Problem with my 1998 E300 Turbodiesel *video
 

I hate for my first post to be one asking for help, but I just recently found this forum and it seems like its full of very knowledgeable people. I’m having a bit of trouble with my 1998 E300 and I was hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction.

About two weeks ago I went to start the car in the morning and after letting the glow plugs prime I turned the ignition over. The car started like normal, but immediately began to idle horribly and vibrate the car. At that time the glow plug light lit back up and the Check Engine light came on. I had the glow plugs and relay replaced with OEM parts.

After getting the car back I started it again and it’s still running awful and there is a faint white smoke that comes from the exhaust. There is no check engine light and no glow plug light on. After 5-10 minutes of driving the vehicle runs and idles fine. There is still a little black smoke under acceleration and it may be my imagination, but I feel like I'm down on power. I’ve done a lot of reading and my research has pointed me to two possible problems:

1) Air in the fuel lines
2) A bad injector (or two, LoL)

I’ve posted a link to a video of the vehicle on startup for anyone that doesn’t mind to watch it. I’m sorry for the horrible quality; I had to shoot it on my phone because my wife misplaced the charger for our digital camera. Also, I took a picture of my clear fuel lines and have that posted below as well because there appeared to be some air in it:

Vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QjU97WVBu8

Pic:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...2/fuelline.jpg

Thanks for any help! I just hate to start throwing money at the car and potentially still have an issue.

Andrew

I didn't watch the video (heeding your warning) but in the still image, if your engine is not running, that air bubble is of no concern. Watch for bubbles running around the fuel pipes with the engine running - those are of concern.

The video is not that bad, I just had to shoot it with my iphone instead of a real camera. Thanks for the input though!

I heard a kind of pop pop splutting? sound at idle. Sounds like it might benefit from a diesel purge or injector cleaning.

Overall, the engine sounds pretty healthy to me.

These cars run like hell with even one GP dead. It sounds like you have at least one bad one. It's probably passing enough current to not trip the CEL but not enough to actually heat up.

1. Pull the 6 conductor plug onthe GP relay, switch on the ignition and check for 12v on all 6 pins on the relay.

2. After passing this test, switch you meter to Ohms and test between ground and each pin on the plug going to the GP's. They should all be about the same, something like .8 ohm.

I skipped straight to step #2 because I had a hunch and you were dead on the money. Every wire other than #5 is reading dead on 6ohms. That one is not bringing a reading at all. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that means the intake manifold is going to have to come off the car again isn't it? Shouldn't a shop check something that simple before putting the car back together?

IF the wire for that GP tests out good...
 

"They" probably gave you a bad glow plug
(Nothing Deliberate,unless they snapped it off changing it out...)

I'd still drop back and test all the Pins for 12 Volts @ the GP Relay as KarTek suggested, First.

Quite frankly, if they used MB parts they are guaranteed for 12 months. The servicer should pickup the cost of replacing the bad glowplug.

Sounds like a bad glowplug, and the air in the lines isn't a good sign either.

Those plastic lines suck, and need to be replaced more often than they should. I'd replace those, you shouldn't see any air.

After further inspection it appears "they" did not secure the wire to the end of the plug on the #5 plug. Two coat hangers, three pours or crown royal, and a few curse words later I think I have the wire secured to the glow plug. Those things are awful to get to with the intake manifold on the car. As soon as I finish drying my air filter and re-installing I'll know for sure if it's fixed, but it does test out now. :D

Thanks for the help guys. I'll keep you posted.

Well, that seems to have done it. I threw the filter back in for a quick test and it fired right up and ran smooth. I think I may still do a diesel purge though:).

Thanks again for all of the help guys. This just provides further support for my theory that I shouldn't let other people work on my cars.

Good theory. It is too bad that in practice, it cannot be universally applied.

How many hours of work did you pay for, and how many hours of your own work did it lead you into?

I paid for approx. 5 hrs of labor. I spent a dedicated hour. I usually don't let other people work on my cars; however, this is the first diesel I've worked on, my wife's X5 35d is under full warranty. I can assure you that I won't make the same mistake again. After spending some time on this forum, it appears that about anything short of a rebuild isn't much harder than a gasser :thumbs:

I was intimidated by the car when I first got it 2.5 years ago. Since then, I've gotten an excellent education from the members here and from internet research.

Even the electronics are kind of primitive since it doesn't have to do the monitoring and adjusting of injection like a CDI or a gas engine.