Living with a Greasecar, part 9.....the final chapter.....

I've had enough! I love driving on veggie oil, I love saving a few hundred a month on fuel but I hate my car. I don't care that much that it's expensive to maintain (how's almost $500 for an oil pump and oil?). What I'm fed up with is how the car fights me EVERY step of the way. There's a freaking secret handshake you have to know to get anything accomplished ("oh, you have to have the driver's seat all the way rearward, the diff fluid drained and the tire pressure adjusted to 45 p.s.i. to remove the thermostat?). So, I'm done. Not with running a greasecar, but with that horrible car!
The only thing that tells me not to sell is I've just done all the major work you expect to do to the engine, and the trans shifts GREAT, that's a rarity in itself. But I'm thinking of a Dodge with the cummins, maybe a Jetta (though, it's another German car...) or maybe a suburban.
Anyone wanna buy a W124 benz???
[winey rant over]

Sorry. I have been watching your project..I'd love to daily drive a flat black t-bucket with a diesel rabbit engine. I'd put the grease tank in the bed and use a little moon tank for the diesel.

Damn Doc, I'm sorry to hear that. I'm thinking you need a 12v Cummins, if you can stand the Dodge part of it.

We had dreams of a diesel Benz wagon until we borrowed the g/f's parents sedan for a couple of weeks. That cured and Benz envy real quick. They may have been awesome cars when new, but it seems if you don't keep on them like a hawk, they go downhill really fast.

My father had two grease cars until he could no longer get grease.. a 2002 Jetta and a 90 something GMC pickup.. both ran great.

Sorry the MB faught you every step of the way.. some cars are like that. There is a reason I sent my NG 900 to the crusher

I sold my wife's W210 diesel because I was afraid it was getting to that age where it would start being "fun" like that. I always wondered why there was a solenoid that prevented you from removing the key if your foot was on the brake.

12v cummins is a great grease truck. So are 6.2L chevy diesels. Both are kings of the MPG mountain, but the cummins can do those MPGs and with much higher power levels. The 6.2L isn't going to win any races. Go to www.dieselpowermag.com and look up their first-gen dodge ram cummins. 972 hp and 27 mpg. Of course, that uses nitrous, but they still put down something like 877 hp to the wheels on fuel alone.

My next diesel project will probably be one of these: a converted big rig. Z the frame, drop it to the ground, massive dually meats, and something like a Cat 3206 diesel that sticks up 10" higher than the rest of the car. :)

curtis73 wrote: My next diesel project will probably be one of these: a converted big rig. Z the frame, drop it to the ground, massive dually meats, and something like a Cat 3206 diesel that sticks up 10" higher than the rest of the car. :)

I gotta say, that's an interesting piece of hardware...

I like that... alot

Is living with a w124 that hard? An old Benz has been on my list, and a w124 of some ilk at the top of that list. You're kind of freaking me out.

mazdeuce wrote: Is living with a w124 that hard? An old Benz has been on my list, and a w124 of some ilk at the top of that list. You're kind of freaking me out.

I think it depends on your budget. If you buy expecting to spend 2x book value on restoring it to new condition, it can be a good car. One just has to bear in mind, these cars were not designed for the DIY'er, but rather for those with the means to have it serviced regularly by those who know what they're doing. They're like a VW - squared.

mazdeuce wrote: Is living with a w124 that hard? An old Benz has been on my list, and a w124 of some ilk at the top of that list. You're kind of freaking me out.

It hasn't been that hard, for me. I've found it relatively easy to work on, but I don't know what specifically Dr Boost is having to deal with. Like any other car, there are going to be specific tasks that are going to be difficult, especially if you are doing it for the first time and most especially if you aren't following a procedure outlined by someone who has been through it already.

Forums specific to Mercedes are a must (like the Peach Parts Shop forum: PP Forum Folks on there have done darn near everything to W124s and others and many have written tutorials about their experiences.

I love my car and hope I never get in a mood with it like Dr. Boost. They have their quirks and the newest W124s are approaching 20 years old, so there will be problems. But, overall, they are solid, well-designed vehicles capable of very high mileage. Can't say I feel the same way for later models.

Oh damn, I just bought a diesel W123.... I hope it is easier to deal with then a W124.

Um, after seeing first hand what it takes to keep an older Merc or other German car running I will stick with old riceburners. Sure they will go a long ways but they will KILL you on repair costs. The 'prestige' of owning one just is not worth it.

Yesterday I was talking to a bud who has a 5 series BMW, he said he paid $8k for the car, has had it for 4? years, he had to buy a radiator etc because the fan exploded (fairly common occurrence, I saw this a few times at the shop). He ordered the radiator etc from the same place he normally does and for gits/shiggles checked his account; he has spent $5700.00 on parts. That's with him doing the work.

He said the last two cars he had before it were older Acura Integras, one he paid $1k for, the other $1800 and between the two maybe $600 in parts.

The parts supplies for the older cars are drying up. Sure, reman stuff is still available but a LOT of it is on a 'repair and return' basis (shortage of rebuildable cores) and the prices are not necessarily reasonable. Check into CIS fuel distributors, for instance. The whole planet will of course tell me I am wrong, but I have seen first hand how alcohol fuel attacks the seals in the fuel dizzys causing major problems. The twin fuel pumps on the V8 cars seem very prone to this type failure too.

The later cars are loaded with electronic toys that, when they break, tend to get stupid expensive to fix.

And dumb things happen, like transmission fluid in the transmission controller. Fluid gets forced through the wiring harness uphill ~2 feet. The computer is mounted with the harness connector pointing up so the fluid fills the controller and stupid things happen. We'd take the controllers apart, clean them with contact cleaner, set them in the sun to dry for a day, then reinstall with the connector pointing down and cross our fingers. About half the time this would work. Oh, and it was also necessary to replace the transmission electrical conductor plate to lessen (not stop!) the amount of ATF going up the harness.

Or headlight wiring harnesses that had the insulation crumble and the harnesses are available only with the complete assembly. Then there are the HID headlights with non replaceable modules that cost $1800 apiece.

Naw, not me. I'll drive my old non prestigious riceburners, thankyaverramuch.

I'll add to Curmudgeon's comments that I've had experience with Mercs and Jags. Cost of ownership on Jaguars has been lower, which is saying a lot. Yet, for some reason, I just sent an e-mail about a '95 Audi S6.

One of my customers had a 1994? 500SL which belonged to his wife and he had a 2006? Range Rover HSE (which has a BMW V8). A lot of my customers had things set up so car repairs were written off on their taxes, like so many of them he called me in April 2011 to ask how much he had spent in 2010.

Between the two, ~$9700.00. $6k on the Range Rover, the rest on the 500. And the SL still needed new top cylinders to the tune of ~$3500.00, he had not repaired that yet.

Here's what I've done to the car in the last few months.
Oil pump (was way too freaking expensive!) - $500 or so with oil.
Head gasket - under $200 for upper gasket pkg. and head bolts.
So, the head gasket was not expensive by my accounting, the oil pump was offensively expensive. Now, I dont' have a problem with the fact that I had to do these repairs, the car has 290K on it. What pisses me off is you can't go into this like working on a 'merican or Japanese car. You really should look it over in the manual first (available HERE ) or you'll spend way more time and effort than you really needed to. I didn't have that link before I attacked those two jobs.
I haven't put it up for sale yet, who knows, maybe I won't. I don't want to convert another car so I might just see how this goes down the road.
What scares me is the transmission. It shifts great, no problems at all. But, one day it will need to be rebuilt. I don't know how to rebuild an auto trans, and learning how to build a transmission on a mercedes is like learning about sex in prison. You'll learn it all wrong, and it'll hurt real bad.

DrBoost wrote: I don't know how to rebuild an auto trans, and learning how to build a transmission on a mercedes is like learning about sex in prison. You'll learn it all wrong, and it'll hurt real bad.

Snort!

Ok, so......yea, maybe I need to think about that a little more.

Someone needs to learn me on the Cummins 12v and what all models it came in.

Seems like there are many B-Series engines, all of varying performance and reliability.

"After doing some research we think we have decided on the way to go. The Cummins 4BT or ISB 3.9 liter turbo-charged four cylinder looks like a good fit. This engine can be found in some Ford E350 cube vans, Chevy/GMC P30/P3500 step vans, and Case 580 Tractors. This ISB puts out 145-170 HP and 420 pounds of torque. That is 80 pounds more than the 6.0 Vortec V8. Unfortunately the ISB is so new the chance of getting one used is slim. Buying one new is a little too rich for our project so we decided the 4BT would be the one to look for." http://www.overlandvans.com/0104_diesel.html

mazdeuce wrote: Ok, so......yea, maybe I need to think about that a little more.

Another thing to keep in mind. There are more special tools necessary than I'm used to. The cool thing is, the Peach Tree forums has some sort of tool rental program where one member will rent his special tool to another one. I don't know much about it though, never used it.

PHeller wrote: Someone needs to learn me on the Cummins 12v and what all models it came in. Seems like there are many B-Series engines, all of varying performance and reliability.

The 12V cummins is GREAT. The 1st gen are totally mechanical and dead-nuts reliable. I wish I'd never sold mine.

Hey Curmudgeon, don't start talking about CIS parts crapping out my car might hear you! If you start adding up the cost of rebuilding these part, I don't think you can find them new it gets damn expensive. Luckily there are companies who rebuild fuel distributors and warmup regulators.

Good luck Boost, I bet if you get the car back together you'll enjoy it again. If the transmission craps out can you just get one from a 300e to swap or did the 300d 2.5 use a unique transmission?

DrBoost wrote: What scares me is the transmission. It shifts great, no problems at all. But, one day it will need to be rebuilt. I don't know how to rebuild an auto trans, and learning how to build a transmission on a mercedes is like learning about sex in prison. You'll learn it all wrong, and it'll hurt real bad.

I hear you there. SWMBO has already decided that if the "new" Volvo's automatic needs to be rebuilt, guess who'd doing it? Yup. I don't see this ending well.... I'll have to remember the prison sex analogy... might be needed.

I've always enjoyed your greasecar threads. I would love to use this process on my 12v cummins or 6.2 blazer, but just haven't had the time.