OT-Looking 4 / 81-85 Mercedes Wagon 300TDT for WVO Project

[RTS/Daytona]

Hi All

I'm looking for a 81-85 Mercedes Wagon 300 TDT or 300 TD (5 cylinder diesel (w/ or w/o turbo) in very nice condition for a WVO project - I'm on the East coast of Florida /

Daytona Area - but don't mind traveling to get a GOOD one

Pete RTS/Daytona

[Bob Gil]

you are picking a good one to start with, my brother has one and I am looking for one myself.  I have seen them for $2800.00 but not that are still avaible.

[TomC]

If you're thinking of pulling the car behind the bus (I pull my '84 Turbodiesel with Remco disconnect), buy only the sedan, as the station wagon will not facilitate the driveline disconnect.  Also, the wagon has nitrogen filled self leveling springs that are VERY expensive to replace when they go bad.  I highly recommend you get only the 300 turbo Diesel (125hp) since the straight 300D (87hp), and the 240D (65hp) don't have enough power, and you'll loose some power on straight BioDiesel since it has less BTU's per gallon than straight Diesel.  Good Luck, TomC

[kyle4501]

My '84 300TDT didn't have the self leveling feature. It also had a manual sunroof that never failed to close 

Wish I'd kept that one - especially since my oldest will start driving in 2 years 

You can increase fuel delivery of the injector pump to increase power, but it will cost in fuel mileage 
My 84 300SD had the fuel turned up & at 275k miles, it still runs strong, but only gets 18/~22mpg.

I can assure you that you will KNOW when the A/C compressor cycles on a non turbo.

[TomC]

I had my fuel injection pump rebuilt and was turned up at the same time.  I was driving at 75-80mph on the freeways and getting 21-23mpg.  I slowed down to 68mph and now are seeing 25-27mpg.  Diesels are more receptive to slowing down since gasoline engines get less efficient at partial throttle.  Good Luck, TomC

[belfert]

What kind of mileage did the gas version of the same car get? 

New diesel cars hardly make sense these days with fuel economy dropping and diesel priced 10% to 20% more than gasoline.  New 2008 Ford F250/F350 with the 2007 engine changes barely get better MPG than the V10 gas engine in the same truck.

[tekebird]

19/20 vs 19/23 for the D  thats the big body 126.

I get 25 highway in mine.

The only thing that does not make sense is Diesle bing more than gas.

A VW Jetta diesel get s 40+ mpg next year ..and in two years they will have a diesel Hybrid Jetta and golf which will get 70MPG

[quantum500]

Yep the EPA didn't want anybody to get too good of fuel mileage.  The only thing that counts is that its "clean".

[belfert]

The VW Jetta TDI will be on sale this year in late summer/early fall.  The VW diesel hybrid was only a concept and is not scheduled for production.

My 2003 VW Golf TDI got 38 to 40 MPG combined when it was new, but MPG in the past year has dropped to 32 to 35 MPG.  ULSD along with the 35W bridge collapse have not helped my MPG.  (Bridge collapse means a lot more city driving and sitting in traffic.)

Is this particular Mercedes popular just because it is cheap and can be converted to WVO?  I've heard rumors that WVO is getting hard to find due to demand for use as fuel.

[Jeremy]

New diesel cars hardly make sense these days with fuel economy dropping and diesel priced 10% to 20% more than gasoline.  New 2008 Ford F250/F350 with the 2007 engine changes barely get better MPG than the V10 gas engine in the same truck.

I've thought that for a while, but it doesn't seem to happen in practice; I heard just yesterday that over half of all new cars in the UK are diesel, which means we are catching up France & Germany in that respect.

My first car was a diesel, and a diesel engine really matches my driving style as I prefer torquey engines and using higher gears rather than having to rev the engine hard in order to get anywhere. Having said that all my subsequent vehicles (except the bus) have had big V8 petrols running on LPG as that makes for a more pleasant vehicle and lower costs than a diesel anyway.

Jeremy