I was worried that this car might have skeletons in the trunk. Only 135K when I got it, near cherry in and out but a wee bit gutless. Not bad for longer trips, will cruise at 65 to 70 but that's about top speed. Also had trouble cold starting in Dec. in Oregon - about 32° and later in WA at about 38°. Lengthy grinding, was getting worried about draining the battery. Or damaging the starter. Would rest about 2 minutes between 10 second spells of grinding.

I had read that poor compression could be a cause of poor cold starting.

The compression test news was surprisingly good: 1 through 4 - 380psi, 5 - 360. I'm thinking to do it again starting with #5. But I'm guessing this means that trying to get it running well is doable w/o breaking the bank. My '81 300SD was much peppier and that model weighs 300 lbs more.

I haven't yet done a lot with it. I feel stupid in admitting it, but I didn't get the title when I bought it. My SDL had blown a radiator the day before, I wanted to buy the 300D at the indie lot I'd been towed to, stayed overnight, got the cash together, basically jumped through hoops to make it happen. I hand him the money and hold out my hand for the title. He said that the garage owner keeps all the titles at his house for safekeeping and he was 20 miles away taking care of his wife at a hospital and they'd mail it to me. I didn't like the sound of it but I needed to be on my way to make a deadline, I wanted the car, and this wasn't just some guy with a sign in the window. The garage had numerous good Yelp reviews.

Long story short, after two stalling episodes by phone over the next two weeks he said the wife was back home and couldn't find the title. He said he would get a replacement, after a few weeks I discovered this was blowing smoke. The lady who sold the car to the garage has been amazingly helpful, we completed the application for new title Dec. 21st. DMV called a few days ago, it all looks good, I might have it by Feb 1. Bought it in mid Oct., purchased two 21 day 'light vehicle trip permits,' you only get two.

So I haven't put a lot into yet. Was reluctant to invest more until I knew I could get it off the 'paperweight' square and actually legally license it.

I'll next take off the intake manifold, inspect and clean. Perhaps trying to weld up the EGR so it looks functional but is actually deleted.

I saw an old post from Diesel911 about things to check/overhaul before rebuilding the turbo but I can't find it. Thought I bookmarked it.

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Te futueo et caballum tuum

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