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I have been fortunate to find a one owner 95 E300 D sedan with only 30K miles on the clock.
Although car has been meticulously maintained, I am concerned about condition of diesel in the tank since the car has only been driven 200 miles in the last 14 months. In August of 2004 it had a 30K service at the local dealer. IN the year before that the car was only driven 700 miles.
I am concerned about the quality of the diesel fuel in the tank (algae growth??) and was wondering whether I should have the fuel removed and have the fuel tank and lines cleaned before replacing the fuel filters and possibly the injector return lines, as well. How expensive could this be?

Don't pump it out....if you are concerned get an algecide/fungicide follow directions ...diesel is not like gassolene.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

No ....dont pump it out.
It will run just fine.....
Gasoline on the other hand will outgas benzine and other chemicals that will degrade over time.

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2003 SLK 230 (85000)
1999 E300 Turbo Diesel (388,000)
1991 350SD Turbo Diesel (185,000)

What a relief. Seems unanimous (2 for 2). Thanks for your prompt replies. I'll just fill it up, maybe add some Redline and head down the road!

...go to a boating supply house...a fungicide will stop anything that might have started to grow in the period of time it sat....Redline won't do it by itself...then keep eye on prefilter....also its always a smart idea to carry spare filters and tools to change them at all times.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

IF you want to, run some diesel purge through it... not through the tank, but from the supply lines (put that return line in the bottle too )

My 7 year old diesel was OK to run on, little rough, but it worked OK as far as I can tell. Theres someone out there who found some 40? year old diesel in an apparetment or something for heating... Long story short a car ran fine on it, and so did the equipment that the guy who he sold it to uses...

~Nate

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95 Honda Shadow ACE 1100.
1999 Plymouth Neon Expresso. 2.4 swap, 10.5 to 1 comp, big cams. Autocross time attack vehicle!
2012 Escape, 'hunter" (5 sp 4cyl)

I had twenty year old diesel in my fintail when I bought it. It fired right up. Stick something down in your tank and see if anything looking like algae shows up on your something.

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1998 E320 150,000
1980 300SD 240,000
1965 190D 79,000

The SD had the same fuel in the tank for nearly 12 months until I finally fixed the cracked head. Probably had about 12 gallons in there for the period.

Started driving it again about 1 month ago. Ran the tank down to about six gallons remaining and then filled it up.

Never missed a beat.

I'm on a mission to rid algae from the diesel dictionary....

Fungus, fungus. Not algae. I know too little about my MB, but I know that a fungus is not an algae. Algae requires light to survive (can be a plant or a symbiotic creature that has photosynthetic cells). As far as I know, no light reaches the fuel unless you have a clear acrylic hood and a clear pre-filter.

P.S. If anyone considers this spam, please let me know and I'll refrain from posting again...just figured that this could finally be nipped in the bud (...or in the thylakoid as the case me be).

Pete.

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www.PeteChipmanPhoto.com

Ad a little Biobor just in case their is some growth in the tank. Other then that just drive it, diesel doesn't age like gas does. I wouldn't think twice about burning 10 year old diesel provided it was clean.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

If the tank was full and uncontaminated in the first place, there really is no easy way to get it contaminated with fungus just by sitting around. A shot of Redline, Power Service, or Stanadyne Premium fuel additive wouldn't be a bad idea in case any condensation occurred.

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1982 300DT 190K (Diesel Purge + synthetic oil=smoothness at last!!!)
2004 Ford E-350 6.0 L PSD 227K
2006 Dodge Ram 3500 SRW HO Cummins 4X4 48RE 42K (brute force tow vehicle)
2005 Scion xB wife's rolling pop can
1993 GMC Sierra C3500 6.2 142K

fuel oil in a tank in the basement of my old office building, 2500 gallons, it was probably 40 years old. the old boiler which used it had been replaced twice since it was used. i pumped it into my 90 350sdl and ran a tank of it before the city engineer, fire marshall and us marshalls guarding the federal building (right behind mine) made me get it all out of my basement. i sold it all to a friend who has a lot of heavy equipment. (i guess he figured if i ran a tank in my benz and it worked ok it wouldnt hurt his dozers).

he burned it all up in a couple of weeks. no problem.

this is the short version of this story.

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.