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Today, against my better judgment and 1 year and 2 day’s after joining this Forum, I became a real biodieseler and bought myself a Merc 300D!
Once again I must thank all who replied to my “What to look for when buying a 300D” thread a couple of weeks ago. The feedback and tips I got were invaluable in what problems to look for and to prove the validity of the information, the car I bought has nearly every problem people mentioned!
The self leveling suspension is shot, The car has multiple although not too severe rust spots and clearly leaks like a sieve, the auto tranny leaks, It has an engine oil leak and the steering is accurate to the basic four points of the compass…but not much in between.
On the upside, the engine starts easily, idles smoothly blows no smoke on start up and has little blow by. The CV’s are good, The body is pretty straight save for a scrape on the drivers door, seats are good, It has a new heavy duty battery, Central locking works…slowly, tires are decent and it has 6 months rego.
OH, and she had half a tank of that smelly Dino Diesel stuff.
After first giving Helga an initial once over, I made my excuses, thanked the seller for their time and bundled the tribe up and headed off. Within 5Km down the road, it became clear the Mrs. was not happy with my decision ( being the expert mechanic she is of course) and to keep the peace, I rang the seller back after a discussion I realized I was not going win and arranged to come back for a test drive which I hadn’t bothered with in the first place. So won over with Helga’s mustard yellow classic appearance, and retro Vinyl upholstery, the Mrs. also strongly suggested I stop at the auto parts place on the way back to get some hose to replace what I had noticed was leaking. I don’t think I have ever bought parts for a car I didn’t even own before!
As if to totally reaffirm my severe doubts about Helga, The wayward steering and hissing of the non functioning auto leveling suspension were only outdone when it took 2 runs to get it up the owners admittedly extremely steep driveway. The skid marks I left when I hit the loud pedal a bit hard in the car I arrived in and broke the rear end loose, only served as another signal to lay even more rubber going the other way to get out of there as fast as possible.
Of course, there is a lot more to be considered when buying a used vehicle than just its mechanical and overall condition. There is also the loud whining that will be appear from the passenger seat all the way home in vehicle you arrived in and will continue to follow you all round the house and every place you go for lord knows how many years to come. I think most guys will know that fixing problems on a car is hell of a lot easier than fixing the problem when the other half is not happy. So, with very clear and unmistakable musings of my severe reservations of this car, the deal was of course done and her indoors suitably appeased. For a mere Haggled down $900 ( a whopping $100 off the asking price) Helga was a Mistake the boss wasn’t going to let me not make.
I guess I should be thankful. Last time she got a bee in her bonnet, avoiding divorce cost me $200K to buy a block of land in a location I hated. Thankfully, the cook has now forgotten that we did end up making 10K on the place after we offloaded it when she came to her senses and realized she couldn’t stand to live their either.
While as I was forewarned, Helga doesn’t quite have the tyre smoking, neck snapping acceleration of the Fireblade motorcycle I once so enjoyed (and less than half the power of that bike but 15 times the weight) I was pleasantly surprised at how well, with throttle mashed to the floor, she sailed up the hills coming out of Gosford back towards Sydney which bought a contented smile to my face…. Right up till the time she lost power and died in a rather bad spot on a corner ¾ the way up said hill.
After a small panic attack and not letting a golden opportunity to level a cutting “ I told you so” at the Mrs, I did manage to coax the wheezing Helga to the top of the hill and the safety of a side street at a breath taking 10Km/h which did nothing to diminish my relief of making it to such a far more opportune place for her to finally expire.
While looking her over on the first inspection, I did notice a dripping return fuel line which I replaced in a shopping centre car park just down the road from where I picked her up. This line and a couple of others running from the pump, appear to be of the cheap clear plastic type which shrinks and hardens when near any type of fuel or solvent. I would have replaced these as well except I bought the last 700mm of ¼” line the now closed parts place had in any type of tubing.
I did notice one of the lines coming from the filter housing to the pump had a steady stream of Bubbles going through it and being merely pushed on rather than clamped, I suspect this has compounded a probably blocked, aged looking fuel filter. It has a one of those very small inline see through filters which I noticed was also quite clogged looking.
Rather than making a bad situation worse, I decided to abandon Helga within an hour of taking possession and vowed to return on Monday with items to set her heart racing again like fuel filters and hose’s. I’m hoping that is all the resuscitation she is going to need to make it to her new home .
I have to admit, Helga did look really elegant and majestic sitting there in the fading afternoon light parked by the side of the road where she broke down barely 10K’s from her former home as we left her to return to what will be her new home…If we can get her this far that is!
So, I’m off to a REAL impressive start with my new maiden, Helga the 300D and can only imagine what other similar wonderful experiences we will get to share. One thing is fairly certain, we are going to be spending many intimate hours alone in the shed together while I re-aquaint myself with vintage mechanical systems I have long since forgotten and not touched in at least 20 years.
For those familiar with Helga’s sisters, can anyone tell me what is involved in giving her a Kidney transplant other than screwing the new filter on and off ( and pre-filling it with fuel perhaps?) and any other possible/ common ailments I should look for?
I read in the numerous owners and workshop manuals that came with Helga ( hopefully this is not another omen) that the fuel system should self Prime with 20 seconds of cranking. Is this correct on local models as well?
If I also interpret the poor quality B/W pictures correctly, the thing with the round top that hangs off the injector pump is the manual primer pump that can also be used to purge the system.
Stay tuned for the adventures of Helga part 2 which will either be Titled:
“ Helga Finally arrives at her new home”
OR....,
“ Helga Hits 100MPH and the bottom of a cliff off the side the Pacific Highway”
Once again I must thank all who replied to my “What to look for when buying a 300D” thread a couple of weeks ago. The feedback and tips I got were invaluable in what problems to look for and to prove the validity of the information, the car I bought has nearly every problem people mentioned!
The self leveling suspension is shot, The car has multiple although not too severe rust spots and clearly leaks like a sieve, the auto tranny leaks, It has an engine oil leak and the steering is accurate to the basic four points of the compass…but not much in between.
On the upside, the engine starts easily, idles smoothly blows no smoke on start up and has little blow by. The CV’s are good, The body is pretty straight save for a scrape on the drivers door, seats are good, It has a new heavy duty battery, Central locking works…slowly, tires are decent and it has 6 months rego.
OH, and she had half a tank of that smelly Dino Diesel stuff.
After first giving Helga an initial once over, I made my excuses, thanked the seller for their time and bundled the tribe up and headed off. Within 5Km down the road, it became clear the Mrs. was not happy with my decision ( being the expert mechanic she is of course) and to keep the peace, I rang the seller back after a discussion I realized I was not going win and arranged to come back for a test drive which I hadn’t bothered with in the first place. So won over with Helga’s mustard yellow classic appearance, and retro Vinyl upholstery, the Mrs. also strongly suggested I stop at the auto parts place on the way back to get some hose to replace what I had noticed was leaking. I don’t think I have ever bought parts for a car I didn’t even own before!
As if to totally reaffirm my severe doubts about Helga, The wayward steering and hissing of the non functioning auto leveling suspension were only outdone when it took 2 runs to get it up the owners admittedly extremely steep driveway. The skid marks I left when I hit the loud pedal a bit hard in the car I arrived in and broke the rear end loose, only served as another signal to lay even more rubber going the other way to get out of there as fast as possible.
Of course, there is a lot more to be considered when buying a used vehicle than just its mechanical and overall condition. There is also the loud whining that will be appear from the passenger seat all the way home in vehicle you arrived in and will continue to follow you all round the house and every place you go for lord knows how many years to come. I think most guys will know that fixing problems on a car is hell of a lot easier than fixing the problem when the other half is not happy. So, with very clear and unmistakable musings of my severe reservations of this car, the deal was of course done and her indoors suitably appeased. For a mere Haggled down $900 ( a whopping $100 off the asking price) Helga was a Mistake the boss wasn’t going to let me not make.
I guess I should be thankful. Last time she got a bee in her bonnet, avoiding divorce cost me $200K to buy a block of land in a location I hated. Thankfully, the cook has now forgotten that we did end up making 10K on the place after we offloaded it when she came to her senses and realized she couldn’t stand to live their either.
While as I was forewarned, Helga doesn’t quite have the tyre smoking, neck snapping acceleration of the Fireblade motorcycle I once so enjoyed (and less than half the power of that bike but 15 times the weight) I was pleasantly surprised at how well, with throttle mashed to the floor, she sailed up the hills coming out of Gosford back towards Sydney which bought a contented smile to my face…. Right up till the time she lost power and died in a rather bad spot on a corner ¾ the way up said hill.
After a small panic attack and not letting a golden opportunity to level a cutting “ I told you so” at the Mrs, I did manage to coax the wheezing Helga to the top of the hill and the safety of a side street at a breath taking 10Km/h which did nothing to diminish my relief of making it to such a far more opportune place for her to finally expire.
While looking her over on the first inspection, I did notice a dripping return fuel line which I replaced in a shopping centre car park just down the road from where I picked her up. This line and a couple of others running from the pump, appear to be of the cheap clear plastic type which shrinks and hardens when near any type of fuel or solvent. I would have replaced these as well except I bought the last 700mm of ¼” line the now closed parts place had in any type of tubing.
I did notice one of the lines coming from the filter housing to the pump had a steady stream of Bubbles going through it and being merely pushed on rather than clamped, I suspect this has compounded a probably blocked, aged looking fuel filter. It has a one of those very small inline see through filters which I noticed was also quite clogged looking.
Rather than making a bad situation worse, I decided to abandon Helga within an hour of taking possession and vowed to return on Monday with items to set her heart racing again like fuel filters and hose’s. I’m hoping that is all the resuscitation she is going to need to make it to her new home .
I have to admit, Helga did look really elegant and majestic sitting there in the fading afternoon light parked by the side of the road where she broke down barely 10K’s from her former home as we left her to return to what will be her new home…If we can get her this far that is!
So, I’m off to a REAL impressive start with my new maiden, Helga the 300D and can only imagine what other similar wonderful experiences we will get to share. One thing is fairly certain, we are going to be spending many intimate hours alone in the shed together while I re-aquaint myself with vintage mechanical systems I have long since forgotten and not touched in at least 20 years.
For those familiar with Helga’s sisters, can anyone tell me what is involved in giving her a Kidney transplant other than screwing the new filter on and off ( and pre-filling it with fuel perhaps?) and any other possible/ common ailments I should look for?
I read in the numerous owners and workshop manuals that came with Helga ( hopefully this is not another omen) that the fuel system should self Prime with 20 seconds of cranking. Is this correct on local models as well?
If I also interpret the poor quality B/W pictures correctly, the thing with the round top that hangs off the injector pump is the manual primer pump that can also be used to purge the system.
Stay tuned for the adventures of Helga part 2 which will either be Titled:
“ Helga Finally arrives at her new home”
OR....,
“ Helga Hits 100MPH and the bottom of a cliff off the side the Pacific Highway”
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