Hi All:

I just ran a can of diesel purge through the injection system. Certainly quieted things up a bit, and the car runs great after a brief warm up. But.....

It used to start pretty well. Now when cold it is hard starting, needing a lot of cranking and seems to only run on two or three cylinders with lots of white smoke for 5-10 seconds or so. I also need to press a bit on the accelerator to keep her running until smoothing out, again about 5-10 seconds.

Any thoughts as to what might be wrong?

Otherwise, runs great.

1985 300TD

Can this procedure damage anything? Coincidence?

Thanks, Ron

Ron I would check a couple of things. I just did it to mine, and I am so pleased with the results (talk about instant gratification) Check to see that your glow pluga are all coming on. By your discription, it sounds like not all prechambers are warming up. Next, make sure you didnt let any air into the system when you were disconnecting fuel lines (or maybe even broke one that was brittle??) If I were you, if it seems that all glow plugs are working, then I would run another can though. You might have re-arrenaged some carbon and are now getting hard starts in the morning. I am not aware that diesel purge will hurt the engine at all. Maybe by runnng another can it will clean out years of heavy deposits that one can was not able to do. I ran 2 cans on mine. Good luck

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Robert Ayala

1985 300SD (W126) 300K miles

I'd have to say coincidence.

I cannot imagine the purge doing anything to affect starting, unless it dislodged a lot of carbon on the tops of the pistons and compresson dropped. I suppose it's possible, but, certainly a stretch.

What about the chance that you have bumped into something while doing the job? Are you sure the glow plugs are working correctly? Check for voltage at the plugs to be sure. Check all plugs for resistance less than 1Ω.

What does the vehicle do out on the highway, once warmed up? Sufficient power or less than what you had before the purge? Maybe the purge clogged the secondary filter, somewhat? However, this would not affect starting unless it was quite severe.

Ron, One or two of 3 possibilities,
I`m not familiar with this engine but common sense would be relevant.
1 If each cylinder has a glow plug, then the purge product or injector cleaner you used may have burnt to hot in the cylinder and fried 1 or more glow plugs but I doubt this happened.
2. The product you used again may have burnt to hot in the cylinder and caused 1 or more injectors ot crack.
3 the prudct you used dislodged wax and or a parafin in the fuel system and lodged in the injector.
In summary. I`d guess 2 and or 3. If your injector is cracked or stuck open, it will bleed off into the cylinder(pure fuel). Thus the engine will run rough and blow white smoke until the cylinder or cylinders clean out.
My guess wouold be 3.
Remeber, carbon is from burnt fuel which cannot get into the injector.
TIP, when cleaning injectors or the fuel system. use 10% unleaded gas to a tank of fuel. I use this method to keep diesel fuel from gelling in the winter adn for keeping a clean fuel system In semi`s adn in my 6.5 turbo diesel GMC 3/4 ton pickup and it has268,000 miles on it adn gets 18 MPG

This may sound elementary, but did you change the fuel filter after doing the purge?

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2004 Ram 2500 Cummins HO
2000 Jetta TDI
1999 E300 (sold)

This may have nothing to do with it, but is it possible that you have a leak allowing air into the fuel line? Say around the pump handle? Maybe not severe enough to cause the car to run bad always, just when it's at it's crankiest...

Just a thought.

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1998 W202 C230 - The money pit of late.
1984 W126 300SD (356,800 miles) Gone to the wrenchapart
1984 W123 300D Gone to the wrenchapart
1972 W108 280SE 3.5 (sold but not forgotten)
1986 Buick Grand National 3.8l Turbo (86k miles)
1966 Glassic Model 'A' Replica http://www.glassicannex.org

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