Where do I start? Back in the 2012 I started managing a small hotel called the O. Henry. Chip Holton, the painter, had this 1983 300td wagon. At first site I fell in love with it and started begging him to let me have it. After a year of constant motivation her told me he was debating a sell. He parked in in December of last year for me. Up until last week it has been sitting waiting for me. When I picked it up I could already tell I would have my hands full but who cares when you are in the honeymoon stage with a new car. Originally when me and Chip made this deal I was going to buy the car for my lady, but after 6 months of delay we got her a Ford Focus and made Emma the project car. The plan is to get her as clean as possible and mechanically sound to drive her to Florida, Texas, or some mountain top (we haven't decided where yet) for our honeymoon after our wedding in 2016. So enough talk here are some car facts:

Emma was originally purchased at Asrot Imported Car, Inc. 418 Walnut Street. Sewickley , Pennsylvania 15143. (All the stamps in the maintenance history book is pretty freaking cool!) I am the 4th owner. The original guy lived in Bluefield, WV; the next in Charlotte,NC; after that Winston-Salem, NC; now finally me in Greensboro, NC. Surprisingly, the car has little rust. Very little after each wheel in the bottom fender. And a lot of work. Keep reading if you want.

Engine:
Transmission:

Lights: Hella
Interior:
Exterior:

Maintenance Records:
4/18/83 - 571 miles. Inspection
7/23/84 - 5303 miles. Lubrication Service
7/25/85 - 10448 miles. Lubrication Service
1/7/86 - 13195 miles. Maintenance Service
7/14/87 - 21707 miles. Lubrication Service
7/11/90 - 35057 miles. Maintenance Service
10/22/92 - 45332 miles. Maintenance Service
2/9/94 - 52736 miles. Lubrication Service
12/28/94 - 60568 miles. Maintenance Service
Some date in 1995 - 64385 miles. Lubrication Service
3/15/96 - 67322 miles. Lubrication Service
12/16/96 -72017 - General and Lubrication Service, Engine Maintenance, and Safety Inspection
4/17/97 - 74971 miles. Renew Brake Fluid and Maintenance Service
2/6/98 - 74971 miles. Lubrication Service
6/10/98 - 80161 miles. Lubrication Service, Oil Change. Rotate Tires
12/16/98 - 90342 miles. Maintenance Service.
8/4/99 - 99700 miles. Oil Change
12/9/99 - 105k miles. Maintenance Service
3/20/2000 - 110k miles. Replace hydraulic hose, repair heater, caliper rebuild, valve adjustment, front rotors replaced, brake fluid flush.
Then... Chip the guy I brought it from never kept with any maintenance he did. Sadly.

He did tell me he re built the motor a little before 300k miles. The car now has 430K miles and lots of life left with a little TLC.

Before the story continues here is my daily, Roxanne. 2007 VW GTI.


Day One.













As you can see Chip wasn't the most cleanliest person in the world. He used it for a truck for all his art supplies and ladders sooooo yeah. During the 6 month wait I had time to research as much as I could about the 300td from Mercedes Source, Peachparts, Benzworld and others. The bug had hit me early so in January I had already placed orders for:
- Power Steering Filter
- Power Steering Fluid
- Evacuator
- Oil Filter
- Oil
- Voltage Regulator
- Vacuum Tester
- Oil Filter O-Rings
- Fuel Filter O-Rings
- Air Filter
- Diesel Purge
- Fuel Filter
- Pre-Filter
- Transmission Filter and Gasket
- Valve Cover Gasket
- Meguiars Clay Bar
- Miracle Paint Kit
- Exhaust Manifold Gasket
- Copper Fuses
- Strip Fuses
- Glow Plugs

And the clean up begins. After the first wash the color of the car went from black to blue


Annnnnndddd then my exhaust hangers broke so those are now ordered. I took all the seats out but the drivers seat. All the others are in the house awaiting a little spa treatment. Taking the seats out made it alot easier to clean the carpets and console.

Before:


After Cleaning:


The metal bridges on the voltage regulator was way out of wack!!!



These things were in there for who knows how long. After seeing these I checked the coolant, DIRTY AND LOW! There is practically now ATF or Hydraulic Fluid in the car which concerns me a little. The car does have a slight jerk shifting 1st to 2nd. (Lets pray) I found out that all Crown Honda employees get 50% off of products from NAPA so I replaced some fuel lines as well.... There is a empty bottle of wiper fluid and lots of things just not connected.





Heres my number 2 priority that I plan to tackle this month. This Oil leak is steady and no fun. My number one priority are engine mounts.


Overall this is going to be fun. Just found out the SLS still works, the sunroof works, and I also somehow got the air to blow. Unfortunately its not blowing cold yet but thats to come. I also found out that all Crown Honda emplyoees get 50% off of products from NAPA so I replaced some fuel lines as well....

And now I need a little help. What is this hose thats just hanging?

This sounds great man! I will definitely be following along with you!

That oil leak looks really bad. I think fixing that should be top priority. One thing that can cause a leak like that is the turbo oil feed tube, or the filter stand Oring is not on correctly or missing....Rich

__________________

All Diesel Fleet
1985 R107 300SLD TURBODIESEL
2005 E320 CDI (daily)

LOTS of parts for sale!


EGR block kit
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/355250-sale-egr-delete-block-off-plate-kit.html

1985 CA emissions 617 owners- You Need This!
Sanden style A/C Compressor Mounting Kit for your 616/ 617 For Sale + Install Inst.

Sanden Instalation Guide (post 11):
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/367883-sanden-retrofit-installation-guide.html

First priority....reduce the size of the photos.....after reloading this page 4 times all the photos are still not loading...

I think that car will be more work then what its worth, hope you got it free...

That oil leak scares me, how long has that been going on? what has been destroyed in the process?

He rebuilt that motor? Seeing the condition he kept that car in.....I don't even want to know how he rebuilt that engine...

Wish you luck on that project....but I dunno...that's one crazy project...

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Congrats on the purchase!

Now, you say the first priority is motor mounts. Why? Excessive vibration? Noise? Visible squatting? I ask because that oil leak could be coming from the oil cooler lines, and they tend to get cut into by the power steering belt when the motor mounts become collapsed from age or fuel contamination. That is one mean leak man. MEAN!

You say the car has ATF in it right above the pic of the air filter and power steering filter. FYI ATF is what the car takes for power steering fluid. There are members here that disagree, but the spec for the power steering is plain old Dex2 or Dex 3.

Good that you flushed the coolant out. I hope you used Zerex G-05. It's really all you should use. Original to the car, Nitrites for diesels. It's perfect.

It is a big project (usually any cheap Benz is a project) but with persistence, cash, and the willingness to do all your own work, I bet you could cut a nice stone out of this diamond-in-the-rough.

__________________
'84 190D 2.2 5MT (Red/Palomino) Current car. Love it!
'85 190D 2.2 Auto *Cali* (Blue/Blue) *sold*
http://badges.fuelly.com/images/sig-us/302601.png
http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/a...0/sideview.png

Lots more to come.


Im going to find that oul leak tonight and order what it needs. Thanks for the help! Im gonna need it.


Honestly, i don't know how long the leak has been there. Luckily its just sitting right now. This winter I will open everything up and tackle every situation from there. Believe me that oil leak scares me too.


The first day I drove the car the vibrations were crazy but now after a few maintenance things she rides alot smoother. Im concerned that the vibration will kill the oil cooler lines before I get a chance to replace them. Visibly the mounts are done! Hahahaa. Honestly its metal to metal. Big project for sure but im ready to tackle it.

There should be a hose like that on both sides of the engine coming out of the firewall. These hoses are pinched closed at the bottom, but are otherwise just open hoses. These hoses provide drainage for the area under the wipers --between the front edge of the windshield and the trailing edge of the hood (bonnet).

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Mike Frederick
1986 300SDL, 240K+ miles
1985 300D KaliKar, 270K+ miles

There is a gasket kit for all of the engine externals. Make sure the engine is sound then pull it down to the long block. See if you can fine the "leakfree" engine thread.

Fixx the vacuum leaks. New pods are $70 each or you can source good diaphragms. There is plenty of discussion for and against.

Trans is very likely adjustment. Search "Mercedes 722" and plenty will come up.

Suspension may also need dollars. You will have to have fewer projects or work faster to have everything done in time for the honeymoon. Instead of a truck, you could use it as a camper.

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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.

Personally I would go for the heavy oil leak first. Can be minor to a fair amount of work to correct. Depends where it is originating from.

At least you are sensible enough not to engage paid for services. An older Mercedes could consume more dollars than a person might be comforatable with that way.

I have seen them in general as fix them yourself cars for the vast majority of problems. A general overall inspection to determine just how much work is there first is not a bad ideal as well.

At 430k miles hopefully many things were addressed already at different times. Not having a lot of rust is a great start.

Good luck with the project. If it were me I think I would change plans slightly. Maybe as a first anniversary trip/vacation, and wouldn't want to recall my honeymoon on the side of the road smelling like ULSD.

Or Delo 15-40

__________________

All Diesel Fleet
1985 R107 300SLD TURBODIESEL
2005 E320 CDI (daily)

LOTS of parts for sale!


EGR block kit
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/355250-sale-egr-delete-block-off-plate-kit.html

1985 CA emissions 617 owners- You Need This!
Sanden style A/C Compressor Mounting Kit for your 616/ 617 For Sale + Install Inst.

Sanden Instalation Guide (post 11):
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/367883-sanden-retrofit-installation-guide.html

I FOUND THE LEAKKKK! I FOUND THE LEAKKKK! So since the engine mounts are totally obliterated the oil cooler lines sit about 2 inches lower maybe more. Then with all the vibrations and the oil cooler lines making direct contact with metal making a big hole. Sooo I am going to have to order 2 new oil cooler lines and some engine mounts. I will probably order a oil filter gasket at the same time. Is there any thing else I should consider while doing work in this area?

Got the console wood done finally! It took me 2 days to get the clear coat off this thing.



Got the leather cleaned up too!

What did you use to get the seats looking so good? I'm assuming MB-tex, not actually leather?

MBTex cleans up really well with just some vinegar/water, or some mild soap. Then any sort of vinyl treatment would work. That's the nice thing, it doesn't need anything special like leather does.

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1979 300D 040 Black on Black - 1985 300D Maaco job (sadly sprayed over 199 Black Pearl Metallic) on Palamino

http://i.imgur.com/LslW733.jpg

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