A good oil for 1985 300D?

Changing oil is still the same deal as back then. You have to remember... diesel engine oil will turn black the moment you drive it around a block... from clean honey oil look into pitch black dirty scum looking oil instantly. It is normal for diesel.

The only thing when you change oil in diesel is... wear a glove... disposable glove when you do it... because once you get oil on your skin... it is not coming off for a while... no matter how hard you scrub.

As for oil... I suggest you stick with normal diesel oil... which is

15W40... Shell Rotella is probably the most popular you see at chain stores...

Change your oil every 5000 miles.

Tiger is right, see

for the API oil grades

The message from snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (cablet) contains these words:

You want to use a 15/40 that is designated for diesels.

I take it that your engine is the five-cylinder 3 litre. The sump plug requires a 14mm. male hex wrench. This is normally found in the tool kit that comes with the car. If you don't have it, then get a hex, or allen key of that dimension that you can use with your socket set. That is to say that it will be a 14mm. hex on one end that engages into the hex hole in the sump plug, and a half-inch square on the other end that will engagage with your socket set devices, like a ratchet or a tommy-bar.

So that has dropped your oil into some sort of container. Beware that on these engines the sump plug is not on the bottom of the sump, so that the oil drops vertically, but is on the side of the sump so that the oil comes out at an angle and is slightly more difficult to catch.

If you have done it once you will know therafter where the oil is going to land, but the first time you try it a little intelligent guess-work is required.....!

The oil filter is easy. It has an alloy cap that is retained by two 13mm. nuts. Undo the nuts, and the cap lifts off. There is a large torique joint ('o'-ring) inside it that needs replacing. The replacement will come with your new filter.

Once the cap of the filter is off, you will find a canister filter inside the housing that has a wire 'bucket handle' on the top of it that will enable you to lift it out of the housing. Replace it with a new canister filter : replace the 'o'-ring in the cap and tighten-down the cap with the two

13mm. nuts. Not too tight, just enough to squash the ring and get an oil-tight seal. If you are not too sure about how tight is tight, then consult your local merc' dealer and ask them for a torque setting for the nuts, and tighten them with a torque wrench at the correct setting.

Again, if your engine is a five cylinder three litre, it will take seven litres, I think, of oil. The minumun is five litres.

Fill it up with six litres of oil, having replaced the sump plug first, and then strart her up. As soon as it starts take your foot off the accellerator pedal, as the engine will be running dry until the oil pump starts picking up oil and pressurising the oil-ways. Let her tick over for a couple of minutes and then cut the engine.

Wait a couple of minutes, and then have a look at what level you have on the dip-stick. You will need to top-up the oil with up to a litre of oil to get it to the 'full' mark, depending on how much oil you had initially put in.

That is it. It is not a difficult job. The only special tool is a 14mm. Allen key.

Apart from the large 'o' ring that I spoke of, you will also find other copper washers and small 'o'rings come with the new filter. You will see where they go with reference to the items that are in the filter, but personally I have never found the need to replace any of them other than the large ring inside the filter cap.

Hope all this helps,

Perhaps in the UK. In the United States, the sump plug on all 123 diesels use a 13mm hex box wrench. No allen bolts on the sumps on the US cars.

The message from snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (VCopelan) contains these words:

Thanks, I stand corrected on that, but the same principle applies in that there are no specialist tools involved. The male hex may just be a G-Wagen thing. I have two G-Wagens fitted with the five cylinder, 3 litre engine.

Previously I owned a 115 series saloon, and two 123 series saloons, which were fitted with 220 and 240 engines, and they certainly required a female wrench on the sump-plug rather than the allen-key that the G-Wagens use.

I use Shell Helix Diesel 15W/40.

Sump on my (European) W123 300TD takes 6 litres of fresh oil after draining.

Go for a brief suburban run after filling, then wait for 10 minutes after checking the dipstick. Top up as necessary.

Don't forget to oil the big rubber ring before fitting it into the lid of the oil filter canister.

The little copper or steel washers that come with the filter kit are for the sump bolt.

Change your oil every 3000 miles (5000 km) to be on the safe side.

Recycle your oil. It's going to be very precious indeed very soon.

Good luck with cleaning the garage floor.

Euan

1985 300TD 5-spd manual 184K miles ______________

Euan S Kennedy Christchurch New Zealand

E-mail: snipped-for-privacy@dropthisbit.paradise.net.nz