Dear Jared, I would love to see a picture of your Mercedes, I have always dreamed of owning one but that dream just never came to being. My wife and I hope to one day be non-dependent on any kind of fossil fuel. Owning a car that can use bio-diesel fuel is a start. Thank you!
Thank you, Marc Hoflin -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Chip Mefford Sent: Friday, June 29, 2007 8:06 AM To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Another mercedes forsale... Following Jared's lead, I too have a Mercedes to get rid of; Although I'm not going to bother with pics, cause it's a bit of a pain, here's the deal; she's an old 300SD, the wagon. The autoleveling system ist kaput! The pump works, but squirts that spendy mineral oil out of the transfer valve assembly over the rear axle with a vengance. The shocks themselves seem okay, they hold some pressure, meaning she isn't just sitting on the bump stops, but it does sit low. Rear exhaust is pretty much gone. Those little backup lamps that are mounted in the rear bumper both have broken lenses. They would work otherwise. As with all these things, the vacuum locking system is fouled up. Since the shutoff works, the vacuum pump is okay, but the door locks are an on-again, off again kinda thing. Umm, tach is spotty, some days it's okay, other days not so okay. The gauge cluster for that matter, falls out of the dash board (the way these do) and the gauge cover isn't glued on any more. This is a trivial fix. I thought it best not to fix until I had fiddled about behind there some. Tires are all fine, Michelin ICE-X studless winter/ice tires, with less than 5K on 'em. They'd need to be changed out for normal driving. These will not last in above freezing temps, but they get it though an inspection. Brake disks could do with a turning, and the calipers need a rebuild. It's spent too much time sitting, and the caliper engagement is uneven, this can be scary at speed. The rear window wiper doesn't work, don't know why. I've not messed with it much. Lesse what else? some rusty bits along the rocker panels, and I honestly am a bit fearful for the pan, as I found sitting water in it last time I checked. I've found no real bad spots, but I'd not be suprised if they were there. Err, that weird box that controls the coolant flow to the heater core is disconnected, so that i could get heat. I have another one of those switches, just haven't put it in. The usual suspects. Timing chain could do with a tightening/adjustment. And of course a pump timing is no doubt well over due. Fuel system is clean. she has run up to homemade B100 before, and i ran her on B5-B50 when I was driving her. Ran a few gallons of peanut oil through there from time to time. The turbocharger is late, always, so whatevertheheck you call it, that actuator that does the magic with the throttle, the vacuum and the transmission needs a LOT of adjusting. And whatever that breather tube is, probably needs cleaned out as well. And of course, the transmission (like all of them) surges between 1st and 2nd. This I am told, is not that difficult to alleviate during a xmission fluid service. A spring is all. I'm not so sure this is true. It also lags when going into reverse by a second or two. I'm just gentle with it. It's a very old (340K miles) car. Since I anticipate the surge, I feather the throttle between gears and the surge isn't really detectable. Oh yeah, there are at least 2 weak glowplugs. This is evident when the temp drops into the single digits (10f or lower), the glow plug light wont even come on. But being the good ole gal that she is, she starts anyway. Not happy about it, but still starts. I've started her on cold morning down to 3f. Since I had her, I kept her on a diet of good fuel, Amzoil lubricants and fluids and the like. I mistakenly trusted a oil change place to handle the coolant and it ended up with 'green' antifreeze, which I know is wrong. but I don't think it hurt anything. Oh, AC doesn't work. I have another compressor, but i don't care about AC that much. Figured I'd mess with it if I decided to fiddle with the timing chain. Thats about all I can think of. On the plus side, she has good tires :) This car is in the Northern Virginia USA area, between Dulles Airport and Winchester, on the mountain above Bluemont. She is available free to a good home. Good home in the case, means someone interested in a test bed for alternative 'appropriate techology' biofuels. Contact me off list if interested, with your story. :) _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ No virus found in this incoming message. 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