New owner of '87 300SDL (long)
 

I just purchased a super pristine black/tan 1987 300 SDL with 98K miles on the clock over the weekend and I've got to say that this is a truly refined car compared to the 240D that I also have. We drove it from Louisville, Kentucky back to Houston yesterday. I wanted to ask the forum about a couple of minor issues I noticed with the car during the long "get acquainted" trip back.

1. When I use the climat control system, the vents occasionally blow out black debris specks like some sort of insulation. The debris are about the size ranging from a pin head to about the size of a dime and are thin. THey leave a stain if you accidentally rub them against the carpet but it will come off. Any suggestions on whether any body else has done to fix this problem.

2. I noticed that there is an opening on each of the front door by the door straps that meets up with an opening on the bottom of each side of the dash. Where does this vent opening go to on the front doors? I see no outlets along the top of the bottom of the windows.

3. I am going to have to replace the hood inslulation on this car since it is starting to detach itself. I did a quick search with regard to the hood inslulation and found that 3M adhensive remover is what is recommended to remove the old adhesive. What I am not sure about is what is recommended for the new adhesive. I've seen recommendations for 3M super adhesive, 3M super 77, and 3M General Trim Adhesive. Since this adhesive must be able to withstand engine temperatures, what would be the best?

4. I use Redline DFC on my '82 240D. Is it OK to use DFC on the '87 300SDL? I am asking this because there is a placard on the fuel door opening that says: "Diesel/No Additives". I thought that MB advocated the use of DFC.

5. This is hard to describe this but upon achieving highway speeds around 60 mph or above , when I was climbing hills and I started pressing slightly harder on the accelerator, it seemed as though the turbocharger would come on strong as though I was really stepping on the throttle. It's as though the wastegate would close (more turbocharging) all the way and then open (less turbocharging) when I let off slightly off the accelerator. Is this normal for this car? I'd like to hear from other owners that have the 603.961 engine (3.0 6 cylinder turbocharged engine).

Thanks for your inputs.

Herb
'82 240D
'87 300 SDL

Congratulations, airfoill.

I have been looking for a diesel for some time but no luck yet.

Based on your purchase, woud the following be a fair deal:

1987 300SDL - Silver/black leather, Turbo diesel, 141K easy miles, impeccable condition, $8,950.

Thanks.

Bo

I had to replace the hood insulation on my 190E. I used a putty knife to remove the remains of the old one and contact cement to put in the new one. Put the cement on both the insulation and the hood. Follow directions. Be careful when putting the two parts together. Once they touch, they will not come apart!

For the black crap coming out of the vents, I would assume it's the cabin filter... totally rotted away!

Bo,

If the car is in impeccable condition, then yes. But I would check the history of this car and it's service records. I would be suspicous; the reason is that if it is truly in impeccable condition, the person selling it would be asking alot more than the low end of the blue book value which runs about what you are describing. The average blue book I've seen is about $10K but that is just for an average car with some wear.

Things to check out for in these cars is rust at the bottom of the doors. You will have to get on your knees to see this but I've turned down other Mercedes cars for this reason.

Does the car start easily the first time when the engine is cold.......this is a good sign if the diesel engine has good compression.

Has the trap oxidizer been removed by the dealer? It should have already have done but the dealer will still do it for free, from what I understand others who have had this.

Does the climate control system work. Compared to my '82 240D, this system appears complicated to fix.

Of course, the best thing to do is actually look at it because what one person calls immaculate may not be immaculate to another.

Herb
'82 240D
'87 300SDL

More description on the black debris from vents
 

After looking at the debris more closely this evening, I would describe the debris being thinner than paper, shiny on both sides, and falls apart when you handle it. Also the pieces are in thin strips about the size of 1/4 inch.

Herb
'82 240D
'87 300SDL

I know I had a car that spit out stuff like that. It was the paper thin felt lining of my ductwork falling apart. I don't recall if it was the MB though.

airfoill,

I can't help you with the stuff coming out of the ducts, the hood liner replacement adhesive, or the question on the turbocharger operation, but I can try the other two questions.

First, the ducts in the doors feed airconditioned (heated or cooled or both) to the little holes in the doors. This was a big deal in the advertising literature of the day, as the hundreds of little vent holes were supposed to "waft" the processed air through the cabin rather than blast you with a stream of cold or hot air.

Second, Mercedes to my knowledge has never officially endorsed Redline additives, and for a while the original version was suspected of loosening little hot chunks of carbon that were impinging on the turbocharger and damaging the blades. Thus the advent of the Redline '85 stuff, which was supposed to have some kind of formulation that would not do that. In the end I think Mercedes stopped using the trap oxidizers, as they were eventually implicated. I am not familiar with any of this actual hardware as none of my cars ever had a trap oxidizer. But I have poured a lot of Redline into my 350SD and it likes it. From reading this forum, I think there is yet to be a Mercedes Diesel identified that did not like the stuff. And you can buy it at Mercedes dealerships (that is where I learned of it in around 1982 or so) but I do not believe it is officially endorsed by Mercedes-Benz.

Hope that helps you, and it sounds like you picked up a really nice example of a great car. Jim

I replaced mine using the 3M 77 spray adnesive. It isn't a real fun job. If you do it yourself, be sure that the hood is completely free of grease and oil, which means wiping it down with gasoline or a similar solvent the next day after gunking and water spraying it after scraping all the loose crap off. Good time to clean your engine too as it will get wet. Mask everything when spraying the 77 as it is messy. Have tick marks on the hood and pad to help you align the pad as it must be done perfectly. Another pair of capable hands is invaluable.

Thanks TX Bill
 

Thanks Bill for the thread. From the descriptions on that thread, it appears to be from the insulation. But I don't understand why it is so thin.

Herb
'82 240D
'87 300SDL

AiFoil:

The governor in these injection pumps is pretty sensitive -- keeps the speed almost like a cruise control. Very easy to get going WAY to fast on an upgrade if you don't watch the speedo. Normal behavior, if a bit unnerving at first.

Check the pressure line from the manifold to the injection pump ALDA (altitude compensator) and also to the vacuum regulator on the fender by the ABS -- if the lines leak it can cause funny things to happen with fuel delivery volume when the turbo come up. My 87 300DT was really bad about it before I replaced all the short rubber connectors. The pressure lines are clamped on with miniature hose clamps -- reuse them if you think the lines are bad and need to be replaced, or they will blow off when the turbo really comes on -- it is rated at 0.9 atm (13.8 psi). The hard plastic is probably fine, it's the rubber connectors that go bad, and on an 87 they are all bad or going that way.

Don't replace the big 5-way tree by the vacuum pump or the little green things in the line between the regulator and the vacuum thingy on the IP with anything but MB parts -- they have metered orifices in them.

You may also change shifting behavior by replacing the rubber hose bits -- MN uses a vacuum modulated tanny (!) on everything. More details on other posts.

Peter

I have never tried the 3M 77 spray but use the 3M Super Trim Adhesive all the time with very good results. I do not need to mask the surrounding, just some news papers on the engine, the fenders, etc. It is because, unlike the regular spray nozzle, the nozzle from the 3M Super Trim Adhesive gives a narrow spray so that the adhesive goes exactly where I want it. I do not really clean the under hood too much except scraping off the loose materials with a plastic putty knife. If you have to clean the oil off the underside of the hood, the water based degreser, such as Sample Green or Oil Eater, is very good for that. Gasoline is very dangerous. I will not use it for anything other than what it is designed for. You do need the tick marks since you have to do it right the first time. Once the pad is on, you cannot take it back out to reposition it.

David