Well of course not, that's why you're here, right ? .

Go back and look at your photo of the turbo from above ~ directly below the oil feed pipe were the lower bolt is gone missing, you can see the soft fluffy black exhaust soot ~ this is what you'll be looking for at every joint/connection in the exhaust system .

Take your own flashlight with NEW batteries ~ .99 cent store again, you should carry one in the glovebox at all times .

I have never been charged to put my vehicle up on the muffler shop's hoist ~ YMMV, if he's honest it shouldn't be more than $10 but that's just me ~ I'm a Journeyman Mechanic who understands there are times when it's not appropriate to charge a Customer .

I'd just roll in and tell him " I smell exhaust, could you take a look and give me an idea what I might be looking at dollar wise please ? " .

FWIW, I have seem a few cracked flex couplings but it you con't see the fluffy black soot it prolly doesn't need replacing .

__________________
-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

So ;

How's it going ? .

Have you been able to get it started O.K. ? .

I ask because there's a specific drill few ever bother to follow, my old clapped out NA 300CD always started quickly even in 40° F temps and it had seriously low compression .

__________________
-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

Ok friends, time for some real fun! I'm sorry to be distant for so long, but i've been super duper tied up with work. But.... I need some real advice here!

Can someone tell me if this is caused by a sudden burst from weather? OR.. is this a full blown tire slashing?
There was someone i was dating for some time who after a while i discovered is very bipolar and has a abusive impulse you wouldn't believe, so i broke it off a short while ago. She would do something like this.. But I very much hope this is not the case. I hope it's just an explosion from temperature or something. Pictures are below. Totally flat of course.

I mean since mid october i've had them filled well under what is rated on the tires as being max psi. But it was perhaps a couple PSI above what mercedes had recommended. Like if the tires are 44 max, and mercedes recommended 34 or something, then i would have put them at 36 ish. I remember doing that. Would a decrease in temperature go this wrong?

The pictures are at an angle so you can't really tell this, but the lines are perfectly straight. There are three "cuts"..

Is this not the most interesting thread on the forum now?

Aside from this.. the engine has been starting up perfectly except for the fact that i have to change my main fuel filter since i did a diesel purge and partly plugged it up with cleaned out gunk. So when i start it up i quickly give it a tiny bit of throttle otherwise it stutters. After just 1 second of a little extra gulp of fuel it's totally fine. Never stutters during operation. But in that regard i've been a bit of a neglectful owner. Gotta change that filter. I mean it hasn't come to a stall out from this, just a blip stutter which i haven't let happen since the first couple times.

But the glow plugs are definitely working. In fact better than my other vehicle. On that one i had to wait two or three times as long as the light would stay on, for the glow plugs to be hot enough to start things up. But on this one it just turns right over.

I'm happy with a lot of things overall, but frustrated with the turbo situation. I got so busy with work that i was not able to swap turbos before the weather turned. So now i have to find a place indoors for a couple days. You know, when i have time. But running the heat invites the fumes into cabin. So it's been cold rides. Fortunately my work is only a 10 minute drive.

Here's what i woke up to this morning..

Nice to know I'm not the only one who's dated a psych-b*tch .

The _good_ news is : those tires were badly dry rotted and would have blown out on you in time anyway .

The _bad_ news is : you now need to go buy some cheap snow tires and run them until she goes away or does this again .

Yes, those tires were slashed .

Glad to hear it's at least running and starting O.K. .

__________________
-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

How difficult is it to penetrate these tire walls like this? My friend in town has suggested the idea that she's just too small to do this. She's like 115 pounds and probably only has a large kitchen knife at her disposal

Pretty easy in fact .

Remember : I've been a machanic for close to 50 years and have seen this over and over again .

Any $5 double edged knife will easily penetrate the side walls, more so because those were crispy rotten and so weaker .

Of course, you may remember the incredible sex (I still do fondly) and want to call her and discuss things.......

Your call, I hope you're smarter than that .

__________________
-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

You and i should have a beer some time. Incredible is the word. But not only that, we also made music together. And we have the same taste in food, wine, film, and ways to spend time in general. When things were good, it was amazing. When things were bad, it was buckle up for safety mode.
I don't even know if it was her. I really hope it wasn't.

Regardless, i think i'll drive it a block to the shop lift tomorrow morning and have them swap wheels. Don't feel like jacking up in the salty slushy winter weather. Summer time, sure. Would be my first time and i have work to do. I'm a new car owner, remember.

Go buy some cheap used not very good tires .

My psycho-b*tch GF wound up on the front page of the newspaper after she attacked me in front of my then 12YO Son ~ I decided instead of belting her, to let her run wild, he ran and called the PD, she went to jail .

Life can be very strange indeed .

I used to work at another shop where the owner liked playing with fire, that fire was super cute but also had a jail bird other boy friend who'd slash the tires on the car my boss bought her ~ it took him a few times to learn the obvious lesson : b*tch drives on bald tires until bad man goes away.....

__________________
-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

Ok, so..
It wasn't a slashing. The tires are just old.
A second one went out recently.

Now i have a new task...

What is a good set of tires for a 1985 300D Turbo, that is ALL WEATHER?
I would greatly prefer to not be swapping tires per season.
I'm ok with a little loss of performance during summer, or whatever sacrifice it may be to just keep a set of tires year round.

I can also pump them up a little fuller in the summer, i assume.

Today, after my second repair, i brought them all down to 28 PSI.

Low pressure will make them blow out faster do to heat buildup......

__________________
-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'm thinking the General Altimax RT43 195/70R14 91T.
Seems they are pretty good overall and good for winter and summer?

As for another high priority, but has been stalled by the weather, i would love to solve the turbo leak so that i can actually use my heat in my car without filling the cabin with fumes. As it is now i basically leave it off. I can't do a double turbo job in these temperatures. As in, removing from one car and putting on another.

Would i be unwise to try sealing the edge of turbo with some sort of high temperature spray on sealant goop? JP Weld? Something like this? https://www.ebay.com/i/272846313117?chn=ps

This particular turbo is never going to be a keeper, so i don't mind ruining it beyond it's current use. Below is the exhaust leak pictured, and arrows to indicate where the sealant would go.

I'm thinking i can do this because the pressure pushes out so the substance will never be pulled in or anything. But is the pressure so much that any kind of high temp sealant will burst off? I know measuring the PSI from the manifold to test turbo performance only gives readings of around 12-18 PSI. But what is the pressure in this middle section of the turbo?

I have just had my first issue getting the engine to turn over. Plugged in the block heater, which i had forgotten had existed, and i'll try again in maybe 3 or 4 hours. It's -2 degrees F outside here.

However, in my trial getting the engine to turn over, in the extremely cold still air i noticed a small bit of "exhaust" floating in from around where the passenger's feet would be. Putting on a mask i started the ignition one more time just to get to watch where this was coming from, after pulling down the underside of dash over by passenger. I noticed that the "exhaust" was coming from the firewall but it was too tough to determine where exactly. I didn't want to keep turning the ignition repeatedly for fear of doing damage or just draining the battery.

This HAS to be part of the problem with getting a slight fumey smell in the cabin. This is a different smell, due to the fact that it's the engine struggling to turn over. It's seemingly much more toxic smell than usual and i got he hell out of there as soon as i could.

But should there really be a leak in the fire wall that leads to raw exhaust coming into the cabin? I understand the heater pulling from the engine bay. But the heater switch is off and there is a trickle of exhaust coming in by the passenger's feet. It's not rising up from the floor just in front of seat. It's starting at the firewall around 8 inches up and floating towards the seat.

What should i look at to solve this?

Look underneath the battery tray ~ it often rusts through right there .

Also look at where the AC hose passes through, there's a rubber grommet that shrinks as it ages .

__________________
-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

BTW : I hope you know and are following the proper cold weather starting drill as you only get once or two chances in cold like this .

__________________
-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

So i swapped batteries upon learning that even heating the block for 4 hours didn't do the trick. Turns out i had chewed through the battery with those trials of starting up.
Swapping worked. Got it turned over and have it running.
This was a good opportunity to make a video of the engine bay exhaust. It's worse than i had remembered, or maybe it just got worse. Or maybe it's just that low temps makes it super apparent.
Either way, here's a video.. Engine Bay Exhaust
It certainly is not centered around the turbo. It seems to be coming from underneath and closer to the firewall.
Any thoughts? I think i'll just take it to a shop for them to evaluate, but perhaps it's something i can address myself. I don't have much time on my hands these days though.

Hmmmmmm can you inform of what this is? Is heating with the engine block heater enough?
I believe i do not know the of any routines...!