It seemed that some of the algae was able to get through the screen in the fuel tank.   As I still had two thirds of a tank of diesel, I figured it would make sense to try and get as much of the algae out as I could, before I changed the screen.   The screen is much more of a hassle to change than the two fuel filters.    Since the car was already down on power after 30km, I didn’t fancy changing filters by the side of the road, so I came up with another plan.

I purchased a cheap oil transfer pump on Temu, plus a bunch of cheap fuel filters.   My idea was to hook the pump up to the fuel tank supply and return lines in the engine bay, with one of those filters and see how much crap I could filter out before I changed the screen.

The cheap oil pump was self priming, which made it a doddle to install in the engine bay.    I wouldn’t consider doing this with a petrol car, but since diesel is not all that volatile, I felt ok doing it with diesel.

Starting the pump, I quickly got diesel running through the system and I could hear a lot of gurgling in the fuel tank.   I quickly noticed a couple of things.   Firstly, the pump volume was lower than I thought, and the filter was not getting dirty.

I am assuming the biocide has further blocked up the screen in the tank with dead algae and this is why the car was down on power.   I ran the pump for about 30 minutes, but the filter stayed pretty clean.

Next, to see how bad my algae is, I moved my setup to the rear of the car and put the inlet hose directly into the fuel tank.   This meant the pump was no longer going through the screen.   The amount of diesel going through the pump was a lot more, pointing to an even more blocked screen.   Surprisingly, the filter was hardly discoloured at all.   My theory is that the algae in the tank isn’t all that bad.   Bad enough to block the screen, but not bad enough that the tank is full of it.

At this point, the only thing left is to change the screen.   Since I had my pump setup, I pumped out 30 liters of diesel into jerry cans.   There is still plenty in there, so I’ll need to get another can before removing the screen.    The filter also allowed me to filter it before it goes into the jerry can, which makes me far more comfortable with putting it back into the tank after I replace the screen.

I tried again with my little remote camera, and I still wasn’t able to see much.   Just some minor spotting on the fuel tank walls, but it looked decent in there overall.

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The car is very sparsely equipped but it at least has AC and power mirrors. You however have to contend with window winders, no radio, central locking, parking aids, no bings and bongs in a thousand different tones, while a couple of levers provide very straightforward seat adjustments powered by your bum and abs. It has very compact dimensions but is surprisingly cavernous inside – the headroom accommodates top hats and legroom rigorously deny frontal contact to all knees. The car comes with the 2.4l turbo-diesel 2L-TE engine developing 71 kW@4,000rpm and 191 Nm@2,400rpm. This engine belongs to the same family as the venerable ‘3L’ and ‘5L’ engines used in the Hiace, Hilux and old Crown Comfort taxis in Singapore. Transmission is the very strong 5-speed ‘W58’ manual gearbox used in many Toyotas and manual swaps.

I started off my drives with suburban trips. The engine was very torquey low down, allowing me to easily pull away from 1,100 rpm and midrange was very strong, especially when the turbo kicks in at around 1,750 rpm. Contemporary acceleration levels were hence easily achieved, and without choking fellow road-users in smoke too. The 2L-TE engine was therefore very effortless compared to the ‘3L’ or ‘5L’s which I often had to wring the life out of to keep up with traffic. The 2L-TE was probably Toyota’s next best diesel engine next to the 3 litre 1KZ-TE used in the much heavier duty Prado and HiAce Super Custom. The fact that the 2L-TE was also used in more upmarket cars like Crowns and Mark IIs mean that we get to enjoy a great engine in a relatively spartan car like the Comfort. In fact, the lighter weight of the Comfort might even result in better performance than those cars. Given that Toyota had lesser diesels around, having the 2L-TE in the Comfort was a godsend.

The gearshifts are very crisp and the clutch is very light, which made for a very engaging drive. There is very strong engine braking too, and I often released the throttle and let the car hold its speed down inclines. All these made for a very lively drive around town. The car had a surprisingly compliant ride. The suspension soaked up bumps like a limo, while it doesn’t waft like a boat around corners. It was tuned as a commercial passenger carrier and I think it’s aced in this respect.

I love how minimally equipped the cabin is while being very usable – in addition to the refreshing barrenness mentioned in the first paragraph, all the fundamental controls for reasonable humanistic existence are present and readily at hand. In fact, its primitive AC controls are the best controls in the world – the dials and levers have notches which allow for precise adjustments without taking your eyes off the road. There are only five of them but they cover ALL your creature comfort needs. It’s a welcome break from touchscreens and even buttons, where you cannot immediately locate them by feel, and often require multiple presses for an adjustment. With dials and levers, an instantaneous flick is all that’s required. It’s very unfortunate that they have been largely removed from all new cars, which has greatly reversed usability and also safety standards in my opinion.

Motorway speeds are near the limits of the Comfort’s performance, as the relatively short 5th gear does 110km/h at 3,100 rpm. I nonetheless was able to blend into motorway traffic without being a hog, and overtaking those I encountered was a very effortless affair. It was unfortunately not very cossetting at those speeds with its noise and harshness, so I would not recommend it for long trips. On country roads however, I experienced my apex of enjoyment where the symphony of the strong mid-range, engine braking and crisp gearbox was amplified, enveloping me like a concert hall orchestra. Shedding speed into a corner with no pedals depressed and then flicking the gear lever in a U-shaped cog swap with the precisely-timed blip of the clutch is the forgotten ecstasy of pure driving euphoria that contemporary motor journalists reviewing SUVs equipped with ever-creative gear selector designs and packed with waiting-to-break gadgetry will never mention, and the auto-industry never want you to know.

One major downside of this car is the brisk losing of speed when scaling inclines. I hence had to plan ahead of them by speeding up in advance, while being ready to upshift in an instant to minimize speed loss. This speed loss is characteristic of pre-common rail diesels, where much lower injection pressures, timing precision and poorer fuel spray atomization greatly diminishes throttle response and hence power sustainment. As diesels go, I would therefore recommend at least first-generation common rail diesels as they are a leap ahead in performance while still being uncomplicated to service.

Over the period of my use, I covered about 900km with a rather high fuel consumption of 9.1 l/100 kms. This is probably due to the short gearing on prolonged motorway drives, where the engine was working near its limit. Justin gets 6-6.5s so I was probably enjoying it a bit too much.

All in all, the Comfort is a perfect car to me in many aspects – it has a robust and simple construction, ample usable space, very durable fittings, very plain interior, yet well-equipped with necessary features. It has very straightforward controls, a very usable engine and it’s so engaging to drive. Things to make it perfect would be equipping it with a first-generation common rail diesel engine, a taller 5th gear, a reverse camera, more noise insulation, central locking and cruise control. The car still looks modern although it’s now a 30-year-old relic, and I got a few compliments from passers-by too. Perhaps it’s a refreshing change from the sea of busy but generic-looking gizmo-mobiles out there. Justin had initially offered a Ranger for my use but choosing the Comfort instead had turned every drive into an experience instead of a commute.

I have an obsession with Japanese cars built from the 90s to early 2000s, and this car is part of that era where engine technology had matured to a very usable level, necessary creature comforts are commonplace, build quality is solid, styling is very simple yet timeless, and gadgetry were the exception rather than the norm. In short – pure, usable and durable. This Comfort will perform superbly as a daily driver and as a classic car – one that happily transgresses the line from ‘weekend toy’ into ‘please use me daily’ territory. In the name of progress however, Automakers will never go back to that era, but for the virtues I’ve mentioned before, that was not merely a nostalgic period as it has ample practical arguments in its favour. In hindsight, people back then didn’t know what gems they had on their hands. This realization is however now reflected in the values of these cars, where 30-year-old Japanese cars are often sold for prices similar to cars 10-15 years their junior.

Many thanks again to Justin for lending me such a well-kept relic!

Author: Neo Yueteng is a devotee of fuss-free and functional vehicles that can stand the test of time. He is also a manual transmission tragic.

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I stopped by Repco and bought a bottle of the Penrite Diesel Biocide.   It claims to kill bugs in the fuel and separate water and diesel.   The bottle had various concentrations, but I went for the ‘shock treatment’ – 200ml to treat about 50 liters.    Apparently when it is working, the dead algae can clog up the fuel filters.   I checked the pre-filter after I arrived, and there was definitely some algae caught in the filter.   I don’t know if this is the product working right away, or more from driving 150km yesterday after changing the filters.

In any case, my plan is to try and run most of this fuel tank through, changing the pre-filter if I need to.   Once the tank level gets low, I will drain the rest of the fuel and replace the strainer.   I did a quick check of the fuel tank with my cheap boroscope.  The tank is three quarters full, so I couldn’t see too much, but the walls were generally clean, with some minor black spots in places.   The black spots are likely the algae.

Next, I put the car up on the hoist to check a few things.   My hoist was out of commission for a while, and was finally repaired recently.   Putting the car up in the air, I was really impressed with the condition underneath.   There was no trace of any rust or any damage.   This is in keeping with the overall condition of the car.   Everything looked in pretty good condition.   The fuel strainer had been out before, and the fuel hoses were fairly new.   I also checked he bottom of all the doors and they are in excellent shape.

On the downside, the brake hoses looked pretty old, and the shock absorbers are Monroe, not Bilstein or Sachs.  They seem in decent condition though.   While I was inspecting things, I noticed the steering shock looked a bit old.   I had a spare one on hand, so installed it.

While the car was up in the air, I had a few other things I wanted to do.   First was to clean the water drain for the fuel tank filler.   I had tried from the top, and had not been able to push the debris out.   Pushing a long pipe cleaner up from the bottom managed to clear the debris.

Next I wanted to see if the brakes were grabbing.   A few weeks ago, I noticed the car was quite hard to push.   Yesterday, I noticed the brake pedal get a bit soft after a lot of stop/go traffic.   The first test was to see if the wheels spun freely.   The rear wheels do, but the front wheels had far more resistance than I would like.

Next test was to see if a few hard applications of the brakes made any difference.    The rears were fine, but the fronts were even harder to spin after a few presses of the brakes.  I also wanted to check if the rears were doing anything at all.   A long golf umbrella was useful to press the brake pedal while spinning a rear wheel.   I was able to stop the wheel, and it spun freely after I released the pedal.

Based on this, I want to change all the hoses, and the front calipers will likely need a rebuild.   Mercedes used multiple suppliers, so I had to inspect them.   The front calipers on my car are Bendix, and the rears are Girling.   The Girling calipers don’t seem to be all that common, so its probably just as well that my rears are fine.   Most of the rebuild kits seem to be for ATE or Bendix.

I had to remove one of the rear wheels to inspect the rear calipers, so I gave that wheel arch a good cleaning.   For the other three wheels, I cleaned the wheel arch with the wheel on.   I had a huge pile of debris on the floor by the time I was done.    I also noticed that all four of my jacking points was clogged up with wasps nests.   The jacking points are in good condition, and are now without dead wasps.

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This was part of my plan to clean the fuel system for the entire car.   I have a suspicion that the strainer in the bottom of the fuel tank is somewhat clogged up.    To change that, I am going to wait until the amount of fuel in the tank is far lower.   I don’t really want to be dealing with 60 liters of diesel.   Given the excellent fuel consumption of the 240D, it will take some time before the tank is down to about a quarter.

In the meantime, today’s job was to use the diesel purge and then change the pre-filter and main fuel filter in the engine bay.   I figured this would be a simple job.     Turns out I was optimistic.

I transferred the diesel purge into a clear container that I could use to run it through the fuel system.    This is my first diesel, so there is probably a level of rookie error, but I simply could not get the engine to prime with the hand primer pump.   Mostly it was very hard to get the air bubbles out of the lines.   The primer pump would not really pull very much fluid ‘up’ a line.   if I kept the fuel line as flat as possible, it would pull fuel along, but not fully prime it.

I don’t know if my issue was rookie error, or that my hand primer pump does not work very well.   Most of the information I could find on the internet refers to them leaking when they fail, and mine does not leak.

I persevered for a couple of hours and could not get the engine to start.   Since by this time it was about 10:30pm, I moved to plan B.    Instead of worrying about the diesel purge, I changed the pre-filter and main filter and connected the fuel tank back up.

I was keen to do this for a few reasons.   Firstly, if the strainer is a bit clogged up, chances are these filters are too.    Secondly, the factory pre-filter is clear, which allows an easy check to see if it is becoming clogged up.   My car had an opaque aftermarket filter.

It took me over an hour to finally prime the fuel system and start the car.   There were many attempts, as well as some time to charge the battery up a little to allow me to try again.   During one of the times I was waiting for the battery to charge a little, I cracked open the plastic pre-filter with a pair of channel locks.   it was pretty dirty inside.   I also tried to look inside the main filter and it looked pretty dirty too.

At this point I don’t know the condition of the strainer, but seeing the condition of the pre-filter confirms my intention to change it.   It must be pretty clogged up for that amount of debris to get through it and into the pre-filter.

Since I had a litre of diesel purge in an open container, I just poured it into the fuel tank.   It might not provide a concentrated clean there, but I’m sure it will help at least somewhat.   I’m still not sure why I wasn’t able to prime the system properly.   I’ll have to look more into that.

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I drove around my local area in a mix of heavy traffic, back roads and bigger roads with a speed limit of 90km/h.   At no time did I feel like I was holding up traffic or that the car was ‘dangerously slow’ like people claim.  During the night drive last night, I was even getting away from the group at times.

In fact, I enjoyed driving the car and would be happy to drive it as a daily.   It is certainly more appetizing to me than anything that Mercedes-Benz is making today.     You have to adapt to the car and use full throttle a lot more than you would need to in a modern car, but there is something to be said about being able to use all the power a car has.

The gearing of the car makes the performance quite good from zero to legal speeds on the motorway.   This makes the 240D a good proposition for urban driving and long distance motorway driving.   In order to provide good performance, the car needs to be kept in its power band.  That means the transmission is kicking down a lot.   I could see a situation where the vacuum system had not been maintained and the kickdown switch not working that performance would be poor.   In that case the 240D automatic would simply bog down in top gear.

The one type of driving I could see the 240D being unsuitable for is driving on back roads that require overtaking large trucks at 100km/h.   Redline in 3rd gear is around 105km/h, so there is no gear to overtake at those speeds.  This is where you want a V8 like a 450.

In addition, the 240D struggles to maintain speed on long uphill  motorway sections.   On the most recent night drive, there were a few of those coming home.   Speed would drift down to about 85, then I could kick down and bring it back up to about 95.   On more gradual grades it would hold a speed of around 100km/h but no more.     This is probably where the extra power of the 300D comes in.   On a flat section I was able to cruise at 120km/h so the 240D is generally fine on the motorway.  Even on the uphill sections where performance is lacking, it is still faster than the trucks.

Driving my 240D, I am reminded what a good transmission the 722.1 is when adjusted properly.   Nice crisp changes and a hugely rugged unit.   I’m not disappointed that my car is a 240D automatic.   The automatic transmission is properly set up and works really well.

I also found that over the time I was driving the car, it fixed itself.    Moving the temperature wheel around had the A/C kicking into life.    I guess just a dirty contact in the switch.   At first the lighting for the gear selector didn’t work, but that burst into life at some point.

The only thing I took out of the drive to add to my todo list was the thermostat.   The car ran a little hotter than I think it should for a day in the mid 20s.   There is a lot to like about this car, comfortable, cold A/C, and good on fuel.   I drove for nearly 100km before the needle moved off the full position.

After I had driven the car around for a while, I went to take a few more nice photos.   I was passed by some very expensive luxury SUVs and thought that I would much rather drive my cheap 240D.

Today I had to go and pick up some things from the inner west of Sydney.   Narrow roads and heavy traffic.   The 240D was a great car for this, nimble, comfortable and excellent on fuel.   Plus the around town performance really is quite good.   I’ve now done 350km and the fuel tank is still showing more than half.   Of course, its a Mercedes, so once it gets below the half mark, it will be empty in no time, but it really is very good for a car of this age.

People who think these are dangerously slow should actually drive one.  I’m really enjoying mine.

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The main thing that appealed to me was how original the car looked.   So many of these cars had a very hard life and are still running in spite of that.   This car looked like it had been used carefully and had been the pride and joy of its owners.  I’ve outlined a lot more detail about the W123 240D and this car on this page.

This will be my third W123.   My first was the first ever Mercedes-Benz that I ever owned – a 1985 230E.  The second was a 280CE that I rescued from sinking into the mud in somebody’s front yard, fixed up and sold to my brother.    While the 230E was a very nice car, this 240D is in nicer condition, and I sold the 230E over twenty years ago.

My W123 diesel is painted in China Blue, which I think is the nicest of the standard W123 colours.  The paint appears very original, as does the dark blue MB-Tex.   As you would expect for an Australian delivered 240D, it was bought with no options.   Australian delivered 240Ds came standard with air conditioning, power steering, central locking, a Becker Europa 596 & power antenna, a front arm rest and a passengers side mirror.   You didn’t even get a lockable glovebox.    I like the simplicity of the options, it feels in keeping with the car.

I bought the diesel sight unseen.   This is somewhat of a risk, but I work a lot and would not have been able to go and look at it.   The price was such that if it had been a lot worse than I thought, I could have just sent it to auction and not been too out of pocket.

The car arrived on a tow truck last weekend and I was able to drive it around the industrial complex where I store most of my cars.   I was quite impressed.   Nearly everything seemed to work, other than the A/C.   The car was very much as described.   Everyone describes how slow the 240D automatic is, but my first impression wasn’t of a slow car.  The tyres are on the older side, but still in very good shape. The engine was very clean and was not leaking oil or diesel.

I didn’t think the car needed anything to get registered, so I booked it in for a pink slip.   The car passed inspection, and with pink slip in hand, I was able to get it on club plates.    While there car was in having the pink slip, I asked him to see if he could re-gas the A/C.   It took a charge, but the compressor was not turning on with the switch, although he was able to get cold air if he applied voltage directly to the compressor clutch.

Due to the silly size of the NSW club plates, I had to make up an adaptor.  I had a spare blank plate for the rear, but not for the front.   In the end I found a previous adaptor I had used on the 250SE.  I’ll probably change it for a black one later.

On my way back from getting the car registered, I also picked up a few oil filters.   I have the original service book, but not recent history so an oil change will be one of my first jobs.

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