It is not necessary to remove the banjo fitting on top of the fuel filter. There is a small air hole that bleeds all the air in the filter back to the tank. It is constantly bleeding fuel and any air back to the tank, but a very small amount since the viscosity of fuel is much higher than air. The injection lines and injectors will have any air pumped out of them by the injection pump (IP) so it is not necessary to bleed them.

My '87 300SDL doesn't have the hand pump. If if runs out of fuel I have to crank engine with the starter but it doesn't take too long to start. At least 2 gallons of fuel must be added to the tank to get the engine started so I keep a bigger spare fuel container in the trunk.

I agree that there is no reason to clean out the i IP. The secondary fuel filter will keep all the solids out of the IP. With the fuel sloshing around in the tank when ever the car is moving I doubt there is any sludge at the bottom of the tank. If the tank was stationary, sludge could remain in the bottom of the tank but not in moving tank.

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