Over the last few months, my 1991 300D ran pretty badly. At first, I was able to get the engine’s power back to acceptable levels by fixing various leaks in the vacuum system, especially in the lines that control the turbo waste-gate. Without the turbo, I could start at the bottom of a small hill going 60 and I’d be down to 45 at the top of the hill.

Then, one morning mid January, the car would not start at all. I had it towed to A Better Wrench in Chapel Hill (US Rider is a great road-side assistance service). They replaced the glow plugs and the car started great, again. However, right after that repair, the engine power was really bad, again. I tinkered with the car for a few days, but I could not find any more obvious vacuum leaks. So I took her back to the shop. Max, the owner, fixed all the vacuum leaks and now you can really feel a turbo kick in again! AND he figured out why the transmission shifts so early into higher gears, which was also not helping the performance of the car. He also showed me how to check whether the wast gate actuator works, and how to adjust the transmission linkage to change the how early the transmission shifts up.

So, after two trips to the shop, and $560 in repairs, the old Mercedes starts and runs very nicely again. Thanks Max! Great job.

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