[V8] Well now, just look at what you find when you don't have a gun....

[Roger M. Woodbury]

Actually I never had any trouble with my diesels.  Well, ALMOST no trouble.
I bought a very nice '83 300D in Florida once.  It had about 80,000 miles on
it at the time, and I drove it back to Maine, and back to Florida once or
twice.  It was really bought to make the Maine to Florida run since I was
taking care of elderly relatives in Florida at the time.

Anyway, after the second or third trip to Florida I began to have more and
more trouble starting it, regardless of temperature or whether or not I
plugged the thing in.  Eventually, I took it to a former client of mine who
was a diesel engine specialist and who had developed quite a subspecialty in
dealing with MBZ engines.  

His pronouncement was that the car had been overheated at some point, and
perhaps the head gasket had partially failed.  He felt that coolant might
have seeped into a piston, the resulting compression creating ball bearings
that had scored at least one or two pistons.  Prescription:  Overhaul the
engine.

He did an eight thousand dollar complete overhaul, and the car ran perfectly
thereafter.  But I still had some difficulties with cold weather starting as
the car sat exposed to cold west and northwest winds that even plugging in
had trouble overcoming.  I sold the car somewhat later and along came the
first Audi Quattro.

But if I could buy a W123 model Mercedes with perfect service history, I
might be tempted, especially if my wife and I do the traveling that we are
planning to do that will require a strong, long distance touring car.

The six cylinder W124 cars were marvelous long distance cars, too.  MUCH
more power and better fuel economy than the W123, but I don't think the
bodies were quite as strong.  The six cylinder engine had trouble with trap
oxidizers in 1987, and Mercedes recalled all of them to fix the problem.
Even today, if there is a six cylinder engine that has not had the recall
completed, it will be done by Mercedes.  And the cylinder heads and trap
oxidizers are warranteed for the life of the car by Mercedes, regardless of
miles.

I doubt that I will actually buy one, but the MB diesels through 1987 can be
really wonderful automobiles.  True "generational" cars.

Roger

-----Original Message-----
From: cobram at juno.com [mailto:cobram at juno.com] 
Sent: Sunday, May 20, 2007 12:12 AM
To: rmwoodbury at adelphia.net
Cc: v8 at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [V8] Well now, just look at what you find when you don't have a
gun....

"Roger M. Woodbury" <rmwoodbury at adelphia.net> writes:

> I am also having a wicked fantasy about this interesting,
> relatively low mile '87 MB 300TDT wagon....had a six cylinder MBZ 
> turbo diesel once and it was a WONDERFUL car.  

Excuse me while I go out and pull the glow plug relay.....just in case. 
;-) 
 
BCNU,
http://www.geocities.com/cobramsri/
Some days you're the dog, some days you're the hydrant
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