Project Smokey Wagon 2014! - Mostly just noob questions inside. W123 1985 300TD - Page 9 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

WarTowels · #**121** 03-13-2015, 11:49 AM

VIN Should be leak free now! Woot.

Continuing my work cleaning the interior. Passenger front is done. Every panel/carpet has been removed and freshened up.

Did a little rust slowing down/clean up on the drivers side as well and have one more carpet to clean and then everything can go back on that side too. I also fixed several loose grommets on the firewall that were letting in cold air. Now that those are fixed and I opened the vent actuators I now have nice toasty floor heat.

toomany MBZ · #**122** 03-13-2015, 03:49 PM

Good job.

dieselgirl85300D · #**123** 03-14-2015, 05:47 PM

Check below the hood hinges (pockets near firewall, both sides) for leaves and debris this will collect crud and eventually rust and cause interior leaks, also there is a cavity underneath the drivers wiper under the cowl vents that is supposed to be sealed where the metal seams meet, can be a source of leaks as well. Sunroof has drains, front and rear, they clog also
Good thread thanks!!
More Picts!!!!

WarTowels · #**124** 03-31-2015, 10:20 AM

^Thanks! I believe I have solved all the leaks now!

Haven't done much to the car recently, trying to wait for spring to break through winter so I can work outside comfortably again.

Car's running great though and it's lovely to have the all the front interior back in the car.

Only thing I've done this week is I purchased a door lock knob that was missing from the passenger front.

WarTowels · #**125** 04-02-2015, 10:33 AM

Anyone replace the rear carpets in the back of the TD? Mine is rather disgusting... it's going to need probably 3-5 hours of cleaning... not sure it's worth it.

Went to some auto parts store, carpet stores, jo ann fabrics but haven't found anything even remotely close to replace it with.

vwnate1 · #**126** 04-03-2015, 05:56 PM

Overall you're doing very well there ~ your car looks great and you're addressing all those niggly little things no one else bothered to do for decades...

I too have an old Beige TD , I love it .

rjz5400 · #**127** 04-04-2015, 12:29 PM

Nice work on this previously iffy maintained TD!

I just have to know, how did you get the rear wiper and hoses out? i Have a leak under the headliner and a clogged nozzle to boot....

WarTowels · #**128** 04-04-2015, 04:33 PM

The rear washer area is a real pain, surprisingly so!

Lots of time and fiddling and I was able to get MOST of the hoses out for replacement. I ordered a new rear nozzle from Mercedes as well as a new 2-way valve for the rear washer system (I'm on week two of waiting).

Once that comes in I'm hoping it'll illuminate more clearly how to remove the rear nozzle as honestly it's not very apparent. If I can get that out, I'll be able to replace 100% of the hoses.

I just removed all the panels, used a heat gun and took my time. It turned into a couple hours over the course of two days.

I removed the side kick door panel, the pillar panel and the plastic panel holding the rear light and speakers all came out and that was enough for me to push and pull the tubing out.

As for the rear wiper, I haven't had to remove that. I just replaced with a new one.

WarTowels · #**129** 04-19-2015, 02:22 PM

My replacement rear nozzle (DOPPELDOUCE!) finally came in from Germany and I got to installing it. What - a - pain. It took forever to get things lined up and tightened down. With the hatch still on the vehicle is there only about 3" of space to work through a tiny access hole.

Took me over an hour and two people to screw in a single screw! I used a Philips head bit and a mini ratchet. Got the job done eventually and now I have working rear washer fluid! Woo.

I like restoring back the functionality it once had.

Couple random questions:

1. I'm convinced I have an oil leak/weep. And it's been difficult tracking it down, but I think it's coming from where the turbo meets the manifold. But I have no idea why there would be oil there. When I ran a makeshift catch can and drove the car around it had absolutely no oil in it. So I don't think it's getting into the intake and then being sucked into the turbo.

2. So my rear SLS is not working and the weather is getting nicer so I may start to think about tackling that when I free my other car from it's winter slumber. I've noticed that going over nasty bumps in the car the front handles it quite well and the back gives a little *thump* as it hits.

So it seems like I may need accumulators to get the leveling part working again, would that help the *thud* going over bumps in the rear, too?

fahrvergnugen · #**130** 04-19-2015, 03:05 PM

PM me your email address, I think I can help you with diagnosis and repair of your SLS.

WarTowels · #**131** 03-08-2016, 10:53 AM

Wow I can't believe how long it's been... I had a really good run with 'VIN' in terms of everything workings quite well in general.

I'm still having leak issues that I can't figure out the source of. One is still up front on the drivers side and the other is diagonally opposite on the rear most passenger window- the washer fluid in the back area is collecting water. I garage the car though, so this is rarely an issue for me.

WarTowels · #**132** 03-08-2016, 10:57 AM

OIL Leaks =(

Recently, my fairly clean underbody and dry engine has become the more standard W123 covered in oil engine. I think I have multiple leaks...

I have confirmed a leak from the Turbo Drain Pipe lower grommet/seal. I'm trying to find part numbers for this as I think the CA model may have a different seal... Any help here would be great.

Advice? I was thinking about dropping the oil pan for this repair because of the pain I've heard about doing it. I was wondering if it was possible to leave the top of the drain tube attached to the turbo, if the pan is dropped.

A new oil pan gasket and a cleaning I'm sure are in order.

I think I have a second or third leak, too though. The underside of the cold side of the turbo looks oily. *Not* the top of the return pipe though. Also the top of the tranny is oily as well, but I have no VC leaks.

WarTowels · #**133** 03-08-2016, 11:01 AM

Valve Adjustment-

So I wanted to preform a valve adjustment as I haven't done one before and this is a great car to practice on all considering.

So I followed the guides to a T and adjusted 8 of my 10 valves. 2 were found to be in spec (both exhaust). I had several valves that were much too loose and several valves too tight as well. I adjusted the valves back to Turbo spec. Rotated the engine many times and triple checked the clearances. I wanted to be sure I had absolutely done it right.

Well everything is buttoned back up and when I fire up the car, the first second or two had a new hesitation to it. After that, it appeared to run identically to before the adjustment. I have no driven the car because of the aforementioned oil leaks. But sitting and revving the engine, everything sounds as normal. Shut the car off and let it sit for the day. Yesterday I fired her up again to see if that hesitation was gone and it still presented itself. It was just like a tiny hiccup and then the car ran seemingly normal.

Anyone have any idea what that might be? Should I have noticed a difference in the engine? (Some valves that should have been .1mm were .4,mm and .35mm etc) Should I just open it up again and recheck everything?

Thanks for the advice!

funola · #**134** 03-08-2016, 11:07 AM

On my leaky 83 turbo drain grommet, I cleaned and de-greased the area and gobbed it up with RTV= no more leaks. With your other leaks, work from top down. Clean, find the topmost leak first then fix. Go to the next lower leak.

My 85 was drenched in oil when bought. I used procedure above and it is now totally dry. Biggest leak was the valve cover gasket, minor leaks from vac pump gasket/bolts, power steering hose clamps, oil filter housing gasket.

vwnate1 · #**135** 03-08-2016, 12:30 PM

The turbo oil drain tube grommet is not so hard once you drop the oil pan .

I managed to damage one tube pretty badly by going at it only from above ~ I chipped and picked away at the old rock hard and degraded grommet then had the devil of a time getting the tube out .

The next one I dropped the lower sump and easily pushed the tube up out of the grommet using a bit of wooden dowel .

I'm currently doing brakes (over a MONTH wait for a L/F ATE caliper !

) and the door checks ~ it turns out the DPM took one ball bearing out of each door check.....

There's more but that's the main things .