Nailing?

[Ohtooman]

Just looked at a 82 SD for my daughter. 280K, ugly as sin since it has the top half sprayed with black primer that is peeling off. Everything works, including AC. Engine has what I would characterize in a gasoline engine as a loud knock. Oil pressure is perfect. Has good power and runs smooth at speed. Owner says that he drives it to work every other day. Is the knocking likely to be the nailing problem I have heard about on this forum? He wants $1000, but I will probably offer $800 instead. Any ideas on the knocking? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[psfred]

Dave:

Diesel engines normally rattle quite a bit at idle. The MB engines are quieter than US engines, but it is still possible to hear them distinctly. A loud clack, as if someone were driving a large nail into an oak board, is injector knock. Clatter, sounds like a gas engine with spark knock, is normal and can be ignored.

The key items to check:

Does it start easly (almost instantly) stone cold with one glow plug cycle? If not, it's got a problem, and can be expensive to fix.

Does it use oil? Leaks can be ignored, pretty much, but more than a quart in 1000 miles probably indicates a problem, usually VERY expensive to fix.

Does it smoke? A little white or blue/white smoke on startup is normal, but large amount of white, blue, or black smoke can be trouble.

Otherwise, buy it!

Peter

[Ohtooman]

Thank, Psfred. It does start cold just fine and has good power. It does smoke a little (light gray oil smoke) when started, but as this is just to get my daughter around for a year or so until she has more money, maybe it will be ok for a while. What is embarassing is that more works on this SD than works on mine!