Current Statistics

CURRENT STATISTICS
MAY 6, 2006 THROUGH OCTOBER 30, 2006
Miles Driven to Date: 3,158 miles
Miles Driven per Day: 17.84
Average Distance per Tank: 287 miles
Total Fuel Cost to Date: $420.97
Average Fuel Cost: $3.009
Fuel Cost per Mile: $0.133
Total Maintenance Cost: $2,528.61
Maintenance Cost per Mile: $0.801
Average Miles per Gallon: 22.81

Diesel Fill-up October 10, 2006

OK, I filled up on diesel No. 2 fuel again. Every time I have a problem with Charlie 240, I make the sweeping and inaccurate assessment that biodiesel is to blame. Charlie was having starting problems. No, ordinary diesel fuel did not solve the problems. After a trip to Jim's Fine Car Service to replace the glow plugs (and all three belts as long as we were there), Charlie is running fine again. So . . . here are the latest statistics for the non-biodiesel fill-up.

Efficiency summary:
325 miles of in-town driving

General conditions: in-town with various passenger loads, mostly to and from work

October 10, 2006 Diesel No. 2 Fill-up in Albuquerque
15.28 Gallons @$2.459 per gallon = $37.57
325 miles @ 21.27 MPG - city driving

Maintenance
1. Replace (4) glow plugs
2. Replace (3) belts

New Mexico push for Biodiesel

New Mexico - Governor Richardson is set to unveil a new energy package to include a 6-cent-per-gallon tax credit to gas stations that distribute biodiesel, a one-time tax credit of 30 percent of the cost to install tanks and pumps necessary to distribute the biodiesel fuel, and a push to make every gallon of diesel fuel sold in New Mexico 20 percent soybean oil or ingredients from another crop by 2020.

The 240D has a name!

I have never been able to name a car. Something in me cringes at the concept. I have had a series of vehicles with lots of character, all of which deserved a name but none of which received one. Until now, that is. In the Mercedes 123 community there is a driving force (no pun intended) to name your 123 chassis.

For a while now my wife, Sue, has called our 240D the Grandpa Mobile. It was owned exclusively by the grandfather of the person who sold us the vehicle, it is light ivory in color, it is slow and deliberate, it has MANY miles on it, and it smokes a little. While this will sound trite, the name came to me in a daydream.

Why not name the car after my grandfather? Traditionally, vehicles of all kinds are named with female names, but this car is definitely male in character. My grandfather's full name is Charles Frank Haas, but the 240D will be known affectionately as Charlie. Here is one more similarity; the 240D has a great stereo (see previous posts) and my grandfather was musically inclined - he was a trombone player in the Hull House Boy's Band (along with Benny Goodman) in the early 1900's in Chicago!

Front View Modifications

Here is a photo of the front that shows the new diamond-cut headlights and the smoked corner lights - neater appearance and a little more modern without changing the essential character of the beast.

Radio Head Unit

Here is a photo of the radio head unit as promised in a previous entry.

Bio-diesel Fill-up September 25, 2006

Efficiency summary:
334 miles of in-town driving

General conditions: in-town with various passenger loads, mostly to and from work

September 25, 2006 B20 Bio-diesel Fill-up in Albuquerque
15.52 Gallons @$3.099 per gallon = $48.11
334 miles @ 21.51 MPG - city/highway driving

MAINTENANCE
During September, the speedometer cable started whining above 20 MPH; i.e., every time the car accelerated from idle. Of course, a trip to Jim's Fine Car Service took care of the problem. While there we fixed several additional problems.
1. Speedometer removal and repair
2. Driver door - replace check strap and door handle
3. Replace burned circuit board on secondary gauge cluster - idiot lights work now!
4. Replace single hole passenger washer nozzle with dual hole model - nice update
5. Replace shift bushing - no more buzzing from the shifter
6. Replace idle cable - now the idle can be adjusted in the cabin - manual control is great
I noticed that Mickey gave me over a 10% discount on both parts and labor again - thanks, Mickey!

Bio-diesel Fill-up August 21, 2006

Efficiency summary:
300 miles of in-town driving

General conditions: in-town with various passenger loads

August 21, 2006 B20 Bio-diesel Fill-up in Albuquerque
14.72 Gallons @$3.26 per gallon = $48.00
307 miles @ 20.86 MPG - city/highway driving

Bio-diesel Fill-up July 11, 2006

I received and installed the smoked corner lamps that help to unify the front end of the 240D. They look marvelous with the new h4 headlights, but fitting them proved problematic due to the not-quite-right lamp socket. I reused the socket from the original corner lamps and that worked great.

The ordinary diesel fuel experiment showed no improvement in fuel economy. I am glad about this because I can now run bio-diesel without worrying about reduced fuel consumption. I recently read that the 240D gets 32 MPG on the highway at 55 MPH and 23 MPG at 75 MPH (the speed limit all across New Mexico), so I am actually getting the appropriate fuel mileage. Since the engine is barely broken in, the mileage figure should improve as the engine ages.

Efficiency summary:
160 mile round-trip to Socorro to create the final punch list for Cramer Hall at New Mexico Tech plus a little less than 150 miles of in-town driving

General conditions: driver and three passengers, 75 MPH highway driving and in-town with various passenger loads

July 11, 2006 B20 Bio-diesel Fill-up in Albuquerque
13.58 Gallons @$3.19 per gallon = $43.45
306 miles @ 22.53 MPG - city/highway driving

The Return of the ML320

We have been driving the 240D as our only vehicle for the last month due to the absense of our other Mercedes, the ML320. The ML was in an unfortunate collision at a stoplight - we were stopped, but a truck in a lane to the left rear-ended another truck and side-swiped the ML. With the return of the ML, we still will use the 240D for almost all of our about-town errands, but Sue and I have concluded that the 240D would be torturous on a vacation since it will not maintain a steady 75 MPH on the highway in our mountainous part of the USA.

Diesel Fill Up June 27, 2006

I need to answer a question for myself before I continue to fill up on Bio-diesel. Please note - I will continue to fill up on Bio-diesel after this tank. Is Bio-diesel the cause of the decreased mileage I am achieving, or is there another factor? To answer this, I had to fill up on, sorry to say, regular grade diesel fuel for this tank. Is this a cop-out or an experiment? I'm not sure, to tell the truth.

Other items of note with the 240D:

I love the new stereo head unit and speakers - photos to follow. I can add up to 17 ablums on one CD using MP3 formatting. I currently have two CD's in the car with 32 albums between them! There are four 2-way speakers now in the car that sound great. I feel that, to play loud modern music, I will need a sub-woofer at some point. I miss the bass that the ML320 develops (it has a sub-woofer under the driver seat).

I just installed "diamond cut" headlights that fit right into the space vacated by the old yellow-cast 7" sealed beam units. Wow, the 85W H-4 lamps emit a white light that really illuminates the road.

Efficiency summary: 160 mile round-trip to Socorro to create the punch list for Cramer Hall at New Mexico Tech plus around 120 miles of in-town driving

General conditions: driver and two passengers, 75 MPH highway driving and in-town with various passenger loads

June 27, 2006 Diesel Fill-up in Albuquerque
13.45 Gallons @$2.93 per gallon = $39.40
286 miles @ 21.26 MPG - city/highway driving