Hello all. I am new to this forum, rather new to diesels, but not new to turbos or working on my own cars.
Long story short, I just picked up a 87 300d with a few problems and I want to get it all straightened out.
First question is, where would I find the maintenance schedule to get this car up to date?
Odometer doesn't work and it stopped at 148k and the previous owner insists it is around 200k.
Next thing. Replacing glow plugs since a few of them are weak and I am also going to need to replace intake gaskets due to a little oil coming out of intake runners #1 & #2 down at the head. While I am all that way in there I was going to clean the intake real well, clean and pop test the injectors ( making whatever adjustments are necessary) reem the GP holes and adjust the alda (or whatever it is called). My goal for this rig is to tune it up mildly to get better performance ( to maybe include a slightly larger turbo), so when I have my injectors apart should I also get different nozzles? If so, what kind?
One last problem. Pretty much the vacuum is non existent. The car shuts down pretty quick, but I can pull just about any vac line from any place and I don't have vacuum. The brakes work just fine but the trans shifts hard sometimes. Heater controls stay on defrost. Looking for a vacuum schematic that will help me find all the rubber connectors and replace them. Any directions or pointers would be a great help. Like I said earlier, new to diesel motors, so pretty much things would kinda need spelled out to me with regard to diesel specific items since I have only ever worked on motors with sparkplugs hahahaha

Welcome aboard. This forum is a great source of information and has made my tinkering on MB Diesels a heck of lot easier.

Search is your friend here. I use it frequently. Do a search on 603 vacuum lines and you should find this link.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/general-information/301855-mercedes-vacuum-diagrams.html

I've been tinkering with a neglected SDL and encountered some of the same issues.

Oil leaking out of the 1 & 2 intake runners is a good sign the turbo needs resealing. I would imagine there's a bit of blue smoke on start up too. Had the turbo resealed - no more oil leak.

I had the identical vacuum problem. After rerouting incorrectly routed lines and replacing the rotten lines I discovered the cap on the transmission modulator had a split in it. Replaced that and the intermittent harsh shift went away. Also, I started getting more normal ventilation behavior rather than just air out of the defrost ports.

Welcome

Link to maintenance manual library:
Model 124 Maintenance Manual Index

I would also check the following to get yourself to a baseline before playing with the turbo:
Suspension links front and rear, ball joints, control arms, etc.
Flex disks in the drive shaft - it is ugly if these let go
Brake hoses - safety first
Vacuum lines - replace them all on principle with fresh tubing and connectors

Injectors - contact forum member greazzer, he rebuilds them for a reasonable cost. He's located in Columbia, SC.

Fix your profile (under user CP) and put in your location. There are members all over the US that can help out.

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The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech

I had thought this same thing, I have not had a chance to really get in there and inspect this turbo. I would Assume it is a Garrett t3 variant. I have rebuilt 4 other Garret turbos myself with great success. My first rebuild having around 30k very very hard miles on it at this point. I am not sure if my 309d is pushing out smoke at start up since not all the glow plugs are working properly, but once I get the intake out of the way, it should be pretty clear if the turbo is leaking or not.
I was also reading the vac lines control the trans like you were saying. Thank you for the link. I will perform the work and report back.
Thanks for this information and the link. I am sorry I didn't spell my plan out a little better in my first post. I was pretty much wanting what you provided (so thank you very much) so that I could drive the car as is for six months to a year while making sure that everything is up to snuff. So your list of things is a great thing for me. Thank you very much.
I have a local buddie that has a 82 (I believe) 300sd that is helping me along with this. He has a injector popper and walked me through the process of pop testing them. I have a ultrasonic cleaner at work that I was going to use to clean them all up when they were apart. I was thinking about rebuilding them myself but was having a hard time figuring out what exact nozzles I need.

Thank you all very much for your help. It is greatly appreciated.

Updated signature, added location, and updated stable

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1987 300D that has been neglected and will soon be revived to love life again

1989 Plymouth Voyager, factory turbo, converted to a 5 speed, and heavily modified. A quick Mustang and Trans AM killer

Ok, so I started working on the vac system yesterday. Pulled the 1 to 4 connector just above the pump and checked for vac while motor was running and got nothing. Pulled the small 6" hose off from the pump and blew backwards through it, some crap came out. Put it back on and started it up, now I have vac and all my vac stuff works. I started replacing vac lines and fitting anyway, but that was my problem. Thanks a bunch for all your help guys!

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1987 300D that has been neglected and will soon be revived to love life again

1989 Plymouth Voyager, factory turbo, converted to a 5 speed, and heavily modified. A quick Mustang and Trans AM killer

If you know anything about diesels, you won't get anymore performance from adding a larger turbo except more smoke and possibly less bottom end power. You would need to increase the air, larger intercooler, modify intake, larger IP elements, new manifolds and larger exhaust etc. When these cars run right with the adjustments correct, they have plenty of pep for a diesel. They were the fastest diesel in 1987 on the market. You *might* be able to get the pump advanced two degrees and get a little more power (more fuel) and better fuel economy. Stock is 14-15 ATDC +/- 1 degree.

I have vacuum issues with my trans on my newer 92 300D with the 5 cylinder. A MityVac from HarborFreight is your best friend. They're $30. Replace all the vacuum lines that look deteriorated, they're gonna cause leaks.

As for the nozzles, Mercedes S o u r ce has good nozzles that are better than the current ones on there now. They're made by Monark in Germany.

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Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

Thanks! I am aware of more boost requires more fuel as well as more air in and more air out. Also a intercooler makes the air more oxygen dense. Since I am really new to MB cars and kinda new to diesels, I am not sure how much extra fueling is available to make modifications on this car.
My goal future goal for the car is to get the best mpg and have gained performance as a byproduct of the efficiency gains. I hope this makes sense.
I have a 93 dodge with a cummins, stock injectors, slightly larger turbo (like one step larger) bigger exhaust, and only a little tuning on the pump. Gained me about 30 go and about 3 mpg. That is what I am looking at seeing if I can get something like that.

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1987 300D that has been neglected and will soon be revived to love life again

1989 Plymouth Voyager, factory turbo, converted to a 5 speed, and heavily modified. A quick Mustang and Trans AM killer

Look up DieselMeken on youtube you'll see what kind of power these motors are capable of with the right tuning. Advancing the timing and a better exhaust is probably your best bet. An HX35 wouldn't hurt either. The flange would need to be modified. it's a 3 bolt flange not compatible with a lot of other turbos, something would have to be fabricated and welded.

Better fuel economy would be awesome, but the properly tuned 603 gets about 32MPG btw (my best tank, I owned an 87 300D for 2 months).

Good luck with this project keep us updated.

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Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

If your car has a KKK turbo, an OE Garrett is probably an improvement. Read up on adjusting the full load stop. It won't help mpg but there's some hp to be gained.

Sixto
83 300SD

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From what I can tell it's the Garrett. If my understanding is correct, the Garrett has the Wg arm on the exhaust housing and is visible when looking at it while the turbo is in the car. Am I correct in my understanding?

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1987 300D that has been neglected and will soon be revived to love life again

1989 Plymouth Voyager, factory turbo, converted to a 5 speed, and heavily modified. A quick Mustang and Trans AM killer

Yes. The KKK has an unmistakeable beehive wastegate actuator.

Sixto
83 300SD

Your 87 300D most likely has a garrett T3. Some cars also had the KKK K24. MB used both.

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Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

If you can see the wastegate actuator and its pushrod, it's a Garrett. Check to make sure the little E-clip is attached on the end of the pushrod where it attaches to the wastegate arm. On my SDL it was missing and the pushrod was off. There were no wear marks to either piece and the soot buildup in the intake manifold and exhaust were simply unbelievable! No telling how long it had been driven like that. I'd imagine the PO wondered why the car was sooooooooooooo slow!

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Current stable:
1995 E320 149K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 120K (SLoL)

Black Sheep:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

Most of these cars had KKK from the factory, but in many cases when the trap-ox recall was done, it had a replacement turbo which in many cases was the Garrett T-30 with the 50 trim wheel.

A bigger turbo will help if you turn up your fuel a little. Sixto and I had reasonable improvements from the T-30 55 with IP adjustments, but much added boost will require an intercooler. Lots of our saga here: http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-performance-tuning/290694-om603-semi-super-pump-testing-fitted-bosch-6-0mm-elements.html I made my modifications with the 3.5L pump because of the higher fuel at low RPMS and higher injection rate cam. Both of us used the factory air filter system (sans airflow meter), factory exhaust, and factory injector nozzles which all have adequate capacity.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff