So my mom works as a bus driver, and the diesel mechanic at her lot offered to fix my '83 Mercedes 300SD. Originally he said he could get to it the weekend after Thanksgiving... Yes, he'll be paid for his labor. Nope... doesn't get to it. Then he says he'll bring his dolly and pick it up on Tuesday, two weeks later... Nope! Doesn't get to it... My mom moved so she rented a dolly and towed the car to the bus lot. He said he'd get to it that weekend... Nope! Doesn't do it... Then he said he'll bring his dolly on Monday... Oh! He forgot it... Tuesday for sure... Nope! It snows... Finally after a week passes he FINALLY took it home with him, he has another car he's working on and mine will be next line... Or so he fucking says, and who knows how long that will be... What enrages me the most is that the car issues are quite minor, a simple engine heater installation, and possibly a valve adjustment, timing belt adjustment, etc. The car runs fine, it's just having a hard time starting first time of the day. It's been very well maintained over the years. It's the sheer time the mechanic is taking to fix my vehicle that is frustrating because I wanted to return back to Montana, get a job, visit my daughter, etc. BEFORE deep winter set in... Now deep winter has set in and I'm not looking forward to the drive back, and all my plans are on hold until this vehicle is fixed.
my mechanic is the same way - he's the best mechanic i know, damn good engineer for custom suspension setups, but he's slow as molasses. he's in the late 40's, has lyme disease and makes a case for seasonal affective disorder. in the spring/summer he can get a lot of shit done, but in the fall/winter he drags. its disappointing, to the point i will only take my cars to him if its something i absolutely despise doing or can't due myself.
Well he's a Diesel mechanic, and has worked on a similar 83' Benz 300SD with success. Him doing it will be a lot cheaper than a garage. Nope, the car runs like a beast! It got me and my mom from Jacksonville, FL to Caldwell, ID going 80mph the whole way. Even now it still runs perfectly fine, it's just having a very difficult time starting, if I can start it I don't have problems for the rest of the day. It's been very well maintained and just needs some adjustments. Nothing major.
i wouldn't trust a gas engine mechanic to work on a diesel engine. OP, i wouldn't play with your timing belt/valve timing. i think the issue would be resolved with a block heater.
School buses have diesels engines. A block heater specific to the engine will be installed, I had one for the oil pan but it didn't help. It has a brand new battery, 5 brand new NGK glow plugs (2 of the old ones were bad). Said mechanic believes it could be a clogged fuel injector as another mechanic I took it to told me one of the 5 cylinders wasn't working. I think he'll know what to do assuming he ever gets to work on it... If I was mechanically inclined I could diagnose and fix it myself but I have absolutely NO experience when it comes to cars.
not all, but yes, i wasn't disagreeing with your choice of mechanic. and the oil pan heater helped your engine out, just didn't help it start when cold - it was warming the thicker oil some euros run so that it thinned enough to be drawn up into the block and provide lubrication while the rest of the engine warmed up. i should run an oil pan heater in my old bmw, so that the 20w50 oil my engine requires thins up for those cold winter mornings here in maine. instead, i use a thinner oil in the winter. cheapest option for me. edit - skip to about 2:20 in the video for explanation/experiment:
Some people can do both... usually you start on gas engines. Lucky for my family, my uncle owns his mechanic body and paint shop in Los Angeles and we only pay for parts. It took less than a week to replace my transmission in my 5.2 liter engine dodge Dakota. Total cost for me was $2.89 (just one slip gear). Amazing how a cheap piece of metal can cause a transmission to slip.
My baby's been at the dealer for almost 2 months now, the transmission's been out for 2 weeks and I guess they just got the case open late last week. They're trying to figure out if they're going to rebuild or replace the trans. At this point they need to just lie to VW and get a remanufactured trans back in so I can stop driving this Golf mk7. So tired of not shifting and not being able to take my turns 10mph faster than I can at this moment. From my experience if it's a quick fix they'll get it back to you in about 3 days, if it's a major fix most places with throw a bandaid on the problem and have it back to you next day or the day after. It took me 37k miles to get the techs to believe that there's something wrong with my trans, and I'm definitely not rushing them on this fix now that they finally listened.
Aren't you the guy that picked up a bunch of homeless people at some point or something and got screwed every time? haha. Anyway, my 08 silverado has the 6.6 duramax in it, if it's anywhere around 5/celcius it has a rougher start every time, it's just the cold. No diesel likes the cold and if your car seems to run fine when warm I would say your timing and valve adjustments are fine, unless it like sputters and shit I guess. I have to plug my truck in, otherwise it chugs and blows smoke in the mornings. A block heater will save your car in the long run and get rid of all the hard starts in the morning. I've never had a good experience with back yard mechanics, especially ones who are doing the shit like this guy is to you. It may seem like a good idea, save some money and help somebody out but these people always take advantage of it. If can't do it myself I take my truck to a small shop mechanic. I still save myself some money in the long run but I have great work done all of the time. Anything motor wise I would advise taking it to a diesel mechanic, they are a different world of motor.
Well even when the weather was 50-60°F it's still having trouble with that very first start of the day. When it does finally chug to life it spits out these clouds of black smoke which turn to white, once the temp is up to 80° in the engine it's good to go, and the exhaust runs mostly clear. Here's the kicker, I've seen other '83 Mercedes 300SD's on YouTube start up immediately in much harsher conditions, like 0°F (-17°C) and covered in like 12" of snow, not plugged into the heater. From my research, it's either an issue with fuel injectors, or possibly bad compression. And yes... I am "that guy" he who gave a ride to homeless, which I wont do again. I learned the hard way, if you give a moose a muffin they're going to want another one.
Every vehicle is different my friend. My buddies truck is damn near identical to mine and starts fine with even more mileage than mine. I can tell you are very passionate about your car and I appreciate that, but I've already read you list off at least 4 things that it could be, most unfortunately are all very expensive to fix. If it were injectors, it would be blowing excessive black smoke while driving (assuming your car isn't tuned), have more engine knock and have a blue/white haze in the exhaust. Any exhaust smoke will turn white in the cold unless its quite a few above freezing temps, and to be honest I'd be damned if I've seen any deleted or older diesel not blow any smoke on start up. A simple compression test will tell you if you are lacking compression; any shop can do it for cheap if not free. If it's the winter season, I would switch to a lighter weight oil. I run 15w-40 in the summer and 5w-40 in the winter. Colder weather=thicker oil=harder start up. I would recommend adding a mineral additive like Lucas oil if you run full synthetic oil. A bottle of Stanadyne in the gas tank will help immensely as well, as it will clean the 30 years of shit from the injectors. I'd highly recommend trying these cheap solutions that will benefit you either way before taking it to a mechanic IMO. A professional ear is worth a lot more than 20 dudes assuming what the problem is on the internet haha.
Just buy a new car you have a mercedes you can afford it Sent from my SM-G928V using Grasscity Forum mobile app
WRONG, My Aunt GIFTED me her Mercedes. I'm as broke as it gets, if I was wealthy I wouldn't be staying in a homeless shelter. If only I could win the powerball or megamillions jackpot lol
Just get a job and take it to a diesal mechanic Sent from my SM-G928V using Grasscity Forum mobile app
I got a 96 12 valve cummins. Things a beast. I run 2 block heaters both on separate cords. It's snows 8 months of the year where I live. She gotta be toasty. Another reason for hesitated starting could be your getting air in your fuel system somewhere. Hope you get her fixed soon bud. As for timing belt I don't know mine has all gears no belts. Adjusting your valves wouldn't hurt though . If he's compotent and has the valve tolerances printed off. Also use conditioner as frequent as you can. It lubes your lift pumps ect. Mind you my trucks are all mechanical fuel pumps...
Sounds like I'm FINALLY going to get my car back next week *knocks on wood* The mechanic found that 2 of the 5 fuel injectors were pouring diesel into the engine (I wonder if these were the 2 cylinders that had the bad glow plugs as well?) This must have been causing the rough idling and slow acceleration as well. From my understanding colder diesel has a difficult time turning into an aerosol which could explain why I didn't run into problems until it got below 32°F (0°C), and why my Aunt in Florida never experienced issues as it rarely gets below 50°F (10°C) there. Parts are ordered and should be there this weekend, he'll make the repairs, and here's hoping *crosses fingers* my Benz will be running better than ever and I can finally get back to business.