201td

Just bought an 87 190 2.5 turbo diesel...anyone have production numbers ? Is this a one-year manufacture, or a one year US import ? only 99K miles too! Thanks for any information.

uberwgn

A good sprinter! You can expect good fuel economy, too.

Yeah, 1987 was the only year that was sold in the USA. Enjoy.

jjay911

My source states 87 sales at 1400. JJ

201td

not bad - getting 31mpg around town

240D 3.0T

Keep hold of that car!

Not only are they quick little diesels, they get great MPG as well.

harkgar

240:

Were these 190 diesels equipped with manual transmissions? I read that MB is thinking of importing their new C cars with the 3 liter V-6 Bluetec. More than likely with the **** bottle.

It is a great pity BMW does not import their 3 series in line six turbo diesels into North America. They produce somewhere like 260 horses and over 300 Pound Foot of torque with standard manual transmissions.

EdzBenz

There are 190D 2.5T models that have the 5-speed manual.

240D 3.0T

Nope. All automatic in the USA. MB never mated a manual tranny to a turbodiesel car until 2001 in the C30CDI AMG.

jjay911

Then there were alot of grey market ones here because I have seen them.. JJ

240D 3.0T

Must have been alot of conversions or non-turbo's. No 1987 190D2.5T ever came with a manual.

harkgar

240:

Did you convert your tranny from auto to manual or did it come with the 4 speed? Is it a smooth shifter?

I had a 1999 VW Jetta Tdi with a 5 speed tranny which made all the difference in a small turbo diesel. With the 5 speed I was able to keep the turbo on the boil whenever necessary by switching one or two gears down.

240D 3.0T

Mine is a manual tranny 240D that I swapped a turbo engine into. The tranny has 200k miles so it grinds occasionally if I shift very quickly.

harkgar

240:

Happy New Year of the Pig to you!

Do you use any of a dozen or more of these after market or specialty lubes for older trannies? Do you think they work? MB does not recommend anything which are not their OEM parts, including the wind shield washer fluid for fear of litigation. I tried Dura Lube (for engine) and find that while it is good for older engines they are not great for the newer 1994 + ones.

Another problem with synthetic oils is that the older tranny-engine seals do not keep the oils in. They leak quite a bit. I found out with my 1986 560 SEL. I returned to OEM ATFs and its OK again.

harkgar

Do you use any of these additives? I live in the snow belt.

Some of them have a mixture of all 3 properties. They call them 3 in 1.

240D 3.0T

I use Mobil Delvac 1 for the engine, Mobil1 75w-90 for the diff, cheap-o ATF for the tranny (I'll switch to Redline MTL in the summer), Valvoline SynPower brake fluid, Valvoline Pyroil power steering fluid, Global Zerex G-05 coolant, and FPPF 8+ Cetane Improver in my fuel.

The ONLY additive I use is the cetane improver in the fuel. NO additives should be used in the oil, coolant, power steering, tranny, brake fluid, or diff. ANY additive that uses PTFE/Teflon should be avoided like the plague!

Leaking with synthetic is not the synthetics fault in 80's+ cars. It will clean out what ever it's put into and can uncover leaks that were blocked by grime/sludge. W115 and earlier cars should stick with dino oils.

The only leaks I have are from an old injection pump mount gasket and from a loose oil filter base (That one was fixed it by tightening the bolts.)

lkchris

BMW diesels will arrive in USA in 2008.

That's for sale of course--there are plenty of diesels in Spartanburg, but they're all being shipped abroad.

harkgar

240:

Why use cheapo transmission oil? Is there any truth in the rumor that ATF better lubes a manual box? You baby your car and that is why little went wrong.

240D 3.0T

I used cheap-o ATF because I had no information on the cars history. The idea is that it will clean out any metal particles before I use my good oil.

Lol, I hardly "baby" my car. I don't abuse it but I'm definitely not easy on it.

Holson

That car sucks.. give it to me!! j/k

The first mb diesel I looked at was a mint diamond blue 190E 2.5 Turbo (87 i believe). One car I wish I had bought instead of the 123 300CDT.

I drove a non turbo 190D and thought it was a decent ride, the turbo must be amazing.

Got pics?

201td

Not really...it's still the slowest car I got.

Holson

Well I guess amazing was an overstatement :p

240D 3.0T

Compared to a Porsche 911-T and 996 Turbo, I'd bet there isn't much that is faster.

201td

You may be surprised...the 911 T is a whopping 140 HP...kind of slow really. The rare quattro kills the T with ease...and now the 996TT is-out performed by a number of new (expensive) cars belonging to freinds and associates.

I know that I have reached my driving skill limit with the 996TT though...I can't drive that car to its limits (the rest I can) and I think it will be a while (like never) before I need more performance than that..a combination of fear, age, maturity, and that nagging feeling of having more in a car than than my first house cost me.

Believe it or not, I have just as much fun with all of my cars...its just different fun....and the Benz gets more miles than all the others combined.

harkgar

I know how you feel. My smoked silver 911 Targa with 200 bhp and five speed stick was quick weighing only 3,000 lbs. I was fed up with pimply faces in Honda Civics challenging me all the time at the lights so I bought a Corvette gymkarna package with 300 bhp and killed a lot of 5 series BMW V-8s. Then came an Infinite Q45 and then the E55.

The most practical car is my present 2006 E320 CDi.