What's normal MPG on '77 300D?

Submitted by romilka on 17 December 2007 - 5:50pm.
I have a 1977 300D (5 cylinder diesel) with 163,000. Considering I replaced air filter and both fuel filters, Whats a good MPG for this car? I get about 13mpg right now, and it seems suspicious. Help anybody?

There is hope...

17 December 2007 - 11:21pm
Kent Bergsma
You should be getting between 24 to 28 miles per gallon. You might even get 30 if everything was working perfectly at 55 mph. The first thing I would look for is a fuel leak. Check the fuel hose coming out the bottom of your fuel tank. Make sure non of your fuel injector return lines are leakding. My manual Diesel Performance Tuning and Repair will also go over the many other reasons why your mileage could be so bad. Kent

freeway driving with '77 and '78 300D

20 December 2007 - 1:31pm
rwillson
I have both a '77 and '78 300D and on both I get low 20's (mpg). This may be due to the fact that I do mostly freeway driving (60+mph). I was hoping for more but I haven't checked the mpg while staying in the -55mph range. :-)

300D Turbo or non turbo?

30 December 2007 - 9:14am
ChrisK
Is this the mileage for the 300D Turbo or the non turbo?

300D Turbo or non turbo

31 December 2007 - 1:46am
rwillson
both my '77 and '78 are non-turbo. I don't think they made the turbo versions till later.

Mileage on 1985 300SD

2 January 2008 - 11:32am
dfeltes
I am getting anywheres from 22-25 MPG depending on where I am driving. The engine is tuned/tweeked to the utmost......is there any hope of getting up in the low 30 range...if so what more can I do. Dave

Non-turbo

5 January 2008 - 1:47pm
romilka
Yes this one is Non-turbo.

averaging about 25mpg

14 January 2008 - 10:15pm
300SD_RenoNV
Our '78 300D w/241K is averaging about 25mpg with a mix of freeway and secondary road driving as long as the maintenance is kept up to spec. It actually gets a little better mileage than our 240D.