I picked up a parts car a couple of weeks ago. The title shows it is a 1982. The plate in the door jam shows date of manufacture 12/81.
The trunk tag says Turbodiesel. I got it for a song, so didn't ask any questions, just loaded it on the trailor and hauled it home. It is wrecked.
Got it in the garage and pried open the hood. Definately not a turbodiesal. Was very oily and showed poor maintence, however when I turned the key and warmed the glow plugs she started right up. This was after sitting for 9 months. No blowby. Ran it for over an hour and by all appearances it is a nice strong engine. Compression checked at 380-385 nice and even on all five.
Now, question is how do I ID this motor? The books all show the 82 as only coming with a Turbodiesel. From what I could see it is probably a replacement. Some of the hose were mounted strangly. Found a couple loose bolts on the trans. Some of the other stuff was hard to sort out from the very hard right front damages.

There is an engine series # painted on the front of my engine block over the water pump (from a 82 300SD manufactured 10/81) which says "951" in 2 inch tall white numbers. Also, a casting date I believe near the starter.

This is a 123 chassis, by the way. I did find a casting on the front of the engine. Hard to read, lots of numbers. Appears it starts with 951, then a series of 0,s . Nothing I was able to make sense of, as a complete engine number.
Will get out the pressure washer this weekend and remove the inches of gunk and look for that plate near the starter.

If it is a 300D then it should have the 617.951 engine if it was a turbo, I don't know the non-turbo info. The # near the starter is actually cast into the block with ID #'s the factory would change periodically - I don't know how often, but it looks like a date code of some sort. Also, a buddy of mine had a 300D non-turbo with a "turbodiesel" tag on the trunk because the original lid got trashed and the lid he got from the boneyard had the turbo tag.

I am thinking this is an older diesel powerplant. That still makes little sense. The odometer shows 159k and the interior is very clean, as in a lower mileage beast. It has some things I had not seen on a 300D before. Has roll up windows, and does not have climate control and has cloth seats.
I cannot figure out why someone would have made the changeover form turbo to the non turbo five cylinder, but that may be the case here.
I did notice the shut off on the IP on my 78 is a big handle with red marks that points up from the backside if the IP. This one has a small handle on the outside of the IP, that is pointed forward. Does that give anyone a clue?

It's possible that you have a European market 300D. Normally aspirated 300Ds were available outside of the US in the 1982 model year.

Sixto
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD

A likely sign of a euro motor would be a complete lack of an EGR system - not just a disabled or removed EGR but an intake manifold without a provision for one

Look for lack of oil cooler, lack of cruise control, short bumpers, basic interior (no wood trim, manual climate control, cloth seats). All are signs of a euro car.

At times like this I wish I had a digital camera. There is an EGR. It is mounted under the intake, goes directly into the exhaust. The other thing about this engine that struck me odd is that the electric fan was not plugged into anything. The lead was nicely tied up. Stuff like that makes me think someone stuffed a non turbo into this car.

The VIN should give it away. A 300D is a 123.130, a 300Dt is a 123.133. In US VIN speak it's AB30 and AB33 respectively. Look for such a sequence in your VIN. Probably best to trust the VIN in the driver door pilar.

Sixto
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD