Hi guys,
I took an early morning flight from Phoenix to Oakland yesterday and headed to Alameda island to visit a friend and to pick up his midnight blue over grey vinyl Mercedes that he was not needing anymore. He was gifted it not too long ago by a neighbor of his who didn't have a need for it or the space. I drove it back and made it home at about 4am. I got it for free, but it does need some work. First off, it unfortunately does have the original #14 head, but it starts quickly, runs cool (temp gauge usually hovering right above 80C), and runs well. It has 245k miles on it so far. The trap oxidizer was replaced at some point in the past with a straight-pipe, so that's good. Some things I noticed on the trip was that it appears to have a non-functioning turbo. It couldn't maintain speed up hills and had to down-shift quite a bit, and I never heard a turbo spool up. The anti-lock brake light is always on. Also, towards the end of my 700 odd mile trip, the glow plug light started to flicker more and more. The car came with a rather elaborate expensive-looking vegetable oil system installed that has a digital control unit in the dash and a big tank in the trunk. I'm most likely taking that all out, so if someone is interested, let me know. This is my first "newer" diesel I have owned. I've had a 76 240D, 81 300SD, and an 83 300SD.

Did you take off the air box and listen? You could just be running very lean.

I would do a diesel purge to clean out all the WVO gunk and go from there.

I would suggest that those injectors need tested and cleaned after running veggie oil. You might be surprised how gunked up they are. Congrats on the acquisition. Mine originally came from Alameda too.

__________________
DS
2010 CL550 - Heaven help me but it's beautiful
87 300D a labor of love
11 GLK 350 So far, so good
08 E350 4matic, Love it.
99 E320 too rusted, sold
87 260E Donated to Newgate School
www.Newgateschool.org - check it out.
12 Ford Escape, sold, forgotten
87 300D, sold, what a mistake
06 Passat 2.0T, PITA, sold

Las Vegas NV

Your OVP relay is likely toast. That would affect the antilock system as well as engine management. You may have a rough idle as a result. Less obvious is that the EGR system won't be working correctly, and there may be other subtle problems.

You have a #14 head. So what? If it's made it this long, it's going the distance. It would be nuts to replace it for no reason. The trap oxidizers were replaced by Mercedes under recall, in addition to the delete pipe, there's a trapox in the front pipe (unless it's been replaced somewhere along the way).

It's tough to hear "turbo spool up" with these cars. There's a boost port on the left side of the head, you can temporarily plumb in a boost gauge there to make an assessment.

The glow plug light is likely telling you that one of the plugs is marginal. As long as the car is starting up, it's a lower priority item. Get rid of all that veggie plumbing.

Or that the GP fuse is starting to crack. Mine flickered before totally crapping out on a 35 degree night, which meant a bit of cranking to get her going.

__________________
RenaissanceMan Labs: where the future is being made today.

Garage:

2017 Chevy Colorado Diesel (nanny state emissions)
2005 Volvo S40 T5 AWD, 77k
1987 Mercedes-Benz 300D turbodiesel, 4 sp auto, 156k - 28.7 mpg
1996 Tracker 4x4, 2 door, 16v, 3 sp auto. 113k - 28.6 mpg

WARNING: this post may contain dangerous free thinking.

Here's some pics of the engine bay and the veg system tank and components, plus one pic of the trap delete. It's going to be a total headache trying to figure out how to revert everything back to as stock as possible. There's so many hoses, wires and little components everywhere and I have no idea what stock looks like. FML

Re: the turbo, remove the intake tube between the air filter and turbo and reach in with your fingers to determine whether the turbo is spinning freely and not wobbly or damaged. If it spins without much up/down play you're good. You can see in best with a phone camera pointed just right. Otherwise check the operation of the vacuum controlled waste gate. If you remove the vacuum hose and apply a little air pressure that waste gate should move freely. If not, it will need attention. It will be a lot easier if you remove the heat shield panel first.

__________________
DS
2010 CL550 - Heaven help me but it's beautiful
87 300D a labor of love
11 GLK 350 So far, so good
08 E350 4matic, Love it.
99 E320 too rusted, sold
87 260E Donated to Newgate School
www.Newgateschool.org - check it out.
12 Ford Escape, sold, forgotten
87 300D, sold, what a mistake
06 Passat 2.0T, PITA, sold

Las Vegas NV

Trap delete: That is the replacement for the oxidative catalyst, dealer installed. Under the car midway back the dealer should have added a new catalytic converter of some sorts, which is also prone to plugging up and causing issues.


Total Headache: I completely agree! That will be a project. Recommend you look online for engine bay photos and in the FSM for diagrams of the various systems to help correct all that.

__________________
Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC

This link has some good pix of a nice clean engine bay:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1987-mercedes-benz-300td/

__________________
Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC

Those are some great pics there. Thanks man. Looks like my washer reservoir and pumps are missing for some reason. I was wondering what went on the empty mount.

The positive thing is, it looks like a dual WVO system. Assuming the POs were smart, you're only supposed to run those when the engine is hot and then let it purge with diesel fuel before you turn it off.

The will probably be in better health than the old LoveCrap stuff that put many of our beloved cars in the junkyards in the olden days.

Still would run diesel purge through it.

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-Typos courtesy of my mobile phone.

Cool find and even better getting it free. I always love a fly and drive pick up like that too.

On your engine bay, someone has modified almost all of the coolant and heater hoses. There is a lot of special pre-bent hoses on the stock arrangment and maybe they did not want to deal with all of that when they started to go? I would look over those weird fittings and butt splices and try to clean that up for sure.

__________________
1995 E300 (W124)
1999 ML430 (w163)
2011 GL350 (x164)
2016 Sprinter 144" 4X4 lowtop (906)
2004 E500 (W211) 4matic Wagon (Gold)
2004 E500 (W211) 4matic Wagon Avantgarde (silver)

I'd leave that tank alone, and just fill it with #2! Why not have the extra capacity for long trips and filling up more at cheaper stations?

__________________
RenaissanceMan Labs: where the future is being made today.

Garage:

2017 Chevy Colorado Diesel (nanny state emissions)
2005 Volvo S40 T5 AWD, 77k
1987 Mercedes-Benz 300D turbodiesel, 4 sp auto, 156k - 28.7 mpg
1996 Tracker 4x4, 2 door, 16v, 3 sp auto. 113k - 28.6 mpg

WARNING: this post may contain dangerous free thinking.