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  #16  
Old 06-19-2018, 01:08 AM
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But a 1984 Diesel "Cadillac" woul be a relaible car?
How was the "Mercedes"?
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  #17  
Old 06-19-2018, 08:29 AM
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The Mercedes diesels were quite reliable. Finding ones that don't have 400,000 miles and is generally worn out is getting difficult. As of late, finding good quality replacement parts has become harder... there's a lot of knock off crap on the market.

From what I've read a 1984 Cadillac diesel wouldn't be too bad. Their fuel injection system is not as robust as the VW, and much less than the Mercedes. Finding parts for the GM will be difficult (For example, the fuel injectors). By 84 the 5.7 diesel had also been de-tuned to just over 100hp.

The 3.0 iron head Mercedes 5 cylinder turbos (78-85) are 125 hp, the 3.0 6 cylinder aluminum head is 144, and the 3.5 aluminum 6 is 134 (less hp, but more torque than the 3.0). I have a 91 S Class with the 3.5.

The turbo diesel S Class was sold in the USA and Canada only from 78-80 (W116) and 81-91 (W126). Starting in 91 you could get the W140 300SD (still with the 3.5!) globally.
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  #18  
Old 06-19-2018, 09:02 AM
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My brother-in-law who's a taxi driver refuses to have a diesel car, he tried one but it cost so much to get through the taxi roadworthy/emissions test every year that his next car was petrol/gasoline. Doesn't get so many miles per gallon as a diesel but less costly to maintain. The annual taxi test is much stricter than a normal cars annual MOT test, slightest defect that would pass or be a minor advisory notice on an MOT test will fail the taxi test...
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  #19  
Old 06-19-2018, 10:35 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by maxhifi View Post
Diesel cars except Volkswagen and some Mercedes are not so popular due to a variety of reasons, including historically cheap gasoline, higher initial cost, worse performance versus the gasoline version, and fairly strict pollution regulations.

Notwithstanding, the big three US auto companies do sell lots of diesel powered light trucks, which many people use as their primary car. They are extremely popular and reliable, because diesel engines are so good for trucks and especially hauling trailers. Not every gas station sells diesel, but it's very easy to find in areas where trucks are popular.

Diesel fuel is commonly availible at gas stations along side gasoline in areas where people own a lot of trucks. Diesel fuel pumps have a slightly wider spout so won't fit into a gasoline car's fuel filler.
I bought my Diesel Jeep Liberty in 2005. It was equipped with a VM Motori 4 cylinder turbo Diesel. They were only offered two years in the US, 2005 & 2006. It was discontinued for 2007 for sale in the US because of stricter pollution rulings. They continued to build them for other markets.
It was totaled in 2009 in a freak accident on an ice slicked rural road near me.
At the time I signed on to this website, I still had it. I never bothered to change my screen name.
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  #20  
Old 06-19-2018, 10:43 AM
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I *just* bought a 1984 Mercedes 300D turbodiesel, which is now in San Francisco. Every maintenance record since new, and it's got 387,000 miles on it. Waiting for the carrier to get word to me as to when they're picking it up.

You just can't find them this clean here in the snow and salt of the northeast....
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  #21  
Old 06-19-2018, 11:06 AM
dieseljeep dieseljeep is offline
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Originally Posted by Colly0410 View Post
My brother-in-law who's a taxi driver refuses to have a diesel car, he tried one but it cost so much to get through the taxi roadworthy/emissions test every year that his next car was petrol/gasoline. Doesn't get so many miles per gallon as a diesel but less costly to maintain. The annual taxi test is much stricter than a normal cars annual MOT test, slightest defect that would pass or be a minor advisory notice on an MOT test will fail the taxi test...
The larger size Toyota Prius Hybrid is getting more popular for Taxi use.
NY and Chicago has many for that use.
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  #22  
Old 06-19-2018, 12:26 PM
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"Mercedes" 300D it's an W123 (a.k.a Cobra in Romania). Those cars where made to last!
In the '90's you could see W110's (manufactured between 1961 and 1968) in use. Diesel, because they ate up less fuel and Diesel fuel was cheaper then gas fuel back then. But the "increase of the standard of living" and that darn "Rabla" ("The jallopy") program in which the Romaninan state subsidize buying of new cars if you scrap and old car made a lot of them history 10-12 years ago you could buy one in working condition an decent looking for 1,000-1,500 U.S. Dollars... try to find one at that price now Bastards... I hope they will end up theyr life in poverty!
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Last edited by Telecolor 3007; 06-19-2018 at 12:30 PM.
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  #23  
Old 06-19-2018, 01:37 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by compu_85 View Post
Heh, the VW didn't "figure out" it had diesel instead of gas in the tank... it just couldn't run on gas. On a 2009+ TDI filling the tank with some gas will make the high pressure fuel pump come apart and fill the entire fuel system with metal shavings. The normal dealer procedure is to replace every single component fuel touches, to the tune of $6000+
Kind of like the consequences of putting power steering fluid in a braking system; good one MacGyver. Naturally dealers will soak for whatever they can get.

Quote:
Originally Posted by compu_85 View Post
There are no 1988 Cadillac diesels... unless someone was swapping things around. I've seen swaps where a 6.2 or 6.5 is plug in place of the 5.7 gas a Broham would have come with. 1985 was the last year GM sold their "classic" IDI diesel passenger cars, with the 5.7 V8, 4.3 V8, or 4.3 V6. None of the old GM IDI diesels were very powerful, though they could get acceptable fuel economy. A 6.5 TD mounted in a car would probably give acceptable performance, and with the 4L80e's lockup torque converter you might be able to touch 30 mpg!

-J
Some guys shoehorned a Cummins into what I believe was a 1991 Cadillac, along with a Dodge Tradesman grille.
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  #24  
Old 06-19-2018, 05:12 PM
Colly0410 Colly0410 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dieseljeep View Post
The larger size Toyota Prius Hybrid is getting more popular for Taxi use.
NY and Chicago has many for that use.
There's a few of these being used as taxi's here as well but they're very expensive to buy. My brother-in-law has bought a second hand Ford Focus petrol/gasoline & it passed the taxi test no problem & he's out earning money..
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  #25  
Old 06-19-2018, 09:00 PM
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dfwPFxPhCY
A friend running his diesel Suburban after sitting in a field for years.

It's important to remember that diesel (at least in America) was a very low quality fuel back in the day. It's been getting steadily better, and combined with tougher emission standards, diesel's a pretty decent fuel in this country, now. I'm only 30 years old, and I remember buses and trucks spewing soot everywhere when they took off from a stop, when I was little. This is a rare occurrence now.

Also, while I don't hate diesel, and I understand (better than most) that new diesel cars are pretty clean, I'm VERY thankful that most of our cars are gasoline. Because I've been to India. Where EVERY car is a diesel. Let's just say, it only took a day for my white shirt collar to become black.

Speaking of putting the wrong fuel in a vehicle... my shop's neighbor has a fleet of 3 Dodge Sprinters. One of them is BRAND spanking new. The idiot they let drive it (mind you, he's the same guy who drives the other diesel Sprinters) filled up the tank to the brim from empty with E85. Miraculously, it still managed to run, but not well. I had to siphon the tank, all 20 or 30 gallons, and fill with fresh diesel. It was perfectly fine, afterwards, thankfully.

I still have about 10 gallons of that useless contaminated fuel. It is probably about 90% E85. My dad put it in some car and it understandably didn't like it that much.
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  #26  
Old 06-20-2018, 03:54 AM
Colly0410 Colly0410 is offline
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Here in England diesel is more expensive that gas/petrol, when I was in Canary Islands a few weeks ago it was the other way round. What's cheapest in USA?
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  #27  
Old 06-20-2018, 07:15 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Telecolor 3007 View Post
"Mercedes" 300D it's an W123 (a.k.a Cobra in Romania). Those cars where made to last!
In the '90's you could see W110's (manufactured between 1961 and 1968) in use. Diesel, because they ate up less fuel and Diesel fuel was cheaper then gas fuel back then. But the "increase of the standard of living" and that darn "Rabla" ("The jallopy") program in which the Romaninan state subsidize buying of new cars if you scrap and old car made a lot of them history 10-12 years ago you could buy one in working condition an decent looking for 1,000-1,500 U.S. Dollars... try to find one at that price now Bastards... I hope they will end up theyr life in poverty!
Believe it or not, I paid $1,500 for the one that I'm getting. I could barely believe it

Of course, it is costing me almost as much to get it transported from California to NY.....
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  #28  
Old 06-20-2018, 09:26 AM
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Nice find on that 300D. 84 is a good year.

I've been basically trying to give away my 91 SDL... nobody seems interested

Did you know that 1985 California market Mercedes diesels were the first vehicles ever to have a DPF?
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  #29  
Old 06-20-2018, 10:09 AM
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I just might be interested.....I'm quickly realizing that owning a '97 Miata in Buffalo means that you can take it out and enjoy it almost never.....so there's a 50/50 chance that's getting sold. I have a whole bunch of genuine Mazda tune up stuff coming for it, and it's only got 109K on the clock. Down side is that it's an auto.

I'm a neophyte when it comes to Mercedes, but I'm a quick study. I looked at an '83 W126 locally....looked decent from the photos, but although it ran, it ended up being a basket case.
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  #30  
Old 06-20-2018, 05:16 PM
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Diesel fuel sometimes was bad in Romania too. But older cars dind't had too much problems with it. You could (ilegally) buy it from truck or bus drivers.
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