Thanks for the comments on the car guys :p

How was the Concours d'elegance thingy in
Greenwich this past weekend ?? Weather was
pretty nasty so I'd imagine that alot of the
vintage cars stayed home in their garages ..

Jim in Ct ..

Just saving an informative thread ..

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?threadid=64160

and another one ..

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?threadid=64160&highlight=1984

Jim in Ct ..

Man .. Oh .. Man .. What a beautiful day :cool: :cool:

We only get about 10 of these a year in Ct ..
So .. I just had to play hookie and head for
the beach .. I started to get in the 'gasser'
but the 300D said "Take me!! Take me!!", so I did ..
What a 'great' drive .. 185 miles round trip most of it
60-80 mph .. the car loved it !! Windows down .. nice
breeze .. mostly empty road .. today was why we own
these machines ..

Oh .. and to top it off .. stopped at the Mobil
on 95 .. long lines at the 'gas' pumps for $2.10
regular .. no lines at the 'diesel' for $1.64 :D :D
I know .. wait 'til February .. It'll be the other
way around :rolleyes:

Happy Labor Day everybody !!

Triffin

Enjoy that E300 Triffin. I love mine more and more everyday I wake...

Reasons to own a diesel from
Diesel Don ..


Don't get me going....

1. They're heavy and feel like a tank
2. They resemble driving a tractor
3. They last forever
4. They are different
5. You can fix them for next to nothing
6. They run smooth at high speeds
7. They have wierd, alternative fuel options
8. You can buy 7 of them for the price of a new, domestic low end car
9. The 7 you just bought would have been about $250,000 new
10. Your daughter can get rear ended by a F-150 and be playing volleyball 30 minutes later

Don

That pretty much covers it ;) ;) ;)


Dash Board Crack Repair


Pergo flooring makes a kit for professional floor mechanics to repair their wood and ceramic look-a-like products. It is a wax-like substrate mixed with vinyl (best guess). It has about 50 color dyes included in the kit. You heat the substrate with a soldering iron and mix it with different colors to match the floor perfectly. As the stuff cools, it shrinks inward. I put this stuff into the hole in my dash, and it drew the slit together so tight, I just wiped the excess off with a cloth and a you can't tell where the hole was. It worked perfectly for me, but I could see where it wouldn't say on my Jeep, which has sort of a hrder plastic material for a dash. It is formulated not to leave a miniscus (center lower than the sides) so there won't be a dent in the floor where the hole was---this is why I thought it would work.


The 'perfect' 123/126


...have all service records.
...be purchased from the original owner.
...have been in garage its entire life.
...have valve adjustments performed religiously at the factory prescribed 15,000 mile interval.
...have never been driven in any salt.
...have had regular and frequent oil changes.
...not have any rust at the jack points.
...not have any rust in the floor pans.
...not have any rust anywhere, especially in the trunk wells.
...not leak around the windshields.
...not burn any oil.
...not have any residual pressure in the cooling system after sitting overnight.
...shift smoothly with no flared or stacked shifts.
...have a dry trunk in the heaviest rainstorm.
...would unlock ALL of its doors from the driver's side key after sitting overnight.
...have a fully functional ACC that worked on both heat and cool without defaulting to blowing full-tilt only out of the defroster vents.
...not have had its air conditoner converted to 'new freon' R134a.
...be a California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada or Florida car.
...idle smoothly without any rocking.
...never nail. EVER.
...not smoke.
...still have its original first aid kit, safety triangle and toolkit
...not have aftermarket, custom wheels, clear 'corners' or a coffee-can sized exhaust tip.
...not have any of those stupid chrome fender covers.
...have already had the Behr radiator replaced with a better afermarket model.


Triffin ..

11. You can smoke tons of dank in them and they don't smell any worse than when you started, since they're 30 years old:D

glow plugs every 25k miles?
 

I hope that the guy who replaces his glow plug 3 times in 78k miles is the exception and not the norm. I was considering a 1999 E300TD. Every 25k miles is excessive to me. Especially if I am going to spend $25k on a 5 years old used car even if it is in nice shape and a Mercedes.

Everyone here knows that the problem with Mercedes is the cost of fixing them when something goes wrong.

$5 a quart oil I can live with but glow plugs are expensive and hard to replace I have seen a 99 td engine, the turbo is the only thing that is visable.

Does anybody else have issues with 1998 or 99 diesel MB's.

Lightman should I get the cheaper tdi for $10,000 or the really nice 1998 for $20,000. Which one is going to be a better value in the long run?

You may be referring to me as the person who has changed glow plugs 3 times in 78K miles. If so, that isn't quite right. I've changed them twice, so I'm on my third set. They've lasted about 40K miles for me. When one goes, the rule of thumb is to change them all because they're so hard to get to - the intake manifold has to come off.

Other than the glow plugs and the cracked dashboard, I don't think my E300 has had any more than its share of problems. Others here like dmorrison and blackmercedes have had a different experience and ended up hating the E300. But I'm still thrilled with mine. I think it's impossible to recommend a choice between an E300 and a TDI based solely on expected reliability. They're two completely different cars; you have to drive them both and choose the one that suits you.

ttt

The cars dont even compare. The E300 is much more luxurious...drives better, more room, etc. Clearly better looks. The jetta is just cheap to own...high mpg....your choice ;)

and the tdi is SLOW:D

Fun with RUST :p :p :p


More info on the POR products.
The Marine clean is a very strong degreaser. You do not want to have any grease or oil on the car when you treat it. The Marine clean will take care of this.
The Metal ready is a combination of Phosphric acid and Zinc phosphate, which is a metal bonding agent for the paint.
The metal ready converts the rust to carbon. Then as acid evaporates it leaves the zinc phospate as a primer for the POR.
The POR15 paint, as I said is a polyurethane. Polyurethane paint and polyurethane glue use moisture to cure. It will use the moisture in the air and in the metal to cure. This way the metal is sealed form any moisture that might cause rust.
The starter kit is a great way to take care of the small amount you have to do.
Shelf life of the POR15 products. Everything but the POR15 paint will last quite some time.
The paint will harden in the SEALED container after about 6-9 months, how do I know? I had some left over and when I went to use them on the 300TD trailing arm. They were solid when I opened the container. Once you open the container it will last only a couple of weeks. You have to seal the can with saran wrap or any plastic cling wrap. If you use just to top. The paint will seal the top shut on the can and you can't get it off.
Painting with POR15. Cover every inch of your body. If you get it on you and you DON'T wipe it off while wet. It will dry and nothing but time will take it off. About 2 weeks to completely come off. By the way that holds true with polyurethane glue.
So cover your self up, Nitril gloves and duct tape them to your long sleeve shirt. Use cheap "chip brushes" and trash them when your done. Don't buy an expensive brush for this. A ground cover is essential where it drips, Its will be there forever if you don't clean it up.
Cleaning, The cleaning solvent that they sell works well. I found that 3M weather strip adhesive cleaner works just as well.

Normally POR15 is applied to a rusted area that has only been wirebrushed. It does like a rough surface to "grab". We did a rather complete job of rust removal on our Mustang. 90% of the rust was removed when we used it.