84 190d diesel auto

[rip van sparky]

hey, there is a MB near me that is for sale, 850 bucks. The only issue seems to be that it kind of jerks when shifting into 2nd when it is real cold. I haven't driven it, that is just what the owner told me. He said it is great when it is warm out or after it has warmed up. Any thoughts? How is parts availability for these? thanks

 

[pafixitman]

hey, there is a MB near me that is for sale, 850 bucks. The only issue seems to be that it kind of jerks when shifting into 2nd when it is real cold. I haven't driven it, that is just what the owner told me. He said it is great when it is warm out or after it has warmed up. Any thoughts? How is parts availability for these? thanks

There is nothing inexpensive about a cheap Benz.

 

[towcat]

There is nothing inexpensive about a cheap Benz.

+1
is it the old body style or new body style?
if it is the new body style then is it a 4cyl or 5cyl?
I had a 85 with a 5cyl. No turbo but it acted like a gasser. Ran great but had a miss when warm at idle. Gene Luo wanted it so bad he could taste it, so I sold it to him. His folks drove the wheels off of it. It finally died in a head on collision.

 

[rmckee242]

The old Benz is indestructible

The old five cylinder deisels are almost indestructible. If you go on ebay search Benz you can view articles folks have posted. I read one from a guy whose entire family drives old 300 series cars. His has over seven hundred thousand miles and the engine has never been out of the car or had major work done. I bought one several months ago that had 385,000 on it. Gave the guy some cash signed the title and drove it home four and a half hours at no less that 65 MPH. If you keep the filters and oil changed they last forever. I haven't ran across anything that can't be fixed by looking in a manual or on the internet and parts are pretty plentiful thanks to the internet. If I can find that article again I will post the link.

 

[Full Monte]

Hard shifting is what my '87 does, too. Not sure what the problem is. Maybe I need the tranny rebuilt, or it's some vacuum shifting thing that is haywire.

 

[rmckee242]

Help For The Hammer Shifting Benz

Here is some help for all you hard shifters.
http://goodvibesautos.com/Mercedes-Transmission-Adjustments.html
It's a pretty good article. You may have to cut and paste the url. Not too savvy on that link stuff.

 

[Full Monte]

Good article. Thanks!

 

[The Warden]

The old five cylinder deisels are almost indestructible.

It's worth pointing out that the 190D had a different 5 cylinder engine than the 300D. Take a look at the stickies on this board, but the 190D 2.5 5 cylinder is a OM602 2.5l aluminum-head engine. It's not a bad engine, but it's not as indestructible as the OM617 found in the '85 and older 300D (and 300TD and 300SD). Especially if it still has the original cylinder head, you have to be VERY careful to keep from overheating it. However, as long as she doesn't overheat, she's good to go.

Also, AFAIK, the "modern" 190D started production in 1984, and all diesel 190D's sold in the U.S. were W201 chassis cars...by the time they switched to the W202 chassis (around the same time they started calling them the C-class), they had dropped the diesel models. There WAS a 190D (which had a 1.9l engine, heaven forbid ) with two different bodystyles, sold between 1959 and 1965...but, that's a completely different animal from the 190D's sold in the '80's (which had either a 2.2l OM601 4-banger or a 2.5l OM602 5-cylinder aluminum-head engine).

Hope it helps... As they said, there's nothing more expensive than a cheap M-B. The engines'll run forever if they were maintained reasonably well, but there are other considerations. I retired my first M-B because of a worn front suspension, and my second is going to be going that route sooner rather than later, and for the same reason...

 

[Full Monte]

Warden,

My '87 is a 6 cyl., aluminum head engine. I think you were talking about the indestructability of the cast iron head engines.

BTW, I think I figured out what the problem was with the hard-shifting on my 300D. I noticed a disconnected vacuum line going to a unit on the driver's side of the engine. I need to drive it more to insure that it's fixed, but a short test trive showed a major improvement.

 

[The Warden]

Monte, you're correct. I keep forgetting that not everyone knows what I'm referring to when I say OM617 or OM603. Just edited the original post.

And, yeah, sounds like you got it, re: the shifting...the vacuum systems on these cars are quite intricate...