All,

I drove my 83' 300D for an hour on the freeway Sunday, averaging about 70mph. No issues whatsoever. After the drive I stopped at a BP right off US 23 where I live, and filled the tank ($2.75/gallon!!). Given that this station is a truck stop, I figure that the diesel should be relatively fresh....

Anyway, I drove another 5 miles to my home, pulled into my driveway, and the engine began making a sound like a hammer repeatedly and LOUDLY hitting concrete. I stopped the engine, and grabbed my mechanic stethoscope. I restarted - one of the injectors was nailing horribly, so I shut it down and pulled the injector.

The injector was opening at 100 bar per my pop tester. I pulled the injector apart to find that the pintle had seized in the injector nozzle, and it was stuck open. What could cause this? Did some sort of grit get into my fuel system? Fuel filters were replaced less than 3,000 miles ago - I run only straight diesel.

Thanks.

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Vehicles Owned:
1983 Mercedes Benz 300D ~ 212,000 miles
2005 Mazda 3 S ~ 96,000 miles