Help! Wife ran 99,E300D out of diesel last night!
 

My wife runs her E300D low on fuel all the time. Ugh! No matter how much I tell her not to, she doesn't listen. So last night at 2:30 am On her way home from work, it happens. Sputter, sputter, Die! Guess who has to get out of bed and go (Try) to get the car started. Me! I put a gallon of fuel in the car and crank away. Jumper cables and all. No luck. So I need to know how to start a diesel out of fuel. Can somebody help?

I am not as familiar as others with your car, but logic tells me you're going to need more than a gallon in the tank if it's dry/low to that degree. Put at least another gallon into the tank, leave the fuel tank cap off, and start priming the system. I'm sure there's a primer pump of some kind in the system. You may also have to bleed the fuel lines at the injectors, which means cracking them open and running the engine to pump fuel in and air out.

On my 240D I can also keep the engine going by spraying WD-40 or diesel fuel into the air intake with the engine cranking. At least once, on one other car, that did the trick as the vehicle purged itself.

After you fix this, make sure your wife knows she owes you big time.

The later diesels (SDL onward) with the 60x engines do not have a manual primer pump, you just have to crank them in cycles until they start.

I'd get at least 3-4 gallons in the tank before trying though.

Just another reason to stay with the old.

Unless a few lines are cracked open to let out the air, you'll have trouble getting it started.You can try loosening the fuel filter too.

Concur. Loosen the fuel filter and crank it until you get a little fuel out of the filter. Loosen several (all?) of the steel injector line fittings at the injectors and crank until you get fuel dribbling out. Tighten the fittings.

On my W123 and 116, there is a small hand priming pump on the side of the engine that I used to get fuel showing at the loosened filter, then I'd tighten the filter. Then I'd loosen the steel fittings at the injectors (17mm wrench on a 617 engine) and get my wife to crank the engine. When fuel showed up at the fitting, I'd tighten it. After a couple of them were primed, the engine would try to start, or actually start, whereupon I'd tighten the rest and see if the engine picked up a normal idle.

Not hard to do at all, but there is a sequence to it.

Very succinct instructions to get you back on the road.
I would also use the opportunity to do a fast visual inspection of any possibly weak/cracked rubber lines. Just a quick visual, but you'd be surprised about what you can notice in even a minute

Exactly.

Thank you everyone!
 

I got it running. Thanks to everyones help here. I put 5 more gallons of fuel in the tank, Connected jumper cables to my truck, removed the fuel filter and filled it with diesel before putting it back on. Then I sprayed a little fuel into the breather hose with a little air pressurized spray can that I brought with me and filled with a bicycle air pump. Then I cranked over the engine for short periods and many reputitions. Just as I thought I would have to bleed the injectors, the engine came to life. Thanks again!

Mike

Glad it worked w/o major major mechanical efforts.
Suggestion: Show your wife this thread and make her read it. She needs to understand this is a more serious and potentially expensive thing to neglect.

She may get it now!
 

After watching me jump through all the hoops to get her car started, I told her, "next time this happens, it's all you. I will only tell you what to do, supply the tools and go with you to drive my truck home when you are done". She is the "princess" type. She wants nothing to do with that. I also said, "this gives me the right to blow my lid if I ever see this cars (low tank) light come on. She agreed. I'll keep you posted. LOL!