air in fuel system without leak?
 

Hi,
More fun with starting the car: This 25F degree AM I had the usual starting behavior (glow, crank for 10s, stop, glow, starts immediately), let it warm up for 3-4m while the defrosters were defrosting, drive off, then park it about 5m later for some coffee. When I get in to start it, I crank it for like 20s and it's very fast (since the motor's warm) but it won't start. I do this 2x more, then on the 4th try it starts right up.

I don't think it's in the glow plug system (having tested the plug wire resistance, leads and relay voltage). I presume the injection pump is priming itself all the time? I recently had leaky o-rings replaced, which cured a leak which was causing me to have to assist the priming of the IP by loosening the injector lines when parked uphill. But now there's no discernible leaks under the car when parking uphill or downhill. Could there be an air leakage into the fuel system before it hits the lines or any device that would leak out fuel?

I've also recently had the timing chain replaced, as well as the fuel filters. After all this work, when removing the fuel cap, I noticed I wasn't getting a *gasp* from the filler neck anymore, and that when the tank got very low the fuel gauge needle would bounce before the low fuel light turned on, and that hadn't happened before.

You can get an air leak without fuel seepage. Does the 124 have the same "Air bubble" visual like the 123/126?

Do you mean the clear inline filter? Got that, there's an air bubble in there but I thought there's supposed to be one. I'll check to see if there's any cracks or looseness in the hose connections, it was recently replaced.

Turns out the fuel shutoff valve lever seems to be sticking. I assume that when the ignition is shutoff, the vacuum pump turns on to shut that valve, since when the line is disconnected the car continues to run and the battery light turns on? Or do I have that backward?

I ask because earlier on the line to the valve snapped by accident when I was loosening one of the nearby fuel lines when I had to prime the rail. I patched the break by putting a length of rubber hose over the break and tightening the ends, but it could very well be leaky and require replacement (at which time, frankly, I'd replace _all_ the brittle vacuum lines).

So, would a leaky vacuum line do this to the shutoff valve? In the meantime I may just clean and lubricate the valve lever area and lift the lever before starting the engine.