Perhaps the nozzles were already replaced at some point. Or there's some other confounding factor. Interesting.

I guess I'd inspect them at 80K and see how they tested out. But I might wait until 100K? Hard to say.

I'm looking forward to getting my cruise control working again. I guess your cruise control isn't vacuum-powered, which mine is. Also interesting.

Henry

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1976 Mercedes-Benz 300D, Colorado Beige / Mahogany
www.hmclever.com

It might be. The vaccum issues are hard to figure. Sometimes the door locking works, other times not. Sometimes the engine will turn off right away, other times not. The cruise control mostly works well, I should amend that. About once a half hour it will suddenly cut out completely. As if you just took your foot off the pedal. I've gotten in the habit of being ready to use the foot immediately, is quicker than resetting the CC, but it will reset and work again just fine until the next drop off. I can only guess it suddenly loses vacuum in those episodes.

I haven't yet mentioned that another issue is my ignition key/st. wheel lock going south. One day I had a bit of trouble with the key, didn't think to immediatly pull the cylinder, that night I suffered the dreaded paperweight/key won't turn sydrome. I was in WA state, in a parking lot, with my mother. I called her an UBER, and started looking hard at what to do. Decided to tow, AAA asked what's up, and then said their policy is to first send a locksmith. Dude did his best, no dummy, had one of those vibrator thingies. Could not get it to turn. None of it sounded good, me 750 miles from my shop. It occured to me that Home Depot was still open, I figured that to buy a batt powered Makita angle grinder to destroy the st. wheel lock would be cheaper than paying a locksmith $500 (WAG) to pull it out. And I'd still have the tool.

Saints be praised, I pulled it off. Will install new stuff soon. The punchline is, for the brief spell I've driven it since, I hooked my mighty vac up to the igntion shut down line. Oh man, that engine shuts off right now when I squeeze the handle. I've GOT to improve vacuum.

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Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Here are mine. Your description of cupped, concave nozzles caught my eye. Mine don't seem to have any of that, but these are the first MB injectors I've seen. What do you think?

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Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Mine were definitely worse looking. It's kinda hard to see from the lighting. My fingernail would easily get stuck on the lip of the cupping. Now that you have them out, pop-test them. If only you were in Atlanta, I'd lend you my pop tester.

-Henry

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1976 Mercedes-Benz 300D, Colorado Beige / Mahogany
www.hmclever.com

Thanks! Nah, Atlanta's a bit far.

I hitchhiked through Georgia in Dec. '73. Camped out at a rest stop. Maybe the starriest night I ever saw.

I'll take them to my buddy, pretty sure that's the sort of device he has. Will get a kick out of seeing it. He wants to keep me happy. If I ever get rich and famous I'm going to have him put in new seals on my SDL tranny. He wants to do it. Says he can stop all the leaks. Might do it myself someday. Whoa, big job.

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Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Sounds like a nice car!

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Thanks! I've finally replaced most every rubber bit that I can source on the car - all the light and window seals, suspension, you name it. Parts a bit pricey but labor is just time. All I can think of now is the cruise control and door lock vacuum leaks. It's so very smooth and quiet on the high way, hard to put words to the satisfaction I feel from getting it to run like it does now. 99% Rust-free to boot; maybe it will outlive me too.

Henry

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1976 Mercedes-Benz 300D, Colorado Beige / Mahogany
www.hmclever.com

Another possibility for causing lower power: EGR is failed in the open position, feeding exhaust gasses back into the intake, so there is not enough oxygen to burn the fuel. Engine will produce smoke and have low power.

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Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC

Yes, the tube and valve *must* have zero resistance when you blow through them, remove both and clean with purple de greaser cut 50/50 with tap water, be careful to not drop the two small & thin copper crush washers on the banjo bolt at the rear end of the intake manifold nor the hard to reach sheet metal screws holding the valve to the firewall .

Once this is all done, the plastic pipes to the ALDA from the valve go: top one to the ALDA, bottom one to the intake manifold, yes it makes a difference .

All done ? good ~ now with the engine fully warmed up and hot, apply vacuum to the EGR valve's nipple, the engine *must* stumble as the vacuum is applied and smooth out as the vacuum is released .

It's very common for these EGR valves to stick part way open, they're easy to clean using a tooth brush and the same purple degreaser and water mix....

Unless you have a sink in the garage be VERY CAREFUL about making sure SWMBO is gone long enough for you to do serious cleaning of the kitchen / washroom sink after you're all done, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

It’s really hard to tell by looking. They look normal but you need to pop them if you really want to check them. I thought your Vietnamese mechanic “checked” them already? Checked should mean popping them on a tester and looking at the spray pattern.

Ive read over your posts and you haven’t mentioned checking out your fuel tank strainer and your two fuel filters. Sorry if I missed it. If you haven’t you need to check and replace filters. This is a must when acquiring one of these diesels without a maintenance history. Top end power issues scream fuel filters to me.

I got my 300d with low power. It was really neglected. It was different though, it was weak off the line but had good top end power. I did all the basics boost line, valves, fuel filters, timing, rack damper adjustment, linkage adjustment, cleaned sticky turbo, removed clogged trap oxidizer. It seemed everything gave it some power back. Now it is a pleasure to drive and drives normally.

Then after all that, I tested my injectors. They were perfect and I put them right back.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles
97 C280 147k miles

He did test them, I called him, he said he has a machine for it, his English is fairly good but he doesn't use some of the terms that others use. When I told him I was thinking about getting them tested he said to bring them in as long as I have them out, he'll show me. Will do that in the next couple of days.

Oh man, rust. I was having huge trouble with the primary filter clogging up in short order. I was taking them out almost every day to clean them with WD-40. Probably other ways to do it. I bought about 4 or 5 before I realized I could clean them out. I also replaced the secondary filter.

I finally took the tank out and cleaned it. Used purple degreaser, acid, pea gravel. I think I did it about 95% effective, if I did it over I might have done a few things better but it was a huge improvement. I put in another new secondary filter. I had a thread about maybe putting in a new tank. Here's the post after I pulled it.

I've done a few other things as well. New oil cooler lines. THAT was a tough job. One of the existing was leaking, not a small leak. My Mechanic, Ky, spotted a badly worn fan clutch, put in a new one. If you're ever in a bind in the Bay Area: Ky's Auto Repair, Redwood City, south of SF, north of Palo Alto.

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Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Thanks. I've been wrenching on various cars for a long time and it's sort of amazing how little I know. I'm pretty good on brakes.

To the present, never a dull moment. I got my shipment from Pelican today and the glow plug heat shields have a larger hole than the ones that came out:



Slightly different OD as well. The new ones:

.797; .394 (ID)

The old ones:

.811; .282

Both are .106 thick.

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Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Is that you mostly discover how little you actually know...... .

The good part is : as you learn and grasp how it all works you can share the knowledge freely and learn ever more....

Nothing quite beats the feeling of a good running machine you fixed with your own two hands .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

I know that one pretty well. My first E30 was my favorite car ever, at least up til that time. Not as fast as some of the Bimmers, but plenty fast enough and just a great feel. I got 450k out of that one, got it at 214K. Helped that the PO was a Bimmer fanatic , took it to an expensive indie garage every 6 months. Good God, the new parts in that car. I had service records a quarter inch thick. I welded 4 CATs into it, put in new intake manifold gaskets (biatch of a job), added E36 injectors (noticeable power boost), new clutch and driveline (heaviest tranny I ever pulled, even compared to trucks), new rear bearings, rear tranny bushing, control arms, 3 racks, too much to go into. Would have been nutty to pay someone for all that work.

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Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

I just makes no economic sense to farm out a lot of work on older cars. Todays costs of doing so outweighs buying a much better car to start with. Of the same type.

Since I do not repair cars for a living. I find most jobs both relaxing and enjoyable. You do have to have enough tools though.. I never had any issue with buying tools .

Usually the first job you did with them basically paid for them in comparison to farming the work out. You normally keep them for your lifetime after and seldom wear them out. As you are not using them continually.

I realize they can be expensive retail today. Yet there are other sources as well. In the early spring I go to a few yard sales. Usually I already own most the tools being sold. Yet there are places that have various tools that I find useful for almost nothing on the dollar.

Especially tools that I may use very seldom. So cannot reasonably justify buying them at retail. Various supplies or consumables also frequently appear. Prices are frequently negotiable as people want the items gone.