I learned something very important yesterday in my '87 300D. I was going down the interstate (in the middle of nowhere) at cruising speed when the engine intermittantly started losing power. I wouldn't hold 70 MPH. I pushed on the gas, the turbo kicked in and it would speed back up just fine. This went on for about three minutes.

Then I was in the left lane and the engine started dying big-time! I moved right and there just happened to be an exit ramp at the EXACT RIGHT TIME so I exited, went up the offramp, and turned right into a gas station that sold diesel. The car idled fine and had no problems driving at low speed.

I called my indy on the phone and he asked "how much fuel do you have?" I responded, "an eighth of a tank, but the light isn't on yet". He said "you're lucky, you just ran out of fuel - don't run it below a quarter tank or so".

The car took exactly 16.4 gallons to fill up (28.5 MPG if anyone cares) - even though the capacity is supposed to be over 18 gallons. What gives?

My indy said that there are two pickups in the tank and sometimes the lower one gets clogged??? Does this make any sense to anyone? Has anyone else seen this?

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'87 300D 183K
'06 E320 CDI 10K

When I got my 79 240D the sending unit was so full of crap it would not work at all. I removed it and carefully cleaned inside and out. Replaced and it works like a charm. The bottom plate of the sending unit has grooves and small holes. If these plug up with junk, I would not trust any reading I got from the gauge.

However, if you could only put in 16.4 gallons then something does not add up. The total capacity of the fuel tank should be 21.1 gal. if the 124 is the same as a 123. 3 of those are reserve. If you were out of fuel, you should have been able to put a lot more than 16.4 gallons.

Perhaps you have contamination(an algae or water issue) in the tank as well. How do the fuel filters look when you change them? Have you ever run a fuel system cleaner? Could your in tank strainer be plugging up when the level is low?

As far as two pickups issue. Are you saying you indy told you there are two fuel outlets from your tank? I know my 240D has only one but it is several years older and a 123, isn't yours a 124?

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79 240D (no name yet) 203K Miles Maple Yellow
98 2500 4x4 HD Dodge 24 Valve Cummins TD
83 Chevy Van (Dead-Trans. shot)

The tank capacity of a 87 300D is *checking manual* 18.5 US gallons. The Reserve light should come on at ~16.1 Gallons. The absolute most I've fueled up was 16.960 gallons. Even still it didn't have any stuttering problems.

When you removed your fuel cap, was there a hiss?
If so, then your breather hose (see picture) may be plugged and it can also contribute to this. I'm not sure about the 2 pick up lines in the tank, although I wouldn't be suprised since there's 3 lines that run from the fuel tank to the filters. All of these are under the car by the left wheel.



Also, are your fuel filters dirty? That may also be a contributing factor.

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Jason

00 Subaru Legacy (fun wagon)
96 Nissan Sentra (disavowed)
82 300SD (garage queen, will run again hopefully)
87 300DT (Gone: 10/15/2010)