So I made it home. Check my exp tank out and it is plastic. One of the lines is weeping wet, and one line is busted off with the nipple in it, so this may be a good place to start. Would be nice to qauntify the effect to the system but I'm kinda in getrdun mode. So walk out to the parts car which is also a 85 and its plastic but everything appears to be OK and the car ran fine. So tomorrow I'll swaperoonie. I'm may just beef up the connection with JPWeld. I will not disconnect the hoses from the plastic so it doesn't brake.

Life is nice with a parts car.

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Currently driving a very clean 1985 300SD from the West Coast.

thanks, learn something new every day

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

So I put a vacuum gauge between the fuel tank and prefilter to get an idea of what kind of suction is going on. It fluttered between 0-5" at idle. If I reved it then it smoothed out and i could get it up to about 7" of vacuum.
I pulled the line going from the lift pump to the secondary filter, and the line going from the filter to the IP off of my extra engine and replaced the old lines with Poly line fromt he hardware store. 1/4" ID went on tight. This line is temporary and will be changed to PTFE (teflon) which is great for WVO. Car was driving OK but I really didn't expect anything as I really didn't fix anything. Sure enough it got down to the single digits again today and on my drive into work it started dogging out. Open the hood and I see air in the line coming out of the lift pump. Would be nice to have the vacuum gauge to see if that vacuum is worse. There are little bubble at the peak of the prefilter, but to me it seems like more bubbles coming out of the lift pump than going in. So whole pump, or just the hand pump. I may just try the used pump of the extra engine. That one will be easy to pull. The one in the car doesn't look like much fun.

Before I do anything, I'll put the vacuum gauge on the extra wagon and see if responds the same.

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Currently driving a very clean 1985 300SD from the West Coast.

OK, so very cold yesterday and snowy, trying to go and get my air compressor tank which is part of my Christmas present. Cars running crappy and I'm having to ditch it into snowbanks as its stopping on me. So I'm thinking to myself this is a heck of a way to get killed. Me on the side of the road, even though I'm in front of the car and kneeling on the bumper incase I get hit maybe I'll have half a chance. I mean I'm off the road but who knows. So a big revelation, got to fix the car. Clean up the garage enough to get it in, let it defrost a little. Go out to check on it at 9:30pm in my jammies and winter coat. Decide, what the heck, change the lift pump, took about 30 minutes. After changing it, the primer pump it full of fuel quickly, unlike before. Stuck the carback outside where its friggin cold out and plugged it in. Started this morning nice, and runs good. Haven't driven it yet but I think I got it. It looks to me like the short piece of fuel hose on the old pump was dry rotted as when you trist it you can see these lines. At some point I'll pull it off and put some air to it and see if I get any air bubbles on the outside indicating leaks. This will proove if it was the lift pump or not.
Now I just need to repair the drivers window so it works in the channel properly, the 2" gape at the top is letting snow in.
Stay warm and happy holidays.
Dave

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Currently driving a very clean 1985 300SD from the West Coast.

Well that didn't do it. So...I took a 3 qt container and stuck clear lines in for a supply and return and ran the car like this. It was about 4 degrees out and it ran fine with no air. Still not going to wave the victory flag. Going to pull the lines at the tank and see how the diesel runs out of the tank. May need to run a new line. Maybe just tye rap some rubber hose on for now. We will see.

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Currently driving a very clean 1985 300SD from the West Coast.

So under the car I go to disconnect the fuel line. Diesel comes out of the tank like I would have expected. I had the line disconnected under the hood and IMO the diesel didn't come out of the line that fast when I disconnected it from the fuel tank. Hooked up the compressor at the tank end, and took the line under the hood and put it in a bottle. I'm not 100% sure that the bottle was totally dry to begin with but the diesel had water in it. Now I could see where water in the fuel lines could freeze and restrict flow. Time will tell. Started it and drove it around fine, but it had warmed up in my garage. Its like 1 degree out right now, so tomorrow morning will be the test. Going to order new filters and the primer pump piece, also going to get new fuel lines as it need them.

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Currently driving a very clean 1985 300SD from the West Coast.

Have you found any water in your fuel? Are you buying bio-diesel? We are seeing more and more issues - oh we clean fuel tanks and this seems to be the leading cause to most fuel issues.

Luther

No Biodiesel.

So it looks like that was it! I left the car out overnight in the single digits and it runs great. Drove about 6 miles in the single digits and not one hickup. Popped the hood and no air in the lines. Time will tell but this is looking good. The only other variable is that I threw on another used prefilter that I had. The one that was on the car wasn't that old but it didn't flow diesel through it as fast as the other used one I had. So I'll get two new filters.
Finger crossed that this is it, its too cold to be messing around with this outside.

Dave

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Currently driving a very clean 1985 300SD from the West Coast.