It's possible the lift pump has failed or about to. It was recently replaced though with the updated design you don't have to unscrew to operate it by hand. I have a spare IP known to be good. I'm working on a friends house today helping him repipe. Tomorrow I should be able to install the known good one and see what happens. Now that I think of it, the old one has a peculiar quirk, a noticeable variation in the idle of about 350 RPM. Kinda odd, up, then down, then back up and down and kinda gutless too.

Here's my take on what you've got:

The IP was fine before you replaced the chain. Therefore, there is no possible scenario that causes the IP to fail during the chain exchange. Sure, it might not be putting out fuel to spec, but it cannot prevent a start.

Furthermore, the lift pump cannot fail due to a chain exchange. If the pump was working before the chain exchange, it's certainly working now.

So, the question begs whether you've got fuel at the injectors, or not. Crack two injector lines and crank the engine for 15 seconds with full pedal. Fuel should come out of the two open lines and wet down the head in the area of the injectors. It won't be much.......but it won't be zero.

If you have fuel, the IP is fine. Your problem is then caused by the lack of proper IP timing. The story that you provided here on the forum is not what you did on the vehicle. We really can't help you further with it until you start at the beginning and find the error of your ways.

I agree that my initial problem was caused by the lack of proper IP timing, but I already tried to crack the injector lines and crank it to see if fuel was coming out and it does deliver some, but when coupled to a known good injector outside of the engine, nothing. My known good pump turns over with a definitive click, click, click and firm detent in each position. The old pump feels weak and there is an odd noise coming from inside and it is not as springy when turning it by hand!

The car was not running fine before like I said. It was gutless, had an erratic idle and would not go past 3300 RPM. On my last trip into town, it felt like it was suffocating trying to clime a little hill! I bought an '82 300D with a timing chain so worn that once I had the valve cover off, you could see worn out links in the chain hanging there in random places and the stretch was more than 15* and it even ran better. Like I said, I will switch the pump and see what happens, but it would not suprise me is it starts.

While I'm at it, where would you go for an IP rebuild if you had to ship your pump and get it back repaired at a reasonable cost? I will be short one IP for the engine I'm rebuilding and I'm not sure I want to get into an IP. It's not like I have the tools needed anyway!

How it drove is irrelevant. Did it have a problem starting before you installed the chain?

Yes. It felt like it wasn't getting sufficient fuel and you had to hold the pedal down part way to start it.

I'm not concerned with "part way down". What was the cranking time before you replaced the chain?

5 to 15 seconds. Randomly varied in no particular order.

That's certainly not desirable...........would the time be shorter at warmer temperatures?

No shorter than 5 seconds. All glow plugs working and compression at 325/330 each cylinder. Lift pump was replaced with a new one before I bought the car.

Well, unfortunately, you've got two things going on here. One of them is preventing a start, and my guess is IP timing. The other is preventing the engine from making sufficient power and that could be anything from the lift pump to the IP or just simply late IP timing.

If the secondary filter is clean, I'd look to see what the fuel pressure is when cranking...........would confirm the suspicion of a weak lift pump.

I'll have to look at lift pump fuel pressure next, but when cranking I forgot to put the fuel return line on at secondary filter and it wasn't long before fuel was spraying out the barb fitting for the 1/8th cloth woven hose. And quite a bit of it too!

There is a tiny bleed between the supply side and the return side..........so, the presence of a fair amount of fuel at that port would probably lead me to conclude that the fuel pressure is acceptable to start.

Yeah, I thought so too! Oh, well. It's not like I have anything else to do after I get done repiping my friend Scotts house and then installing a skylight for Linda as well as redo her kitchen countertops and install new faucets and sinks after I finish building the front porch. Then I can Paint Larry's house for his wife after I finish remodeling her bathroom in the master bedroom and oh did I mention I've been laid off? Well, having something to do is nice. Then I can finally get around to putting the engine back into the Power Wagon and get that sold and I'll only have one other 300 TDT that I need to finish the engine for.

Other than that, pretty boring around this neck of the woods.

It runs! It runs! Never underestimate the stupidity of the previous owners! IP wasn't fine. Maybe that's because the PO left out some "spare" parts like springs and other things I don't know the name of that are supposed to be under the stems where the High pressure injector lines go! No wonder it took so long to crank and fortunately I had many spare IP parts myself from a couple of wrecked pumps that had pumped cold Veggie Oil!

And Viola! It's Alive!!! There is a trick that took me forever to figure out from the FSM, which has really complicated instructions. If timing isn't known or chain has been diconnected or it just slipped and you have to restart, first set crank at "0" and Camshaft marks lined up properly with match,mark on cam tower. Then rotate engine for a full turn until you begin to build up compression, then stop at 25* BTDC. Now set that IP up with both marks lined up on the front of the pump. You can only see this with the IP out of the car. Now install the pump WITHOUT turning the engine to "0"! You want the engine to be in the "start of delivery" when you put the pump back on!

It will start and setting timing is fairly straight forward from here on out, just slight tilting to the engine or away from it to set correctly at either 24* or 26* which ever is your setting.

Great job troubleshooting!

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel