Project Roo! Andy's 1990 300D

Well here are some pictures of the 300D that Andy left me. I believe that the coolant leak that Andy was talking about wasn't external, but internal. I could never find any coolant leaking outside of the engine. There is a broken vent hose that connects from the valve cover to the turbo inlet, and while idling there appeared to be smoke coming out, but when I put my hand over it it felt like steam and not smoke. Did someone say head gasket? Anyways, pics.

engine:


Big dent on driverside doors:


Rear end, I got the trunk lid closed and the tail light reinstalled. There is still a lot of body damage there that is hard to see on camera.

Well I did do some work on this one today, originally I was just going to move the car so I could reposition the tarps that I put underneath it. After a scary encounter of a snake resting in the battery tray, I noticed that the OVP (over voltage protection relay) was out of position. I inspected it and saw a blown fuse in it. I replaced said fuse, reposition it, and fired up the car. Right away the voltmeter was reading 14.7 volts!!! The whole time of having a bad alternator in this car was fixed with a simple 10a fuse!

Motivated by my victory, I filled the coolant tank up YET AGAIN in the hopes of finding an external leak. This completely has me baffled still as to where the coolant was going. I figured that if it was indeed steam coming out where the PCV filter is to go, then the oil would milkshake. Instead the oil was merely black as tar (and about 2 quarts low.) So I put some ATF into the fuel tank, and ran a little bit before the turbo as well (figured that I'd clean up some of the intake as well) and turned the car on again. After a few minutes of running, the thermo sensor read 80

Fine work Emjay, Andy would be pleased.
And miffed that there was only a 10amp fuse to replace!
Sometimes we do over think things

So an oil change and she'll be ready for...?

she'll be ready for new tires, struts, and a long legal process to acquire a title. Oh, and a bath!

Ok, I got it out. I definitely confirmed the source of the leak. I am also doing the fuel line replacements as well, some of the lines are old and cruddy. Here are some pictures of the work that I have done. Going to RBM to pick up the replacement o-ring, some filters and such.

Dirty!


the guilty party


this looks to be in decent shape, which is good. Still going to get a new crush washer if possible:


cleaner!




more to come later!

well I got the new o-ring, $5 from Mercedes, and it was a very tight fit to get it in. After scrounging through bolts and grass to find a starter solenoid screw I was able to get it all back together. No leaks that I can see so far.

The new fuel lines made the car start right up, right away! after a couple minutes of farting to purge the air out, the idle was incredibly smooth. So these two birds have been solved today.

However I think that I might have moved a vacuum line around, as the shifting got kinda hard going 1-2 and 3-4 (strange that 2-3 was butter smooth.) It always shifted kinda funny, slow, and didn't downshift worth a darn. After a trans filter and fluid swap I'm going to look into redoing the entire vacuum system.

Well I did an oil change on it today, about 2 gallons of oil and a big arse filter. I let it idle for about 30 minutes to look for coolant leaks (none found, but hose still not under pressure?) and checked the oil color, STILL BLACK!

This may sound silly but check that your radiator cap is sitting correctly or is actually working.
You have temperature in your coolant lines right?
That engine must have been pretty sludged up
Don't worry about the colour, as long as the additives are still working and it smells ok she's all good.
Just change the oil again earlier than you should if you're worried.

Have not tested radiator cap, for what I have noticed the temperature hasn't even reached full yet.

New oil smells ok, just ugly to the touch. Probably going to be a lifelong issue with this stuff. The old stuff hardened upon contact with the ground, that couldn't have been good.

Now the tedious task of testing all the vacuum connections, that'll be fun. Hoping to have full vent control and power locks re-enabled though when finished, oh AND SMOOTHER SHIFTING.

thinking about scrapping this one. definitely gonna canablaize good parts from this for the 190. Now what to do with a 2.5 turbo diesel engine