Dog sloooow

On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 10:35:33 +0000, Ron Tellus had to open a new box of zerones to say:

Above all, putcherfootinit..! Your car is a turbo model and has more than enough power to accelerate to and maintain city driving speeds, but you have to pay attention... You have to drive a low hp diesel about 100 yds ahead of where you actually are by observing the traffic patterns and flow and reacting to them much earlier... I used a 67 hp

240D in Washington, DC as a daily driver and never had a problem keeping up with traffic...

Tiger, somebody...?

zenit res ipsa loquitur riphst

Block's coolant drain is on right side, near starter. A herculean effort may be needed to open its plug.

Dead acceleration.

If this is a sudden condition I'd suspect the fuel is bad - may be contaminated with gasoline.

Is the transmission shifting into 1st gear at a dead stop? You can shift it into 1st at a dead stop (only) by shifting into L. The box not shifting into 1st contributes to the dead acceleration problem.

I assume this is a turbodiesel, if not disregard this paragraph. At the aft end of the intake manifold, near the firewall, is attached a small plastic tube via a brass "banjo" fitting and hollow bolt. Oil, soot etc collects in these and should be cleaned out with a small wire. Do that. Then follow the plastic tube to an electric valve (switchover valve). The valve is connected via a couple of short rubber hoses; be sure these are well connected and not broken. As a test only, you can by-pass the switchover valve - it too may need to be cleaned. Then follow the tube to the injection pump's ALDA, again ensuring that it's well connected. The purpose of this plastic tube is to "tell" the injection pump the level of turbo boost so the IP can add fuel to the engine for better acceleration. Blocking the passage with dirt or having the tube open or broken will flatten the engine's acceleration.

Some will tell you to "adjust" the ALDA; don't - the engine was fine before and "adjusting" it risks breaking its brass bellows (inside the IP).

All depends what you mean. The old W123s were never Porsches :-)

But there may be a fault, as others are suggesting.

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

Check the carpet under the accelerator pedal. Sometimes the mat gets bunched up, or the rubber cover comes off the pedal and prevents it from full travel to the button at the bottom. You won't notice this at highway speeds.

Painfully slow depends on what you're used to. I think I could give a 3-cyl Geo Metro a run for it's money from a stoplight in my '81, but anything bigger is probably going to leave me - for a minute. I saw one response suggesting that the fact you have a turbo (? 1982 - really? Damn, I missed it by one year) makes a difference off the line - but that's exactly where a turbo makes the LEAST difference. You'll notice the turbo difference most on the old 300s when up to speed. Sorry, that's just the way turbos work. The faster they go, the faster they go.

A bit more info might help. Has this car always been slow off the line, or did it used to melt the tires? Was your last car that you're comparing it to maybe a Cobra, Corvette, or 911? Are there any other issues that might be relevant - oil usage, fuel mileage?

The 300's weren't rockets - but they weren't total slackers either, when you consider that you could get around town fine in a 240. Try to beg, borrow, test-drive any other 300 you can get your hands on. This includes random encounters in shopping mall parking lots - you'd be surprised how friendly a lot of the old 300 owners are when approached reasonably. That may give you a better performance reference for yours (i.e. My buddies 300D can do 0-60 in 3.8 minutes, and mine takes 7.2 minutes - what's wrong?)

Conrad

I've heard people talk about how slow 240D models are, but I've had both a 3-cyl metro, and aircooled beetle, and a 50cc scooter so I think my frame of reference is different than most.

:-)

ExWife has a 3-cyl metro, which I get to drive anytime it sounds funny, I've had several small CC bikes ranging from the Honda "step-through" 50 to Motebecane moped with the cool variable v-belt "transmission". No beetles, but I did have a 78 VW transporter with the "hot" 2-liter injected engine. But the best point of reference is probably driving another 300. They really don't seem to care if you put your foot in the accelerator pedal - no matter how I drive mine, I get about 27mpg. But the bottom line is this, the 300s were basically German taxis, and should be able to negotiate urban traffic with no trouble.

Still don't know if this is a recent problem, or the the car's always done this. Have you replaced BOTH fuel filters? And before we go too far, do try to drive another

300 - it may shed a lot of light on just how well yours is performing.

Conrad

My W123 200D used to take a week to get to 60 mph.

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

My late mother in law, god rest her soul, had a 240D that she special ordered with a three or four speed manual on the floor (can't remember which), no air conditioning, no radio, and no cigarette lighter. I think it also had cloth seats, as she didn't like leather seats. Cost $13,000 new, which was a lot of money for a car then (this was in the early to mid 1970s, can't remember the exact year).

She drove it so rarely that the battery would regularly run down in the garage and AAA would have to come jump it. I remember driving it and having to shift so often that my leg was sore after only a short while, especially in the somewhat hilly part of New Jersey where she lived.

To say it was underpowered (and steaming hot inside in the New Jersey summer) would be an understatement to the 10th power. But I noticed that once up to speed on the highway, it was rock solid, about the nicest car I'd ever driven.

Eventually she sold it, because she had rotator cuff damage in her right shoulder and she could no longer shift the car. I think the 240D had under 50k on it. She offered it to me and her daughter, my wife, but without AC we just couldn't see it.

She then bought a fully equipped 1987 420SEL with 64,000 miles on it from a friend of mine. It is still in perfect condition at 119,000 miles and we are driving it today.

Perfect car for seattle...

Marty