I may need to change my approach from the 'cheap Mercedes' route to the 'reliable Mercedes' route, as this $3000 ebay car (white/blue '87 300TD) needs plenty of TLC but the time simply isn't there.
Several months ago, a dramatic increase in oil consumption accompanied by sudden appearance of lifter tick at front of engine led me to believe that the head gasket blew-out at front oil passage. Decided to find a used head (#17 or better) to replace mine when I pulled it to replace the gasket. Found a #14 only 20 miles away for $200 and took the gamble, but it had cracks (which cost me $50 to have a machine shop find, which I gladly paid and returned the head for refund). Meanwhile, oil consumption is normal again (qt per 3000 or more miles), lifter tick is greatly reduced, and engine oil analysis shows no sign of coolant, very low wear metals and 'light' soot after 4500 miles of use. So, I'll keep driving until evidence of a problem appears. Idle is very smooth and engine makes very little smoke. On Wednesday morning, front right sway bar bracket broke. Looks pretty easy, ordered the parts from Rusty, should have time to install this weekend. Roughly a month ago, the sunroof started making noise when the pop-up feature was employed, and then I found that back left corner was slower to come flat that the right. Note to self: time to clean/lube the sunroof (note was ignored, too many other high priority items...) So now I'll suffer for it, as two days ago it made a pop during the lowering phase, and now the back left corner stays up about 0.5 inches while the right side is is down lower than normal (in the 'flat' position). Time to employ Dave M's 124 sunroof repair tutorial... Anyone have the special tools that they'd like to rent or sell? Really wish I hadn't sold that '84 190D with 5 speed, complete records and only 112k miles (got $5200 for it and told the fellow that I'd probably regret selling later, and now I do...). Happy Friday! Max Dillon, '87 300TD w/ 308k miles, Charleston SC -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 4800 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://okiebenz.com/pipermail/mercedes_okiebenz.com/attachments/20080523/a8fba53b/attachment.bin _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
