From: owner-diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net (diesel-benz-digest) To: diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Subject: diesel-benz-digest V1 #700 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 Wednesday, January 23 2002 Volume 01 : Number 700 Forum for Discussion of Diesel Mercedes Benz Automobiles Derick Amburgey Digest Coordinator Contents: W123 vs W126 Smoking 300D Re: W123 vs W126 Re: W123 vs W126 Alternator update... Parts Car?? 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: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 02:55:15 -0600 From: Jon Filina Subject: W123 vs W126 John, I am still trying to get the insurance company off their keister. In the meantime I have been putting out my feelers. Not that I mean to give you the shakes or bad flashbacks, but 2 of the MB's I've come across that I'll be looking into are a 1978 300D and a 1983 300SD. OK, calm down....take a deep breath.. The '78 has around 180,000 mi. as far as the owner remembers. He hardly ever drives it because he prefers his 240D. According to the gal from work who saw it, the car needs a good wax job and it'll look great. According to the owner there are a "few" problems with the paint. I tend to believe the owner on this one. He says it needs a brake booster, but that the car stops. The car is blue with the blue MB Tex interior. Naturally, the dash cover is cracked. He wants $1700, but would take $1000. I assume the A/C is out, but didn't ask. I know you had problems with the climate control unit, but don't remember the electrical gremlins that gave it the name "Fritz". Could you give a Reader's Digest once over of the problems you had to fix? I know even less about the '83. My mechanic gave me this tip and said it was an early '80's W126 that he thinks I can get for $2500-3000. I haven't talked to the owner, so Dennis may be completely wrong. He did put a new transmission in it, recently. How did your '83 compare to Fritz as far as parts cost? The big question with the W126 is mileage. What were you getting? I drive 100 miles a day. Going from my Jetta's 45 mpg or so to my 240D's 30-33 was a little bit of a jolt. I assume the 300D would get 26-28. How about the W126? Once the insurance company gets me a rental, I'll dive headlong into this. I would prefer to stay with a W123, but will not rule out the W126. If I decide on the '78 300D, it would be my beater while I look for a nice 240D or mid eighties W201 190D with a 5-speed. Of course, I would prefer that I didn't have to deal with the above and that "Mathilde" had never been hit.... Jon '81 240D ~294,000 mi. "Mathilde" Soon to be a parts car 'cuz some idiot got drunk and killed her!!! ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 6:45:27 -0500 From: Subject: Smoking 300D I have a 300D 1982 that likes to smoke a little when accelerating, but not too much, is this common? How can I fix it. Jason Suggestions?? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 08:29:48 -0800 From: Robert Crawford Subject: Re: W123 vs W126 Over the last 3.9Kmi my 300sd has been getting 24.73mpg. This is a lot worse than I was getting about this time last year. I was getting about 27.2. This leads me to think that some maintenance is in order. I am over due on both valve adjustment and air filter replacement, so the low numbers may go back up soon. I am currently going slightly over 100mi each way to school so I am also adding up the miles pretty fast. Also keep in mind that these numbers are for a car with over 310Kmi on it. On Tuesday, January 22, 2002, at 12:55 AM, Jon Filina wrote: > The big question with the W126 is mileage. What were you getting? I > drive 100 miles a day. Going from my Jetta's 45 mpg or so to my 240D's > 30-33 was a little bit of a jolt. I assume the 300D would get 26-28. > How about the W126? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 10:04:15 -0800 (PST) From: john Subject: Re: W123 vs W126 On Tue, 22 Jan 2002, Jon Filina wrote: >-->John, >--> >-->I am still trying to get the insurance company off their keister. In >-->the meantime I have been putting out my feelers. >--> >-->Not that I mean to give you the shakes or bad flashbacks, but 2 of the >-->MB's I've come across that I'll be looking into are a 1978 300D and a >-->1983 300SD. the 300SD will be nicer, faster, but also longer and not handle as well as the 300D. but you knew that. :) >-->OK, calm down....take a deep breath.. >--> >-->The '78 has around 180,000 mi. as far as the owner remembers. He hardly >-->ever drives it because he prefers his 240D. According to the gal from >-->work who saw it, the car needs a good wax job and it'll look great. >-->According to the owner there are a "few" problems with the paint. I >-->tend to believe the owner on this one. He says it needs a brake >-->booster, but that the car stops. The car is blue with the blue MB Tex >-->interior. Naturally, the dash cover is cracked. He wants $1700, but >-->would take $1000. I assume the A/C is out, but didn't ask. >--> >-->I know you had problems with the climate control unit, but don't >-->remember the electrical gremlins that gave it the name "Fritz". Could >-->you give a Reader's Digest once over of the problems you had to fix? >--> >-->I know even less about the '83. My mechanic gave me this tip and said >-->it was an early '80's W126 that he thinks I can get for $2500-3000. I >-->haven't talked to the owner, so Dennis may be completely wrong. He did >--> put a new transmission in it, recently. How did your '83 compare to >-->Fritz as far as parts cost? about the same, maybe a little higher on some parts, not bad though. >-->The big question with the W126 is mileage. What were you getting? I >-->drive 100 miles a day. Going from my Jetta's 45 mpg or so to my 240D's >-->30-33 was a little bit of a jolt. I assume the 300D would get 26-28. >-->How about the W126? the 300SD got the same or slightly better. >-->Once the insurance company gets me a rental, I'll dive headlong into >-->this. I would prefer to stay with a W123, but will not rule out the >-->W126. If I decide on the '78 300D, it would be my beater while I look >-->for a nice 240D or mid eighties W201 190D with a 5-speed. If I had to do it again, I'd get a turbo powered 123. :) >-->Of course, I would prefer that I didn't have to deal with the above and >-->that "Mathilde" had never been hit.... >-->Jon >-->'81 240D ~294,000 mi. "Mathilde" Soon to be a parts car 'cuz some >-->idiot got drunk and killed her!!! Did they catch the guy? john ---- - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ** john-at-wagoneers.com via PINE on Linux ** (plain text please!) ** http://wagoneers.com ** ** http://freegift.net ** Snohomish, Washington USA - where Jeeps don't rust, they mold. ...and remember, leaving life without Jesus just isn't recommended... - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 16:47:53 -0600 From: Jim & Barb Hoffman Subject: Alternator update... Well folks, I finally got mad enough at the fact that my battery wouldn't stay charged for more than 20 miles if I had my headlights on so I took the 240D into the local Import specialist and he did the trouble- shooting of the electrical system and told me that it was indeed the alternator that was bad AGAIN! So I took it apart and took it back to the rebuild shop that rebuilt it 2 months ago and told them how unhappy I was that I was having to do this again and in 15 degree weather at that! He apologized and fixed it while I waited. Turned out that the module with the brushes and voltage regulator was DOA. One brush wouldn't spring back into place. I re-installed and tested. Worked right away and has been since last week. Finally I feel pretty comfortable that I have a reliable car again! Now, "Chicago Dan" wanna come up this weekend and help me adjust the valves ;) Gonna adjust the valves and run a can of Diesel Purge through it and hopefully it will run a little smoother and put less smoke out the exhaust pipe. Later.... Jim/ Jim Hoffman Oconomowoc WI '83 240D '87 Escort Diesel (2.0 Mazda) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2002 07:46:46 -0600 (CST) From: jslash-at-execpc.com Subject: Parts Car?? [demime could not interpret encoding binary - treating as plain text] Jon, After all the dust settles if you decide to part out "Mathilda" (sp?) please let me know. I have a list of parts that I need for my 240D. Where are you located? I hope it's not too early in the greaving process for me to be asking this. :) Thanks! Jim/ Jim Hoffman Oconomowoc WI '83 240D ------------------------------ End of diesel-benz-digest V1 #700 *********************************