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  #1  
Old 06-17-2008, 04:57 PM
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'84 300TD Fuel Starvation when 3 gallons remain

My 300TD engine starts shaking & accelerates poorly from idle....when the fuel is down to about 3 gallons remaining. I'm guessing the fuel is feeding poorly.
It has been doing this for several months. I replaced both fuel filters with no change. My remaining guess is the strainer, but I'm surprised the behavior has been exactly the same and not worse. Any suggestions?

Scott

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Old 06-17-2008, 05:03 PM
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someone might have swapped the feed and return lines
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Old 06-17-2008, 05:36 PM
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that or the fuel strainer may be clogged, only allowing fuel from it's top.
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Old 06-17-2008, 05:43 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vstech View Post
that or the fuel strainer may be clogged, only allowing fuel from it's top.
It could be the strainer or even a partially plugged line, the latter puts more back pressure on the fuel in the tank, which when it gets low has no "head" so pressure drops considerably. I've seen it before on a wagon (mine) that previously had algae from sitting a long time. I had cleaned the strainer and that didn't really help, when I got low on fuel the engine idled real rough and started to sputter but on a full or half full tank you would not notice anything wrong at all.

I successfully cleared out the line by applying air from the engine compartment back towards the tank, about 90 PSI. It cleared out whatever it was that was partially plugging the line. Just be sure to remove the filler cap before doing this procedure
I have a theory that wagons are more prone to this than the sedans because the fuel tank is down low in the wagon hence no head pressure to the lift pump which is at about the same or higher elevation than the bottom of the tank. The sedan has the tank up above the rear seat, make sense?
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Old 06-17-2008, 09:47 PM
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i had the same problem with my 91 300d,in my case it was the lower half of the strainer in the tank was really plugged up with black gunk,cleaning it cured to problem. Not a fun job but at least it only costs your time! My $.02 Don
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Old 06-17-2008, 10:07 PM
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Don't let it get down to 3 gallons?
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Old 06-17-2008, 11:50 PM
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While I can see it is best to pull the tank stainer and clean it has anyone had any success clearing a partly plugged strainer with an additive like Startron of something else?
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Old 06-18-2008, 12:57 AM
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Thanks for the replies. Today I put the rear wheels on ramps, drained the tank, and removed the strainer with the ingenious reversed spark plug method.
The strainer was partially plugged with black stuff...appears to be algae.
I have a chemical for that I'll try.

Regards,

Scott

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