ALDA Replacement
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1983 Mercedes 300SD
ALDA Replacement
I just bought a nice 83 300SD in Cali that was about 90% restored. The PO claims it has a bad ALDA. I have a bid in on one on eBay. Seems like a cheap part.
Question 1: Can these be bought new from Bosch? If so, how? The MB parts departments look at me like I have a thrid eyeball in the middle of my forehead when I ask them about it...most don't have a clue what I am talking about. They tell me to buy a new injector pump...seems a bit absurd for a 25 dollar part???
Question 2: I have the instructions for cleaning the system up to and past the switchover valve...the PO didn't know what I am talking about there...I hope it is just sooted lines etc...I am going to get the eBay one for a spare, and if I need it...what amount of effort is needed to change it out? It looks to be simple.
Thanks for the help in advance!
Joe
Question 1: Can these be bought new from Bosch? If so, how? The MB parts departments look at me like I have a thrid eyeball in the middle of my forehead when I ask them about it...most don't have a clue what I am talking about. They tell me to buy a new injector pump...seems a bit absurd for a 25 dollar part???
Question 2: I have the instructions for cleaning the system up to and past the switchover valve...the PO didn't know what I am talking about there...I hope it is just sooted lines etc...I am going to get the eBay one for a spare, and if I need it...what amount of effort is needed to change it out? It looks to be simple.
Thanks for the help in advance!
Joe
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From: Federal Heights, CO
1982 300D VNT, 1980 240D 3.0T, 1982 300TD
You have 2 options for getting an ALDA.
1: Buy a new one with an Injection pump attached to it.
2: Buy a used one.
Bosch won't sell individual parts.
You will need 27mm and 24mm wrenches to change the ALDA. Turn the bottom nut clockwise and/or the ALDA counter clockwise.
Try driving without it, you may never want to put one back on.
1: Buy a new one with an Injection pump attached to it.
2: Buy a used one.
Bosch won't sell individual parts.
You will need 27mm and 24mm wrenches to change the ALDA. Turn the bottom nut clockwise and/or the ALDA counter clockwise.
Try driving without it, you may never want to put one back on.
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1983 Mercedes 300SD
re: Driving without one
Okay...I just got a vote for driving without it...does that mean disconnecting it or removing? What do you plug the top of the injector with?
I am putting the cart before the horse...I need to make sure the lines and the bolt is clean before I go down this road...that will be a cheap fix and may provide me with the desired result.
Thanks in Advance for the advice,
Joe
I am putting the cart before the horse...I need to make sure the lines and the bolt is clean before I go down this road...that will be a cheap fix and may provide me with the desired result.
Thanks in Advance for the advice,
Joe
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From: Federal Heights, CO
1982 300D VNT, 1980 240D 3.0T, 1982 300TD
Removing it completely. You can plug the line from the intake with whatever you can find and the injection pump has it's own seal on the shaft so you don't need to worry about it.
What I did was remove the guts from the ALDA (The two bellows inside)
and reinstall it as a dirt cover.
What I did was remove the guts from the ALDA (The two bellows inside)
and reinstall it as a dirt cover.
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1983 Mercedes 300SD
ALDA Replacement
Aren't you worried about over fueling in an overboost situation? I have heard that can blow the motor?
I am all for good performance, don't get me wrong, but I don't want to crater my engine
I am all for good performance, don't get me wrong, but I don't want to crater my engine
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From: Federal Heights, CO
1982 300D VNT, 1980 240D 3.0T, 1982 300TD
If you maintain your engine and have a good understanding of how the engine works then there is very little chance of that happening, especially if you have a boost gauge installed in a good location.
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1983 Mercedes 300SD
Do you have a pic?
Do you have a pic of where you located your boost gague? The car's dash is too nice to mess up (if you know what I mean)...I am just looking for ideas...
thanks,
Joe
thanks,
Joe
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From: Federal Heights, CO
1982 300D VNT, 1980 240D 3.0T, 1982 300TD
My dash has a few cracks so I didn't feel too bad mounting mine there. When I had my wagon, I placed the gauge in one of the center vent pods.
The left is pyrometer, center is boost and right is exhaust manifold pressure.
The left is pyrometer, center is boost and right is exhaust manifold pressure.
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From: Toronto
2006 E320 CDi, 2008 3/4 Ton Suburban, 2007 "rice rickshaw" Accord 5 speed
Cool
I was admiring this three quarter ton Chevy Duramaz with Allison 6 speed. It has leather, sun roof, alloys, navigation. The hood has this new double rip design I think to accomodate the monster underneath. Its beautiful man!
The fact it has 350 bhp and 650 torque at 2,000 rpm does not hurt either. Why is it so hard for either GM or MB to put something like this into a passenger car? Performance and economy both in large measures.
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From: Spicewood, TX
2008 GL 320, 2007 Silverado LTZ C3500 Duramax Turbo Diesel
The fact it has 350 bhp and 650 torque at 2,000 rpm does not hurt either. Why is it so hard for either GM or MB to put something like this into a passenger car? Performance and economy both in large measures.
Let's see. The last time GM put a diesel in a passenger car? Was it '79 or '80 they came out with the engine that was a 350 ci. gas engine, converted to a diesel. This folly almost single-handedly ruined the diesel engine market in the US. Even the few true diesels available in the early 80's, Toyota, Isuzu, suffered the consequences and had no re-sale value. This is a shame since both were exceptionally good engines that would go forever.
Luckily, Ford and International Harvester stayed the course and brought dependability and the value of the diesel engine back to life. It has been a long struggle but the market is prime. According to Wolfgang's data, there are many diesel options on the near horizon.
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From: Federal Heights, CO
1982 300D VNT, 1980 240D 3.0T, 1982 300TD
It wasn't a gas engine converted to diesel, however it made a killer engine when converted to gas!
As an interesting note, the 4.3L V6 diesel can be swapped into the Pontiac Fiero. It's actually faster 0-60 than with the 2.8L V6 gas engine!
Last edited by 240D 3.0T; Sep 30, 2007 at 03:47 AM.
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From: Spicewood, TX
2008 GL 320, 2007 Silverado LTZ C3500 Duramax Turbo Diesel
I stand corrected about the conversion but the bottom line is it was a folly and set back the diesel market for years in the US. This is fom Wikpedia
In the face of the 1970s 'gas crisis', GM turned to Diesel power for economic benefit, directing the Oldsmobile division to develop a V6 and two V8 engines, to be shared with all divisions.
These Diesel engines were designed to fit into the engine bays of gasoline powered automobiles, but despite popular belief, they were not "converted" gasoline engines. Oldsmobile's diesel engines, the 5.7 L LF9 and 4.3 L LF7 V8s and 4.3 L LT6/LT7/LS2 V6, were notoriously unreliable, particularly in the earliest versions, though reliability had improved by the early 1980s with the advent of the DX block, along with better fuel filtering and water separators. By the early 80's,the 5.7L diesel was a fairly reliable engine with the introduction of the rollerized camshaft/roller lifter combination and had many improved enhancements that the late 70's 5.7L diesel engines did not have. Many of the reliability issues these engines developed were a combination of faults not just related to design. Many of these engines suffered major malfunctions from poor quality fuel, mechanics not properly trained in diesel repair, and even improper owner service and maintenance. Although over one million were sold between 1978 and 1985, the failure rate of GM's engines ruined the reputation of Diesel engines not just built by GM, but overall in the United States market. Eventually, a class action lawsuit resulted in an arbitration system under the supervision of the Federal Trade Commission where consumers could claim 80% of the original cost of the engine in the event of a failure.
The Oldsmobile 5.7 liter engines experienced a wide gamut of malfunctions. One of the common failures was with crankshaft bearings. This was frequently attributed to owners and maintainers running the engines on SG rated oil (intended for gasoline engines), versus CD oil (intended for Diesel engines). This prompted GM to introduce the DX block which then allowed extended oil change intervals to 5,000 miles (8,000 km). D block engines required frequent oil change intervals because of the friction created between the typical flat tappet camshaft and hydraulic lifters. When the oil change interval was ignored,excessive wear was placed upon the camshaft and lifters. In 1981 when the DX block was introduced, the rollerized camshaft and roller lifters did away with any possibility of worn camshaft lobes because of reduced friction. These engines also suffered from blown head gaskets, warped heads, bad injector pumps, and bad injectors. The beginnings of these problems can be attributed to poor quality diesel fuel that may have contained water or other contaminants. These materials would damage the inside of the injector pump, and then eventually clog injectors. If water was injected into the engine, it could cause a "hydrolock" which would blow head gaskets and bend valves because water is virtually incompressible. This was the reason GM equipped later cars with water detectors and double filtration systems on their vehicles.
When a hapless owner took the vehicle in for repair, the mechanic would resurface the head, making it thinner, install a new head gasket, and then reuse the old, stretched-out fasteners. It would not be but a few thousand miles, and the vehicle was in the shop again for head gasket failure or a warped head. Nowadays high performance head bolt kits are available to do away with the problems the 5.7L diesel engines had such as the blown head gasket fiasco. Performance bolt fasteners when used within the 5.7L diesel will then make it a bulletproof, reliable design. The frustrated owner would frequently just get the shop to convert the engine to gasoline after a few repeated failures like this. As a side note, these diesel engine blocks were frequently sought by hot-rodders to build high-performance gasoline engines because of their extra heavy duty components which would withstand extreme horsepower.
In the face of the 1970s 'gas crisis', GM turned to Diesel power for economic benefit, directing the Oldsmobile division to develop a V6 and two V8 engines, to be shared with all divisions.
These Diesel engines were designed to fit into the engine bays of gasoline powered automobiles, but despite popular belief, they were not "converted" gasoline engines. Oldsmobile's diesel engines, the 5.7 L LF9 and 4.3 L LF7 V8s and 4.3 L LT6/LT7/LS2 V6, were notoriously unreliable, particularly in the earliest versions, though reliability had improved by the early 1980s with the advent of the DX block, along with better fuel filtering and water separators. By the early 80's,the 5.7L diesel was a fairly reliable engine with the introduction of the rollerized camshaft/roller lifter combination and had many improved enhancements that the late 70's 5.7L diesel engines did not have. Many of the reliability issues these engines developed were a combination of faults not just related to design. Many of these engines suffered major malfunctions from poor quality fuel, mechanics not properly trained in diesel repair, and even improper owner service and maintenance. Although over one million were sold between 1978 and 1985, the failure rate of GM's engines ruined the reputation of Diesel engines not just built by GM, but overall in the United States market. Eventually, a class action lawsuit resulted in an arbitration system under the supervision of the Federal Trade Commission where consumers could claim 80% of the original cost of the engine in the event of a failure.
The Oldsmobile 5.7 liter engines experienced a wide gamut of malfunctions. One of the common failures was with crankshaft bearings. This was frequently attributed to owners and maintainers running the engines on SG rated oil (intended for gasoline engines), versus CD oil (intended for Diesel engines). This prompted GM to introduce the DX block which then allowed extended oil change intervals to 5,000 miles (8,000 km). D block engines required frequent oil change intervals because of the friction created between the typical flat tappet camshaft and hydraulic lifters. When the oil change interval was ignored,excessive wear was placed upon the camshaft and lifters. In 1981 when the DX block was introduced, the rollerized camshaft and roller lifters did away with any possibility of worn camshaft lobes because of reduced friction. These engines also suffered from blown head gaskets, warped heads, bad injector pumps, and bad injectors. The beginnings of these problems can be attributed to poor quality diesel fuel that may have contained water or other contaminants. These materials would damage the inside of the injector pump, and then eventually clog injectors. If water was injected into the engine, it could cause a "hydrolock" which would blow head gaskets and bend valves because water is virtually incompressible. This was the reason GM equipped later cars with water detectors and double filtration systems on their vehicles.
When a hapless owner took the vehicle in for repair, the mechanic would resurface the head, making it thinner, install a new head gasket, and then reuse the old, stretched-out fasteners. It would not be but a few thousand miles, and the vehicle was in the shop again for head gasket failure or a warped head. Nowadays high performance head bolt kits are available to do away with the problems the 5.7L diesel engines had such as the blown head gasket fiasco. Performance bolt fasteners when used within the 5.7L diesel will then make it a bulletproof, reliable design. The frustrated owner would frequently just get the shop to convert the engine to gasoline after a few repeated failures like this. As a side note, these diesel engine blocks were frequently sought by hot-rodders to build high-performance gasoline engines because of their extra heavy duty components which would withstand extreme horsepower.
