Now that the extra engine block is sold and gone, I was able to clear some space in the garage last night by disassembling the cherry picker crane hoist, and stashing it toward the back. You can see it in the pic standing on end just to the right of the yellow engine stand. There is an older pic in the sidebar of the crane supporting the old block which is attached to the engine stand. I love that engine hoist, by the way. It is a big, sturdy Green Monster, unlike some of the cheap, lightweight hoists I have seen recently at Harbor Freight Tools.
I also did a little re-arranging of a couple of my tool chests, placing them off to the left side. Finally, I did a general clean up of the garage so that I now have a work space, albeit a bit cramped. We will just call it 'cozy'.
Incidentally, this garage workspace --- although it is continually evolving---- has been officially christened as "The Backseat Driver's Baur and Grill Club".... but that will be the subject of another blog, another day.
Below you will see another pic of a couple of my new Best Friends: a Mercedes Service Manual, in this case a Chiltons; a Diesel Engine Compression Tester; and a Leak Down Tester. Both of the tools were recently purchased at Harbor Freight Tools in Berlin, CT. Say what you will about Harbor Freight Tools, but they do make tools affordable. Whether they make them well, is another question altogether, and we shall soon find out. Since I am not a Professional Mechanic, but rather a hobbyist, these tools only need to do an adequate job for me this once. I may not need them again, so I cannot justify paying top dollar for them.
While there is no Haynes Manual for the W115 Series, I do have a copy of the Haynes W123 Manual, as well as another Chilton's, the 1974-84 Manual, as well as a Clymer's. There is some usable info in the W123 manual, because the early W123 300D engines were very similar to those in the W115. In addition, I also have the W115 Factory Service Manual CD that I bought on Ebay from Turkey. So I may be spending some Quality Time with my new Best Friends very shortly.
My plan is to do a Leak-Down test--- my first--- and try to get a better handle on exactly what this engine needs. As I understand it, the leak down test is generally considered a more reliable diagnostic tool than a compression test. The Harbor Freight Leak Down Test tool did not come with the proper fittings for my engine, but the Compression Test tool did. So I bought both. I may do the compression test anyway, since I have the kit.
I will need to do a little reading to see how to get the most accurate and usable results from the Leak Down test. For example, I know the test should be done on a warm engine. Do I need to set the valves beforehand, or does it not matter? Et cetera.
The basic problem with this engine is the excessive oil consumption, to the tune of about 1 quart every 100 miles or so. This is NOT a misprint! :) There are no oil leaks, so the oil is being consumed internally, and the leak down test should tell me where it is going. I do have a fair amount of blow-by, but I am not sure that the blow-by can account for all the oil use. I anticipate that it will need new valve stem guides and seals, but I need to know if the rings are shot. If it only needs head work, I will probably have my spare head redone, and swap that onto the block. On the other hand, if it is determined that it needs bottom end work in addition to the head work, I will need to decide whether to open that whole can of worms: rings, at the very least; cylinder honing and/or re-sleeving; and maybe pistons, rods, bearings, YIKES! That could get expensive quickly. Rather than go through all of that, I would most likely just go ahead and find a complete used engine and swap that in.
I have no illusions about my prospects here, by the way. I am already lining up a used replacement engine in the expectation that I will be needing one soon. The smart money is betting that I will need that replacement engine. We shall see.
At any rate, we are now a couple of steps closer to getting started. Stay tuned.
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