The first Mercedes diesel I ever owned was a '77 300D. Paid $350 at a local donation auction. They couldn't get it started, and nobody else was interested in it (especially as it was Stay-Around-Brown), so I had no competition for it. But it was a clean, rust-free Las Vegas car. I'd never laid hands on any diesel before, yet I managed to get it started in the parking lot, and drove it off.
It had the old loop, series-connected glow plugs, and one was out, so all were out. I upgraded that to parallel-wired, pencil-tipped plugs using the Diesel Giant kit, and after that it would start in any condition, no matter what. I had to rebuild the transmission when it lost reverse because the seals had dried out and cracked into pieces. I never touched the Klima system. Someone had replaced the servo with the aluminum housing version, and it still had the original charge of R-12. It worked flawlessly.
At the altitudes around here, it had about 65 horsepower, and performed like a 240D with manual transmission. Once rolling, it had no trouble running up 12,000 foot passes, but you didn't want to hog the fast lane. It kept up, but would pass only the slowest of the flatlander slowpokes.
All-in-all, a great intro into the world of Mercedes diesels. If the servo doesn't obviously show leakage, indicating a crack, then it probably still works. After 40-years, I believe, that if the servo was going to go out, it has by now. The only other big problem, as mentioned earlier, is cracked transmission servo seals, leading to slow engagement into and, ultimately, no reverse.
Mark in Centennial, CO
'79 300SD (Mercedes best selling model for 1979)
From: "vwnate1@yahoo.com [diesel_mercedes]" <diesel_mercedes@yahoogroups.com>
To: "diesel mercedes" <diesel_mercedes@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, January 22, 2016 6:46:41 AM
Subject: [diesel_mercedes] E.S. 1977 300D Sedan Los Angeles
There's a Junk Yard in Gardena , East side of Normandie just South of the 91 freeway , they have a very nice black NA sedan for sale , no price but the Russians who run this yard are *very* flexible on pricing , I have bought cars here before .
Klima I that's still connected so be ready to work on that before you have any sort of HVAC , there are multiple cheapo 1/2 assed bodges or the $600 + digital servo .
The seats are a bit tired but overall I'd say this looks like a nice little car to resurrect . the battery was dead so I couldn't start it , some times this place sells them on the old pink slip , not a salvage title .
2014 tags I *think* ~ I noticed it as I was passing by taking SWMBO to the grocery store and only stopped a moment to look inside , under the hood , in the trunk etc. ~ it's _not_ beat all the hell like so many are .
-Nate
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