With the 240D now registered and in the garage, there were a few simple jobs to undertake. The first was a set of floor mats. The original carpets were in such nice shape I wanted to protect them.
I though the ideal floor mats for the 240D are the dealer fitted thick rubber mats from that era. Its likely what the car had when new. I had one more partial set of those mats in my parts storage – just missing a drivers mat. For the drivers mat I had to substitute a cheap generic mat. If I can’t find another drivers mat, I may move the mats from the 450SLC to the 240D and replace those.
Next was to check tyre pressures including the spare. The spare was quite low, and ancient. At some point I’ll replace the main tyres and put the best one as the spare.
After that was the oil change. I spoke to somebody who used to service these cars when new and I was advised not to bother with a specific diesel oil and use the regular Penrite 20W/50. The oil was black, but that seems to be the norm in a diesel. When I removed the filter, everything looked ok.
I would have preferred to drain the oil from underneath using the hoist, so I could inspect the underside of the car. However, my hoist is currently broken so I sued the vacuum pump. The 240D has quite a large oil capacity for a four cylinder engine.
Since I don’t know when the last oil change was, I’ll probably do another one with a much shorter interval.
I also gave the car a wash after its trip on the tow truck. Even the wheel arches are quite clean on this car. When I got the pink slip, the mechanic who did it suggested I change the motor mounts and the transmission shift bushings. I’ve ordered some, and will add that to the to-do list.
The fuel gauge was indicating a little over half a tank. The easiest way to make sure that is working was to fill the tank to the top. This verified that the gauge was now working and I had a full tank of diesel.
Looking around the car, I noticed that the first aid kit was missing. Luckily I had one that I was able to add. Not for use, but I like these things to be correct. I was now ready for a longer drive in the car.
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