Guys my car slows down really bad on hills. Sandstone Mountain WV- car slows down to 45 before it downshifts, and this is with me floorin' it. Went to KY for the weekend, while I was there replaced fuel return hoses, upgraded the primer pump, and changed the oil. Put Mobil 1 Truck/SUV 5W-40(5qts) and since all they had was five qts of that I put in some 15w-50 Mobil 1 for the rest(3qts). Used a WIX filter, but it did not come with any crush washers, luckily I had a spare. Seems to turn over better, didn't burn a drop coming back to DC floored the whole way. Also performed a diesel purge. Ran real smooth during the process but returned to sounding like it did when I hooked the fuel lines back up and changed the filters. Purge was returning to the bottle very dark. Used two bottles, I think I could still purge it some more.
Anyway, if anyone has some suggestions I'd be happy to hear them. I am planning to drain the tank/boil it out and replace flexible fuel lines and clean the screen. If purgin' the crap out of it and cleaning the tank out doesn't work I'll look at the injectors. From my understanding though it's impossible to find German injector nozzles and the ones made now are pretty much guaranteed to not have consistent pop/spray patterns. Perhaps I should pull them and have them tested.

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'02 BMW 325i
'85 300D 450k
'93 190E 2.6 170k(killed by tree)
'08 Ducati Hypermotard 1100S 6k
'06 Ducati S2R800 14k(sold)

My automatics do, and it is supposed to be a special gear to engage when going up a "slope". May be worth a try if you have one.

(Then folks would say..."Look at that S car go!"

Does your transmission shift ok besides not dropping into "passing gear"? Mine was a hill creeper until I cleaned the "T" connector that provides vacuum to the tranny. It was a HARD 1-2 shift, would bark the tires if I was even a little in it. After cleaning T connector I changed fluid, filter, and added Trans-X. Good luck!!!!

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1984 300D Turbo Sedan (Hilda) 272,115 miles.....
Anthracite Gray/Palamino Leather, I am 3rd owner

2001 Dodge Stratus (Silver) (wifes) 55814 miles...

1982 280TE Wagon Astral Silver Metallic/
Anthracite Velour
260,512 miles (Eva)

1969 230 Sedan Olive Green/Black MBTex
4 Speed Manual
84,213 miles ????
Haus Frau


2004 Boreem Ninja Pocket Bike
Highly Modified 49cc (Ling Ling)

Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit

Is sandstone mountain on I-79? That mountain is a real bear.

Uh... that's what 'S' is for??? Won't it hurt the transmission to downshift it whilst traveling say 70-75? The trans shifts well right now.

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'02 BMW 325i
'85 300D 450k
'93 190E 2.6 170k(killed by tree)
'08 Ducati Hypermotard 1100S 6k
'06 Ducati S2R800 14k(sold)

...I'd imagine you'd be held at a certain speed / rpm, and that the gears wouldn't be popping in-and-out.

Noticed you stated the fuel returned quite dark while purging. FYI when I purged my '87 300TD it was with new filters prior to purging. The '84 300D Turbo was with only the pre-filter being new (didn't have the primary). The difference was like night and day on the returned fuel as it flowed into my jar. Right or wrong, I attributed it to the conditions of the primary filters. I'll be interested to see if anyone comments on this condition.

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Steve
'87 300TD - 132K - Soon 4-Sale
'84 300D Turbo - 122K - Driving
'77 VW Type II - 77K - Restored
'08 250EX Ninja
English Bulldog (Brier) - My best friend. Passed away 12/02/04 while in my arms.

Atleast in my car, 72 is the mark on the speedo where the car is supposed to shift into 4th gear
So putting it in 'S' at that speed, would bring the RPM's up super high but you are just gunning it anyway to get there...should take your foot out of it :-/
I accidetnally downshifted the other day (trying to slow down coming over the top of a hill and down the other side)
doing about 80-85..put it in 'S' and freaked out as I realized what speed I was going and looking at the tach (poor engine)..
if you are having problems going up a hill, and your car is doing decent rpms...then you either are missing power somewhere...or that is one nasty hill..
your situation sounds like my 300SD when the banjo was plugged..

besides..
the car has more torque down lower in the RPM range (right?)

Lack of power can be a poopy turbo (if you have one), dirty filters, or a plugged tank screen.

NA engines are pretty slow on steep slopes.

Make sure the kickdown switch is clear and working, these autos are electrically kicked down at full throttle. It won't drop a gear until you are a couple mph below the marks on the speedo.

DO NOT downshift manually when going faster than this -- you will sooner or later send a rod through the bock, there isn't a "safety margin" here. Keep the speed in each gear below the marks, please.

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

(here here on the downshifting...I could just feel a rod looking at the side of the block )

He has a 300D TurboDiesel I believe..atleast that is what it says..
sounds like banjo bolt would be my first check...then work your way back.
tanks are not easy to do after all..atleast compared to a bolt/tube flush..