car on Saturday – a white 1982 300SD . I bought it from a fellow forum member, tbomachines (Tom). The shell is a Texas shell. It’s original story is unknown, though I may try to track down the hands that it passed through when I have some spare time. Tom bought it a few years ago from another forum member who had taken the drivetrain out and was storing the shell in a hangar in New Jersey; Tom took the drivetrain out of his old, rusty ’82 (“Boxy Brown”) and transplanted it into this one. He then drove it regularly, replacing the tires, brake pads, calipers, and discs, glow plugs, motor mounts, filters (including power steering thingie), Battery, flex disc & hardware, water pump housing, thermostat, etc. along the way. Then, last fall, he tried to pull away from the filling station only to find out that the transmission would not engage in Drive. He then attempted replacing the B2 piston, but to no avail, leaving him to conclude that the B2 band itself was bad. He priced out some trannies, but didn’t have the time to fetch one or install it, so the car ended up sitting in Connecticut, doing nothing but killing grass & running occasionally (thankfully, Tom started it periodically & pushed it back & forth to keep the tires from flatting) until I went down this last Saturday and bought it. It was then towed to my home in Chelmsford where it sits today. The paint is very nice, and the body is TOTALLY rust-free with the exception of EXTREMELY minimal rust on the undersides of the fronts of both rockers and a hole under the battery. The car starts faster than our 2004 Corolla with 145,000; . I plan to put the transmission from my 1984 into this thing -- I will swap tailshafts, of course. Here are some pictures – I also have some questions which are listed below. The blue car is the ’84.







Questions:

1) The driver's-side rear window goes up and down by hand very easily; in fact, if I slam the door, the window opens a crack. It this the regulator or something else?

2) Neither of the power windows in the front work. Is there something less than motor failure that could cause this and how would I diagnose it?

3) How will removing the engine/transmission from this be different than removing it from my '84?

4) The tachometer blips ~200 RPM when I activate the turn signal. Huh? I actually find this one funny and may elect to leave it unrepaired .

5) What are these three wires doing?



6) How about those two?



7) What parts am I missing here? Anyone want to buy that Clarion Radio/CD Player/MP3 player/trade it for a working original Becker whatever?



I'll be returning with more, but let me also show you a picture of my beloved daily driver -- the Corolla in the sig, just washed

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"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

Also, is there anything I can do to get rid of this discoloration? Most of the trim has this nastiness, but this area on the front bumper appears to be the worst.

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"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

Wires #1 is something connected to the trans that I didn't plug back in (after I knew the trans was coming back out anyways). There are only a couple plugs going into the trans so it shouldn't be hard to track down. Wiring #2 is the brake pad wear sensor wires--they were almost sheared and I just tucked them back when replacing the calipers (not worth it to me for the idiot light).

I can warn you ahead of time, the wires behind the radio are ugly...the PO just snipped them IIRC (or maybe that was the other car?)

2. windows don't seem like they're getting power, but they did work not too long ago. I'd start by testing for continuity at the switches and then to the motors. Double checked and the fuse is LF/RR and RF/LR so it won't be that. At one point I freed up and re-lubed the window motors in there so they should be alright. Switches are common gunk up points so that'd be my first guess.

Console question - that's a pull-out ashtray in that top slot and a kind of a change holder tray thing underneath it.

There's a bad ground or connection back behind the dash -- it never used to buzz with blinkers on before I started it last month and I didn't notice the tach doing anything weird--they likely share the same ground connection. Probably just a loose wire or connection.

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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

Thankyouthankyouthankyou. I was hoping I could eliminate the buzzing but keep the rev blip.

__________________
"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

Yeah something's worked itself loose or gotten a bit of corrosion somewhere, that would have driven me crazy. Probably best to take the cluster out and feel around back there. There is a huge bolt with a bunch of brown ground wires right behind the dash, make sure nothing bare is resting near it (shouldn't be but still). Blinker bulbs can be replaced then and you can adjust the led brightness to how you want it (I used black electrical tape as "light shields" if you will but they're still super bright...makes it worth it either way.

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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

Does this mean that automatics are allowed?

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I could not own any MB without the help from you...fellow forum members.


83 300td 207,XXX

I've been waiting for someone to catch that... however, a swap is in the plans. I'm assembling some leads on OM617 flywheels.

__________________
"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

Try cleaning the contact points in the switches. That worked for me for a while. Ended buying new switches eventually.

John

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Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA)
2002 F250 powerstroke with Plantdrive WVO conversion
1983 300SD 190K miles ,sold
2006 E320 CDI

swapping tailshafts is not all you would need to put the 123 trans into the 126... the park pawl will swap over, but you'll have a fluid spout that will no longer have a use... not sure if it'll cause problems with the electronic pickup or not. let us know how it works when you get it all assembled.

when you clean the switches... USE ONLY DISTILLED WATER. warm is ok. the grease in there is not easily replaced, so completely cleaning it out is a bad thing.

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

lemme know if you need ashtrays, radio's, change bins, etc... I've got 4 parts car 126's...

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Will do! Do any of your radios work?

__________________
"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

Just wanted to jump in and say:
I dig your home, and neighborhood...... How far are you from the shore, or beaches?
The '82 300SD had to be one of the best - I put 305K on mine, before selling it in perfect running and operating condition.

Thank you! First, I should clarify that I live in Massachusetts (not Maine, that's ME) -- I spelled out the state in my location now to clarify things if this confused you, as it has confused others. If you weren't confused about the states and are curious as to how far we are from the Massachusetts coast, that would be about 50 minutes to an hour. We actually do go to Maine -- we go to a town called Ogunquit, which about an hour and 15 minutes from here. We make the trip quite regularly, just not when everyone else is trying to get there, too.

We just resided the house and replaced all the windows (frames and everything), and the home is much more bearable now... it keeps heat nicely in the winter and is OK in the summer -- however, it does eventually get too warm (we have no form of AC, just table fans). The house has a very efficient layout, which we appreciate. Though our street is not promptly plowed in the winter, the one that we are off of is, so getting around in the snow is not really a problem unless you're trying to get into church in Boston at 7 AM (yes, we have stories ). We are also located within three minutes of two different highways, Rt. 3 and Rt. 495, both major 3-lane highways that take us quickly to 'most anywhere. Overall, the location is quite nice, but we do sometimes wish we lived further out, like in NH or Western Mass... we would move but we really like our church in Boston (Park Street Church), and right now we can't extend our drive into church anymore than we already do.

I'm not sure how the neighbors like my old 'Benzes in the driveway, though. They haven't said anything, but I'm pretty darn sure that they're not #1 fans .

__________________
"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

I found my change tray! It was in a Ziploc with some oily bolts (go figure, I've done stuff like that before), but I have it!



Also, while slipping my change tray into place, I found this key under the wood trim surrounding the shifter. It does not fit my car. Tom, would this be for the 300E?

__________________
"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

I saw your post on the fluid spout, and I'll let you all know how it goes. If all else fails, I may just swap the W123 speedometer into the 'SD -- this is what I was thinking of doing in the case of a potential manual swap, so I might already do it here. I realize that this won't agree with my cruise control system, but I can live without that temporarily. This would also gain me a 120 MPH speedometer, not that I need that .

Anyway, I've been soaking the switches in straight diesel for 24 hours now to clean them. If that doesn't work, I don't know what will.

__________________
"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."