I have a Greaseon single tank veggie fuel kit on my '85 300D. Everything was working great for about 6 months and 8,000 miles. Now the car has been parked for the last four months with me trying to figure out what the problem is. The car will idle fine, but under load will loose all of its power. I thought it was an air leak and checked the system thoroughly. I replaced all my filters. My mechanic went through the system and said he found two spots that he thought may be leaking air. He fixed these, but the problem still remained. He tested the injection pump by putting pressure on (I think the inlet side) and a vacuum on the exhaust side. He said that it did not maintain its vacuum and therefor it needed a new injection pump. He started to take the injection pump off the car and noticed that the timing was out. He thought he would try re-timing the pump before he took it off. He also looked at the fuel shut-off rod and noticed that it was stuck in the off position (most likely why it did not retain the vacuum). He lubed the rod and put it back in, then finished timing the pump. He said that after this the car started and ran normally. He took it on a long test drive and said it worked great except for one time it acted like it was loosing power again. He let off of the fuel and then pushed back down on the pedal and all was fine.

The next day he took it out for a test again. Drove it for about 15 minutes and the car started acting-up again (loosing power). I'm not sure how he got it back to the shop, but I came that day to look at it and the car was acting the same as it had for the previous two months. I took the car home and thought I would try some Diesel Purge before I sent the injection pump off to be rebuilt. The car would run at idle but had no power at load. I ran one can nearly all the way through and the engine began to run worse. After trying to run the second bottle through, the engine will not remain running now. I thought maybe there was a bunch of crud in the pump and the Diesel Purge may have loosed some of the crud and now its clogged. I took the steel fuel lines off the injection pump - turned the engine over and only saw fuel spitting out of one delivery valve. I pulled a few of the delivery valves off and the fuel looks like coffee with a little creamer in it. I don't see any crud in the valves. The fuel I am using is straight diesel, so I don't think it should be this color.

Does it sound like I need a new injector pump? Or is there another part I should be looking at? Previously when the car did run right, the car would shake at idle - I have heard this is a sign that the IP will need to be rebuilt soon. Is this right?

Any help would be appreciated!

before i would buy or even rebuild an injection pump i would test to see what each cylinder's pressure is. then when you find that out we can move on. you may have crud stuck in the deliver valves if thats so then you can simply unscrew them and clean them out. if not then you may have bad elements in the pump and that is a major job has to be sent to bosch. i would try one more thing though before you do that. get lacque thinner , and set up a temporary tank, fill it with lacque thinner and take the in line to the ip and put it in the tank, then take off the injector lines and start cranking the engine lacque thinner is an awesome thing to get crud out of small places. make sure you get it all out of the ip before you start the car again...

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1981 240d (engine donor 1983 240d) recently rebuilt engine hurray! - No more.. fought a tree and the tree won.

pearl black 1983 240d 4speed (Converted!@$$%) atleast the tranny was rebuilt.

Or use Diesel Purge which is made for that purpose. Start it cold, let it get to operating temp, shut it down, let it soak for 24hrs, and then start it and burn off the remainder.

There are lots of things to check before one would pull or repalce the IP.

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Terry Allison
N. Calif. & Boca Chica, Panama

09' E320 Bluetec 77k (USA)
09' Hyundai Santa Fe Diesel 48k (S.A.)

If the engine starts, and mostly runs OK, --then the IP will be OK...

Probably crud in the tank gauze filter....

Change all fuel-filters, and clean the gauze filter in the tank, Thats the usual problem single-tank conversions have, if you have been using WVO--The FFA content causes crud to be developed by the tank coatings and blocks the filters...

Common fault with veggy conversions....

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W123, 1985 300TD Wagon, 256K,
-Most recent M.B. purchase, Cost-a-plenty, Gulps BioDiesel extravagantly, and I love it like an old dog.

W114, 1975 280E Custard Yellow,
-Great above decks needs chassis welding--Really will do it this year....

Sounds like classic clogged filters. Change the see through filter and the spin on filter. Have the mechanic change the in tank screen. Go to west marine (www.westmarine.com) and buy some Startron Tank cleaner. I noticed yesterday that it is available in the small bottle at walmart in the boating section.

All of the years of diesel junk in your tank is clogging up your filters. Not a big deal in the long run. You just have to take care of it. Search the thread for Startron and read up. LOTS of info on what it does and why it ROCKS!

-Jim

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1995 S350D, Green with black leather interior.
Bought January 2008 w/ 233,xxx miles.
I did 22,000 miles during the first year of ownership.

He replaced the filters.

I would also reccomend checking out the tank screen. It is likely plugged. Then flush out your injection pump with some diesel...and for god's sake stop running the single tank system if you want the car to last.

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1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

How did you run the 1/2 can of DP through?
I always use 2 cans when cleaning my car.
in a welches juice bottle. the 1/2 gallon size is perfect for this.
with the lines off the DV's and the bottle connected to your new filters, run 1/2 gallon of diesel through. see if everything flows then.
John
oh, and the "coffee with a little creamer in it" looking stuff is water.
if you are going to run a single tank system, you have to dewater and settle the WVO.
John

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Several people so far have told me that the coffee with cream fuel sounds like water in the fuel. But, will diesel with water look like the same thing? I am running it off of a temporary tank (like you do with Diesel Purge). All the veggie has run through. I'm not sure how much fuel the IP will hold, but I thinking that all of the WVO has been flushed through. In addition, I do put the WVO through several filters (down to 2 mic) and then through a Golden Rod Water block filter.

My fuel tank has been taken out and cleaned and all of the fuel lines have been replaced.

I did take three of the fuel delivery valves out and they did not look like they were clogged.

Any other thoughts??

Does anyone have experience with Lac thinner in their IP? Will it mess-up any of the seals? If not, I think I might try this next, to try to get it un-plugged.