W123, Vacuum

Hi all - I have a strange problem with my grandfather's 85 300D. After a rain, it gets water in the rear floorboard. It's on the passenger side, and it puddles in the lowest part of the floorboard next to the transmission tunnel, ahead of the seat riser panel. I took the carpet section up to try to find the source of the leak, but I have no idea where it's coming from. There is a new exterior door seal on the pass rear door. I removed the seat bottom, and found $1.53 in coin, but no evidence of water passing through.

My 1981 300D is still 'gagging' for fuel after a while on a long (~1 mile) hill. I've replaced the tank strainer (which was dirty but not clogged), the prefilter, and have a newer FM100 canister for mail filtration. I'm tending to believe it must be sucking in some air during heavy fuel use. Frankly, I've lost track of the variables I've introduced: this problem may or may not relate to the FM100 installation and/or the new (original style) primer pump installation. Earlier, the Benz would pull nicely up this same hill.

SUBMITTED NOV 19, 2007 I bought my 1985 300D back in 2004 and it has been a good, reliable daily driver. I put her in storage from Jan-Oct 2007 while I was in Alaska (on an island). Since my return, I have made a 2200 mile move and have been plagued with problems. I did put fuel stabilizer in the tank before I left, it was only 1/4 full. 1. Loss of power on highway? Fuel filter/injectors? Brief History: Car historically ran 75-80mph highway with no problems. Upon my return and a fine start, 176 miles into trip noticed a feeling of 'bogging down' like running thru mud. Could not get above 63mph, no matter what.

My '77 240D with 125K miles hits a top speed on a flat Kansas highway with no wind of about 57 MPH. With a tailwind, I can get a hair past 60. Don't even ask about driving into a headwind or up a hill -- maybe 50 MPH. I know the reputation of a 240D, but I can't help but think I can get better performance than this. I have replaced the fuel filters, adjusted the valves, and run two bottles of diesel purge through the engine. The compression is good (front-to-back 305,405,375,405 psi).