Re: [diesel_mercedes] recent cold weather start

 

Valve job? Do you mean valve adjustment? I've determined after all the obvious stuff block heaters are the best thing for living where it gets cold. Max

On Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 4:30 PM, mj0a0a@yahoo.com [diesel_mercedes] <diesel_mercedes@yahoogroups.com> wrote:


My first year in MD after long time in Cali, and I had some recent trouble starting in the cold, even after cycling glow plugs 3 times. Cranked about 15 secs, then about 5secs a second time, and she fired, but one cylinder was kicking in late. Glow plugs are about 3 years old, but never needed them in Cali, she always fired. So I ordered new ones, but still had to face the recent storm without them. I wanted to be pro-active a bit, and knew she would  be out in the cold at least 3 days. Battery is about a year old, synthetic oil (Rotella T6) about 2 weeks old, recent valve job, clear fuel with antigel, starter about one year. The block heater gave up a while ago ( it was great my last spell in MD), and never made up my mind on alternatives (oil patches, dipstick heaters etc), and heard everywhere that replacing the block heater was risky. 


Sooo, to prepare for the storm and cold, I a) took out the battery to keep warm inside, 2) drained about 2 quarts of engine oil from the oil pan at the bottom. Then after the storm, and cold, I a) put one of those portable electric range cooking elements, which is a coil on which you can cook on, underneath the oil pan, about a inch away, for about an hour, to heat up the oil in the reservoir, b) heated up the 2 quart oil which I had previously drained, and poured into the top of the crank-case, where you usually put in oil, c) replaced battery. And she started on first try.

The draining of oil is a pain and prolly not something to do every time. But putting the electric heating coil underneath the oil pan makes sense and doable every time, in lieu of a better alternative. Even with glowplugs I will still do it. Hey this works, and is not too complicated. 


1984 300sd, 250k+ miles, prolly 400k, odo has been out for  many years




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Posted by: Max temple <jasperezra@gmail.com>
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Re: [diesel_mercedes] recent cold weather start

 

It all depends what part of MD you live in.  I recently bought an 85 SD in Lewes, DE that has a heating element in the lower hose.  Way easier than trying to get an old block heater out.  I haven't tried it yet since the car is garaged.  The garage is usually about 50 degrees on the colder days here so its not a problem.  If it gets bad, I can turn on the garage heat.  Since the glow plugs on my 03 sprinter have died and prying them out of the aluminum head would involve more expense than I want to deal with, I stuck a heating pad on the bottom of the pan and a magnetic heater on the side.  The results are marginal at best, but it does start.

On Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 7:30 PM, mj0a0a@yahoo.com [diesel_mercedes] <diesel_mercedes@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
 

My first year in MD after long time in Cali, and I had some recent trouble starting in the cold, even after cycling glow plugs 3 times. Cranked about 15 secs, then about 5secs a second time, and she fired, but one cylinder was kicking in late. Glow plugs are about 3 years old, but never needed them in Cali, she always fired. So I ordered new ones, but still had to face the recent storm without them. I wanted to be pro-active a bit, and knew she would  be out in the cold at least 3 days. Battery is about a year old, synthetic oil (Rotella T6) about 2 weeks old, recent valve job, clear fuel with antigel, starter about one year. The block heater gave up a while ago ( it was great my last spell in MD), and never made up my mind on alternatives (oil patches, dipstick heaters etc), and heard everywhere that replacing the block heater was risky. 


Sooo, to prepare for the storm and cold, I a) took out the battery to keep warm inside, 2) drained about 2 quarts of engine oil from the oil pan at the bottom. Then after the storm, and cold, I a) put one of those portable electric range cooking elements, which is a coil on which you can cook on, underneath the oil pan, about a inch away, for about an hour, to heat up the oil in the reservoir, b) heated up the 2 quart oil which I had previously drained, and poured into the top of the crank-case, where you usually put in oil, c) replaced battery. And she started on first try.

The draining of oil is a pain and prolly not something to do every time. But putting the electric heating coil underneath the oil pan makes sense and doable every time, in lieu of a better alternative. Even with glowplugs I will still do it. Hey this works, and is not too complicated. 


1984 300sd, 250k+ miles, prolly 400k, odo has been out for  many years




--
Al Boucher

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Posted by: Alan Boucher <alsthe1@gmail.com>
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[diesel_mercedes] recent cold weather start

 

My first year in MD after long time in Cali, and I had some recent trouble starting in the cold, even after cycling glow plugs 3 times. Cranked about 15 secs, then about 5secs a second time, and she fired, but one cylinder was kicking in late. Glow plugs are about 3 years old, but never needed them in Cali, she always fired. So I ordered new ones, but still had to face the recent storm without them. I wanted to be pro-active a bit, and knew she would  be out in the cold at least 3 days. Battery is about a year old, synthetic oil (Rotella T6) about 2 weeks old, recent valve job, clear fuel with antigel, starter about one year. The block heater gave up a while ago ( it was great my last spell in MD), and never made up my mind on alternatives (oil patches, dipstick heaters etc), and heard everywhere that replacing the block heater was risky. 


Sooo, to prepare for the storm and cold, I a) took out the battery to keep warm inside, 2) drained about 2 quarts of engine oil from the oil pan at the bottom. Then after the storm, and cold, I a) put one of those portable electric range cooking elements, which is a coil on which you can cook on, underneath the oil pan, about a inch away, for about an hour, to heat up the oil in the reservoir, b) heated up the 2 quart oil which I had previously drained, and poured into the top of the crank-case, where you usually put in oil, c) replaced battery. And she started on first try.

The draining of oil is a pain and prolly not something to do every time. But putting the electric heating coil underneath the oil pan makes sense and doable every time, in lieu of a better alternative. Even with glowplugs I will still do it. Hey this works, and is not too complicated. 


1984 300sd, 250k+ miles, prolly 400k, odo has been out for  many years

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[diesel_mercedes] Oil Cooler Hose Help

 



Thanx Rob ;

That's *exactly* what I was worried it'd be .

I swear proficiently in English , Spanish and Jive , making me tri - lingual .

So far this job is keeping me too tired and sore to swear much .

Or maybe (just maybe) I'm growing up at least and don't need to swear to get the job done.......

I still always remember to hold my tounge in *just* the right position in the corner of my mouth though .

-Nate
          Rob   wrote :

Nate,

I was trying to forget the whole experience.

Some say you'll be "swearing in German" by the end of this job, and I think this is true.

If I do remember correctly, from 2008 when I did this job, the exhaust binds and you have to separate the pipe from the turbo, to raise the engine. Mine's the CA Trap OX model, so maybe it's different with yours.

Rob
Garden Grove, CA
==



On 1/24/16 6:04 PM, vwnate1@... [diesel_mercedes] wrote:

1984 300TD .


I was able to sneak out the lower hose but the top one won't come out for clearance issues so I unbolted the lower motor mount 100MM Allen head bolts , undid the four 17MM ATF nuts on the left side support and removed the tiny engine shock absorbers , tried to jack the engine up so I could remove the left side cast alloy support but there's -no- gap between the support and the motor mount (?!?) .


WTH ? .


I can't see what's holding the engine from raising up , I'm sure some one here will know what I've forgotten to undo ......


TIA ,


-Nate


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[diesel_mercedes] Basic Glow Plug Testing

 



I'm with Alan here ;

Most of the time when they fail they go open circuit so it's far easier to just unplug the glow plug relay on the left inner fenderwell and use a test light to see , connect the test light's clip to the + battery cable and touch the lights tip to the engine to insure the light is connected and working , then simply touch the tip to each female connector inside the connector , the test light *must* glow equally brightly for each of the five (or four 240D's) connectors .

If a pre 1981 model with series wired (FAT) glow plugs , the entire glow plug system will either make your test light light up or not .

If not , don't waste one penny on those crappy original typ glow plugs , up grade them to parallel typ and enjoy easier , faster starti9ng in all weather .

DON'T rush and crank the engine the *instant* the glow plug lamp on the dashboard goes out ! waiting another 20 ~ 30 seconds will heat the glow plugs more and make the engine *much* faster / easier to start .

-Nate
          Alan  wrote :

If I had to take them out to test them, I'd replace them. I usually just disconnect the plug in the relay box and check continuity.  

 

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Re: [diesel_mercedes] Oil Cooler Hoses -HELP- !

 

   


Thanx Bogy ;

I'll do just that ~ I *thought* I'd looked for such a bracket but must have missed it .

Centered or to one side ? .

-Nate
       Bogy   wrote :

look "underneath" the oil pan behind the big sump. there is a bracket that has a slip connection to the cross member under the engine. It will keep the engine from lifting up. I just faced this myself pulling a motor out of a 240d to put in my jeep to replace the tired 5 banger I first put in it. Good luck
Bogy.
 
"Hardware eventually fails. Software eventually works"                 - Michael Hartung



From: "vwnate1@... [diesel_mercedes]" <diesel_mercedes@yahoogroups.com>
To: diesel_mercedes@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2016 7:04 PM
Subject: [diesel_mercedes] Oil Cooler Hoses -HELP- !



1984 300TD .

I was able to sneak out the lower hose but the top one won't come out for clearance issues so I unbolted the lower motor mount 100MM Allen head bolts , undid the four 17MM ATF nuts on the left side support and removed the tiny engine shock absorbers , tried to jack the engine up so I could remove the left side cast alloy support but there's -no- gap between the support and the motor mount (?!?) .

WTH ? .

I can't see what's holding the engine from raising up , I'm sure some one here will know what I've forgotten to undo ......

TIA ,

-Nate




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[diesel_mercedes] Oil Cooler Hoses Video

 


Thanx Bill ;

I tried to watch this and my earphone thing seems to have died so I'll give it a look later .

It's Tuesday and I'm still sore / tired from Sunday's marathon of working .

I guess I may be getting too old for this =8-( .

I'll report back as soon as I watch this video , might be a while as I'm off duty and going with my Son to  - day .

-Nate
          Bill   wrote :

https://www.google.com/#q=1984+300TD+oil+cooler+hoses+youtube

Bill in Oregon

From: diesel_mercedes@yahoogroups.com [mailto: diesel_mercedes@yahoogroups.com ]
Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2016 6:05 PM
To: diesel_mercedes@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [diesel_mercedes] Oil Cooler Hoses -HELP- !

 

1984 300TD .

I was able to sneak out the lower hose but the top one won't come out for clearance issues so I unbolted the lower motor mount 100MM Allen head bolts , undid the four 17MM ATF nuts on the left side support and removed the tiny engine shock absorbers , tried to jack the engine up so I could remove the left side cast alloy support but there's -no- gap between the support and the motor mount (?!?) .

WTHeck ? .I can't see what's holding the engine from raising up , I'm sure some one here will know what I've forgotten to undo ......

TIA ,   -Nate

 

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[diesel_mercedes] Fuel Economy Check '84 300CD Automatic

 

336 miles , 24 MPG , silver bottle Diesel Kleen used .

NO AC use ! .

$1.99 / gallon , this is very goof for Los Angeles , it's been going up again here .

I saw $3.79 yesterday on my way to the Union 76 Station with the $1.99 price .

Since the IP timing has been adjusted I have almost 2 X the power I used to , the engine is running @ just under 80* C , it used to run about 75* C .

The # 1 cylinder element is still weeping , as I have the wagon apart ( ! STILL) for repairs and waiting parts I don't want to disable my Coupe to fool with the IP's element sealing , I'm reasonably sure I know what's amiss and how to fix it .

-Nate


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