From: owner-diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net (diesel-benz-digest) To: diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Subject: diesel-benz-digest V1 #342 Reply-To: diesel-benz-at-digest.net Sender: owner-diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Errors-To: owner-diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Precedence: bulk diesel-benz-digest Sunday, July 2 2000 Volume 01 : Number 342 Forum for Discussion of Diesel Mercedes Benz Automobiles John Meister Digest Coordinator Contents: air conditioning article on M Class Diesel? a useful page... administrivia: notes on using this list emissions testing Re: Air Conditioning Diesel Benz Digest Home Page: http://www.digest.net/diesel-benz/ Send submissions to diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Send administrative requests to diesel-benz-digest-request-at-digest.net To unsubscribe, include the word unsubscribe by itself in the body of the message, unless you are sending the request from a different address than the one that appears on the list. Include the word help in a message to stag-digest-request to get a list of other majordomo commands. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 21:35:09 -0700 From: john Subject: air conditioning mark, are you sure the compressor is bad? either way, there are three sources up here in the seattle area, Benz Friends, Aurora Auto Wrecking and Fitz. Also, don't forget Rusty Cullen, who is on the list, is also a good source for a myriad of OEM parts at Wholesale (or below) prices. I converted my 81 300D to the new stuff, forgot already the new number, but the kit is available at Schucks for around $40 or so bucks... I'd call rusty (I vaguely remember putting a page together with input from other listers) with contacts and phone numbers... it'll be in the tech section at: http://www.wagoneers.com/DieselBenz/tech john (who is Dieselless right now and heading down the digest to see the posting on the new M class... ;) - ------------------------------------------------------ http://www.WAGONEERS.com/ http://www.wagoneers.com/think-about-this.html Snohomish, WA - where Jeeps don't rust, they mold... - ------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 22:05:05 -0700 From: john Subject: article on M Class Diesel? Jack, et al, been looking for the mentioned article on M class Diesel... found this: http://www.autoweb.com.au/start_/showall_/id_MER/doc_mer0006272/article.html then this one, but it doesn't look like it's a stateside bound rig... :( http://www.autoweb.com.au/start_15/showall_/id_MER/doc_mer0003033/article.html john - ------------------------------------------------------ http://www.WAGONEERS.com/ http://www.wagoneers.com/think-about-this.html Snohomish, WA - where Jeeps don't rust, they mold... - ------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 22:17:53 -0700 From: john Subject: a useful page... didn't drill down to test it... still looking for info on stateside version of the ML 270 CDI... http://www.mbusa.com/models/retro/88_95/index.html john - ------------------------------------------------------ http://www.WAGONEERS.com/ http://www.wagoneers.com/think-about-this.html Snohomish, WA - where Jeeps don't rust, they mold... - ------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Jul 2000 01:45:01 -0400 From: Richard Welty Subject: administrivia: notes on using this list Digest.Net mailing list "Meta FAQ" These general notes on using Digest.Net mailing lists are posted on the 1st and 15th of each month. This file may be found on the web at http://www.digest.net/general-notes.txt [last revised 1/14/2000, rpw; update to special note on compuserve situation] Special Notes 1) messagemedia.com appears to have some significant spam issues, and are blocked from access to this server. 2) Compuserve has had several mail relays added to the Relay Spam Stopper; for this reason, Compuserve customers may have difficulty sending email to the server. The proper solution for this problem is for Compuserve to fix their mail servers. Compuserve apparently plans to fix this problem on or about 1/18/2000. Compuserve customers should direct their concerns to Compuserve support. Table of Contents 1. Why don't my postings go through? 2. Why can't I unsubscribe? 3. How do I post to the list? 4. Where are the archives? 5. What other lists are on digest.net? The Meta-FAQ 1. Why don't my postings go through? There are several things that may interfere with postings making it to the list. a) Are you a member? Some read the ftp archives rather than receiving the list in email. Persons who read the list via email are automatically members, but readers of the FTP archive are not, and need to contact me (rwelty-at-krusty-motorsports.com) and get your name added to the list of "permitted senders". b) has your email address changed? some of you have had changes in your email address. your old address still works, and is still on the list, but your From: line shows a new address. this can happen for various reasons; you may have changed jobs or ISPs, and left a forward in place, or your IT staff may have fiddled with the email system. you will need to unsubscribe your old email address and subscribe the new one. this may require my involvement, if you can't figure out a way to get your old address off the list using the conventional majordomo commands. you can use the majordomo "which" command to probe for old addresses. send a message to majordomo-at-digest.net with one or more which commands in the body, one per line. to check for potential addresses for Fred Flinstone, formerly of bedrock.org, the following commands can be sent: which flintstone which bedrock note that the matches above might return any of the following addresses, if they appear in the list (in other words, you can use vagueness and incompleteness in your recollection as a tool): Fred.Flinstone-at-bedrock.org fflinstone-at-wilma.bedrock.org flintstonef-at-bedrock.com c) do you have more than one email address? if so, only the subscribed addresses can post, unless you contact me (see 1.a) above for relevant information) d) are you using (intentionally or accidentially) special "features" of your mail client? formats such as html, rtf, and the like, are blocked as they don't work well in digest format and annoy many readers of the digest. most kinds of attachments are blocked for similar reasons -- binaries, word documents, and excel spreadsheets are simply not good things to send to the digest. virtual business cards (a Netscape "feature") are blocked as well. you need to turn off any special features of this type to get your mail through the digest. e) are your posts too large? there is a 10,000 character limit on posting sizes; this is done for various reasons. you can always split up large postings to get mail through. f) are you including majordomo commands at the start of your message? administrivia control is turned on; this is a trap for things like "unsubscribe" at the start of a message. try to avoid obvious majordomo commands in the subject and the first 10 lines, or misspell them in obvious ways (e.g. unzubscribe, 1ndex, h3lp, g3t, etc.) g) are you triggering spam traps? some things are red flags; for example, the following phrases in subject lines are automatically blocked: Important Message From growth stocks free calling card direct e-mail secrets Merchant Account Mass Marketing make money fast Pediatric advice Email ? Million People what "they" don't want are you being investigated the actual list is quite a bit longer; i think you get the idea. h) are you using "funky" character sets? unfortunately, there are "issues" if i permit any character set other than old fashioned 7 level ASCII; therefore, you need to avoid national character sets that include various accents, umlauts, national currency characters such as the British pound symbol, etc. i) are you unintentionally including complete digests in your reply? You need to check and make sure you cut down replys to the minimal size; digests are between 20,000 and 25,000 characters in length, and if you include a complete digest in your reply, it clearly won't make the 10,000 character limit. By the way, this feature is intentional. j) Are you using a "bad" ISP or mail relay? Krusty Motorsports (aka digest.net) subscribes to the "MAPS Realtime Blackhole List" and the "MAPS Relay Spam Stopper". These lists block email from known sources of spam (either ISPs with bad attitudes or policies, or badly managed mail environments.) Interested parties should visit http://www.mail-abuse.org/ for full details. k) Is the error message you get back "User Unknown"? If so, you may be running afoul of MAPS (see j above). MAPS returns an error code of 550, which is a generic code that many broken mail systems report as "user unknown". If you know the IP address of your ISPs mail relay, you can go to the maps web site and test to see if it is on the RBL or the RSS. Additionally, the "rejectlog" entries for the previous day's mail traffic on digest.net are now visible at http://www.digest.net/rejectlog.01 Finally, some of you may find it useful or instructive to use the telnet program to connect directly to port 25 on krusty-motorsports.com and see what kind of reply you get; this requires some technical knowledge and is not for everyone (you can get out of this at anytime after the initial banner simply by typing quit and hitting enter.) 2. Why can't I unsubscribe? a) are you using the right address? send to majordomo-at-digest.net, and the command format is unsubscribe list-name my-email-address b) has your email address changed? majordomo has no way of knowing that Fred.Flinstone-at-BarneyCo.com was once fflintstone-at-bedrock.org. you can check this with the which command (see 1.b) above for details) 3. How do I post to the list? You may use either one of two addresses: for example, the bmw-digest may be reached using either bmw-at-digest.net or bmw-digest-at-digest.net If you are using the correct addresses and your posts don't show up, check out the stuff in 1. above. 4. Where are the archives? see ftp://ftp.digest.net/ for digest archives. the web archives have proven problematic, and are awaiting time for a systematic attack on the problems they've been having. 5. What other lists are on digest.net? see http://www.digest.net/ for more information. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Jul 2000 00:36:37 -0700 From: john Subject: emissions testing Emissions tests went up to $15 here in the Everett-Seattle area at the first of the year, used to be $12. We do an idle/2500 rpm/idle test, no rollers, just tailpipe... same test for gas or diesel... (they used to have this test for Diesels and 4x4s, regular cars did the roller tests up until about two or three years ago... I think... I've been driving Diesels or 4x4s (and sometimes at the same time even... ;) looks like phoenix is really serious about collecting money... $31.50!!! yikes. What is it in the people's repulik of kalifornia? Vehicle Emissions Fees Rising On July 1st, current vehicle emission inspection fees of 25-dollars and 12-dollars-50-cents in Maricopa County are going to increase. The fees will be increased to 31-dollars-50-cents and 15-dollars-75-cents. The 31-dollar test simulates on road driving through various acceleration and cruising speeds, and the 15-dollar test is for 1981 cars and older. A spokesman for the Arizona Department of Environmental says the increased fees are needed to make the tests self sufficient. He says they have been in place since January of this year but have been operating at a deficit. http://netscape.digitalcity.com/phoenix/news/article.dci?article=513149 john - ------------------------------------------------------ http://www.WAGONEERS.com/ http://www.wagoneers.com/think-about-this.html Snohomish, WA - where Jeeps don't rust, they mold... - ------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Jul 2000 00:55:46 -0500 From: "Jon Filina" Subject: Re: Air Conditioning Mark was feeling the heat and asked: > I've lived without AC on my 82 300D since last Summer. > Unfortunately, I'm told that it would cost upwards of $1,000 for the > repair- $750 for the compressor alone (which leaks) and probably another > $250 for a new drier, freon and repair of a leaky hose. I'm going throught the same exercise, also. My '81 240D has been without air since July of '98. The compressor is locked up and will need to be replaced. Your 300D should have a Delco R4 compressor. If it's about the size of an alternator, that's the one. According to several people the R4 was, and is, Delco's worst designed compressor. When they go south, you'll find metal filings throughout the entire system and many times the evaporator valve will be completely clogged with debris. Replacing the R4 will involve a thorough flushing of the system, especially the evaporator and condenser, and require a new receiver/drier and evaporator valve. I'd also replace all the o-rings, since the system has been in-op for some time, and take a good look at the hoses. During my research, I was surprised to see that hose replacement wasn't considered a "must do". Evidently the hoses are robust enough that any leaks are usually at the connections, hence the o-ring replacement. As for a rebuilt vs. new R4, I'd go for the new. According to a few MB shop owners on the other list I take, rebuilt R4's do not hold up. They are cheap enough, less than half of a new one, but they don't hold up very long. How far will the $150-200 you save go when you have to replace the compressor a year later? A new one is around $300, but I've seen prices from $225-315. Last month, I took "Mathilde" to a local Auto A/C shop. This shop has a reputation for doing the job right, but is a little on the expensive side. Paul, the owner, gave me a "ball park" estimate of $900-1150. The higher figure included hoses, if needed. I asked him if he worked on many MB's. He admitted he hadn't, but said every one had been trouble. I pointed to my car, parked outside his office door, and asked him if he'd worked on any that looked like mine. He said no. I described the system and he said it sounded like a typical Chevy pickup setup. He added that he usually charges around $750 for the trucks. After I left the shop I was thinking about his comment. Why in the world would the engineers at MB, who have designed one of the most reliable cars ever built, choose to use a cheap Delco compressor??? They could, at least, have chosen Chrysler for their A/C. It is probably the best auto A/C made....at least back then. His $750 figure seems a bit closer to being realistic. The parts are around $400-450 (compressor-$315, drier-$50, evaporator valve-$45, plus o-rings and R12) that would make the labor less than $300. I could R&R the parts myself, and take it to a shop to be charged. I would imagine the cost to recharge the system would be around $100. I am debating if the upwards of $200 savings would be worth the effort. If I screwed something up, that savings would evaporate. The last time I went through this exercise was with my '90 VW Jetta diesel and replacement of the water pump. VW wanted $250 to replace it. If you are familiar with the VW diesels with A/C, you'll know what I'm talking about. It took me an entire weekend, involving dismantling the entire front of the engine, and I ended up jamming the valve in the power steering pump when I re-installed it. The pump cost $285.... I drove the car without power steering for the last two years I owned it.... I might just go back to Paul's and show him the system to see if he'll lower that estimate. I'll be watching to see which way you decide to go. Jon '81 240D 254,300 mi. "Mathilde" ------------------------------ End of diesel-benz-digest V1 #342 *********************************