I have a Mercedes Benz 300d turbo diesel and i need ur opinion. ive been driving my benz the other day going 60 on the highway and the thing just shuts off. i pull over and get a tow home. while im there im like heck let my try to start it. i start it and its running but not running right. its not gassing, i see white smoke come out of the exhaust. i check the fuel gauge and it has more than half full and its been like that for A LONG TIME FOR SOME REASON. i put diesel in it and try it again. it cranks over and runs but not gassing and white smokes still is coming out. i keep on gassing it and VRUM IT REVS AND BLACK SMOKE COME OUT. i drove it around it is fine. i cant seem to trust it anymore since this is the second time please i would like the help. if theres is some kind of liquid cleaner to clean it that would be a help to for the filters

Check and see if you have any oil in your coolant or coolant in your oil. Cross your fingers and hope those fluids are the colors they should be. White smoke is a sign of head gasket failure, it's often the result of coolant burning in the combustion chamber.

I'm really not sure about the shut-off issue, though. I don't think a bad head gasket would cause that, though I could be wrong. You mentioned the filters; maybe the fuel filters need to be changed in a very big way.

Did the steering wheel lock when it shut down?

You obviously have a serious problem and I wouldn't drive again until you know what it is.

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Ralph

1985 300D Turbo, CA model
248,650 miles and counting...

Perhaps your episode was as simple as running out of fuel and the gauge never read below half. I have a habit of resetting my trip odemeter at every fillup as a double-check on the fuel gauge. Perhaps you should do this - and keep a gallon of fuel in the trunk - until you sort this out.

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95 E320 Cabriolet, 159K

You could also have water in your fuel. Look at the prefilter (the clear one) and see if there is any congealed junk in there. It would be milky looking. If this is the case, you must take care of it immediately because water in the injection pump is very bad for it.

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Doug

1987 300TD x 3
2005 E320CDI

I agree.

The fact that the fuel gauge remains at 1/2 forever is the tip off.

Set the tripmeter and fill it up. You should be travelling about 400 miles and then add about 16 gallons of fuel.........give or take.

Could air in the fuel system account for the different colored smoke, though?

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Ralph

1985 300D Turbo, CA model
248,650 miles and counting...

I don't know about Diesels, but my 86 300e had a similar issue. Couldn't figure it out. Made me crazy until I finally learned that it was the fuel pump relay. It was easy to change on my 300e. I could have done it in a tuxedo without getting dirty in about 30 seconds.

The mistake I made was I bought a cheap one made in Eastern Europe somewhere instead of a German / Austrian one. I had to replace it when it let me down.

Again, I don't know if that is your issue or not, but I know that Fuel has to get from the tank to the engine somehow... The 'brains" (if you will) were broken and wouldn't tell the fuel pump how much to pump.

Good Luck.

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Kyle De Priest
2007 e320 Bluetec
2013 GLK 250 Bluetec

The 300D has no "brains".

that a diesel, once started, will run for as long as good, filtered fuel gets to the cylinders and will stop running only when the shut off valve is activated or the fuel supply is interrupted. You also might want to get your fuel gauge serviced or replaced.

BenzDiesel

Yup, sounds like you ran low on fuel and sucked water instead of diesel hence the white smoke. Check your oil/coolant though as previously suggested. Also start running a water dispersant. I run Power Service from Wally Mart and have never had any water issues.

My gauge in the 240 did the same thing. Found it was a gunked up sending unit. Been running WVO and it cleared it up. If you do a search, somewhere recently I read how to tell if its the gauge or the sending unit. Can't remember the procedure though. Got CRS bad these days.

Cheers,

Bill