If there is any "secret" to what I'm doing, it's that well
designed diesel engines need only clean fuel and to be run
in their optimal temperature range regularly and they will
deliver LONG trouble free service so long as the oil/filters
of suitable quality are changed at prudent intervals. When
they are abused (run for short intervals and at low engine
speeds) even extraordinary maintenance will not offset the
destructive consequences and the engines WILL deteriorate
and at some point they will fail not from poor design, but
from poor application.
There are many thousands of diesel
engines available that have balked at the abuse their owners
have subjected them to that could be revived, but
maintenance alone WILL not do the job. They MUST also be
driven as they were designed to be driven or they will
prematurely fail, the victim of inappropriate use. There are
also some engines out there that have gone over the edge and
will NOT be successfully revived. Fortunately for us, the
bulk of the mechanics and shops working on these machines
(conditioned by the gasoline car maintenance that comprise
the vast majority of their experience) will condemn almost
all of these cars, allowing US to buy them at bargain prices
and restore the majority of them to proper function.
Marshall Booth, Ph.D.
I have been a professional mechanic for over 30 years and have driven
many different brands of cars. I find old MB diesels to be the most reliable
and durable cars ever, not requiring anything more than routine maintainence,
once I get other people abuses to them sorted out.
John Berryman
