A couple of you have asked for updates....

It's not running....yet.

I was just able to get my hands on a compression guage for diesels. However I want the engine warm to do it. If It won't start before I remove the IP I will do it cold and hope the numbers are consistant across all six; Or put little oil in each cylinder to seal the rings up.

I just got the IP locking tool and chain holder/alignment tools in the mail yesterday. Now it's just getting time to swap out the IP..... Kids B-day, work (gotta make $$), etc.

I'll let you know.....

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1987 300TD 147,000 miles- Palomino leather interior, 1995 facelift and body cladding, E350 wheels, Rebuilt suspension and sport springs, rebuilt turbo, New Monarch injection pump and injectors....and the list goes on and on...

I'm not that familiar with this engine but swapping out the IP seems premature to me. What do other people think?
Can't remember if you've done it or not , but I would check the fuel flow from the lift pump to the IP before swapping out the IP.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

How much fuel per second should come out of the lift pump while cranking it over? I am getting fuel out of the return line of the IP and seeping fuel from the injectors when the lines are cracked open. I don't think the IP is producing enough pressure though. I was told there is NO way to check this with a gauge. Is that right?

The bottle of Diesel Kleen started out amber color and now is pretty dark, just by cranking it many times through the injection pump , letting it sit over night and doing it again. I'm sure there is a lot of crud in there. If you saw the picture earlier of what was in the fuel filter, I'd think there is lots that passed both filters and now in the IP.

I heard Diesel Kleen is primarily made of Diesel fuel. Do you think that stuff will burn in 100% concentration? I think it would.

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1987 300TD 147,000 miles- Palomino leather interior, 1995 facelift and body cladding, E350 wheels, Rebuilt suspension and sport springs, rebuilt turbo, New Monarch injection pump and injectors....and the list goes on and on...

if your getting Fuel to the injectors and you had the car running I'd be hesitant to think that you have a delivery problem. you may have something as simple as bad Diesel, Too much water etc

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hum.....
1987 300TD 311,000M Stolen. Presumed destroyed

I know they'll run on purge. I assume they'll run on purge.
There are threads on here which state the volume the lift pump should be supplying. Don't remember off hand.
How much is coming out of the return line when it is running? On a 617 I know the return stream is pretty powerful when looking at it in a soda bottle while purging.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Well- like many say it takes compression, heat, and fuel to run. Since I went through the procedures to test the glow plugs, and all seemed to be working I moved on to test the compression. I finally had some time today and borrowed a gauge from the guy at Advance auto (great guy). I bought a intake gasket and some return line hose from the dealer, and more 5/16 hose from the auto store to replace all the rest.

During removal intakes bolts were basically loose and the gasket was pretty bad & oily, and the return lines were really bad too, just breaking off at each injector (probably some air leaks!)

I pulled each injector to see if oil was in the #1 cylinder (possible head gasket check) and to see if one injector looked worse than any others. They all looked about the same

I cranked the engine to see if any oil blew out of #1 cylinder (none! - good!)

I turned the key to ON and looked in the injectors holes to visually see the plugs glowing. To my surprise only two of the six were working!!!. That was a really good sign for me as it was "part" of the starting issue. Not sure why the ohms test and voltage test didn't work ( I likely didn't do it right although I swear I did)

Cleaned and put injectors back in (will replace crush washers once I get it running and maybe new nozzles).

Unfortunately, The glow plug compression adapter was the wrong size, so I will need to continue this on Monday, if I can rent/borrow one from the local mechanic.

I hope compression is good and consistent. On a side note, the block heater got the engine up to about 115 degree! Not bad when the ambient temp of the garage is 40 right now. I think this will help on the testing- we'll see

.....to be continued.

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1987 300TD 147,000 miles- Palomino leather interior, 1995 facelift and body cladding, E350 wheels, Rebuilt suspension and sport springs, rebuilt turbo, New Monarch injection pump and injectors....and the list goes on and on...

Man, I think you have been chasing your tail. Forget fuel, timing chain etc.

The problem is most likely the cat converter, that first thing in the exhaust line - drop the down pipe and (stuff cotton in your ears if you have an aversion to noise) and see how it runs. These do get plugged!!!!!!!!!! BTDT.
The clue was you removed the exh plug on the manifold (made for testing exhaust backpressure) and it improved things, right?
DDH

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'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

Man, I think you have been chasing your tail. Forget fuel, timing chain etc.

The problem is most likely the cat converter, that first thing in the exhaust line - drop the down pipe and (stuff cotton in your ears if you have an aversion to noise) and see how it runs. These do get plugged!!!!!!!!!! BTDT.
The clue was when you said:
"I pulled the pressure test plug on the exhaust manifold and it allowed me to raise the pedal almost to the top then it still shuts off (very slightly better). It will not rev up at all!!!"
I'm thinking maybe there is something really restricted in the exhaust somewhere. There are three different cat/resonators or mufflers on the exhaust still - I don't know where to look now?"

You removed the exh plug on the manifold (made for testing exhaust backpressure) and it improved things, right? That's the clue!
Look for major restriction in the cat, I recommend you remove all the guts for "testing purposes" and your engine will be happy for that! there's info on how to gut it on the Forum, use the search feature.
DDH

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'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

I've found glow plug resistance test unreliable too. Also, those injector return lines can cause air leaks causing your problem.

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What Would Rudolph Do?
1975 300D, 1975 240D, 1985 300SD, 1997 300D, 2005 E320 , 2006 Toyota Prius

About a year ago I had the exact same problem with my '87 300SDL. It eventually wouldn't run at all. Except if I removed the screw in the exhaust manifold. Turned out the catalytic converter was plugged, had it replaced 25,000 miles later not a problem. I suspect your problem is a clogged catalytic converter.


'87 300SDL 278,000
'94 SL500 50,000

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jcciem
'94 SL5000 60,000
'91 350SDL 545,000
'91 350SD 197,000
'00 E55 AMG 77,000

I think I remember that incident
NOW Two guys on the 'forum say its the CAT, I have a friend that says its the CAT
Consider dropping the exhaust and see how she runs!

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'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

The CAT is going to be removed soon enough. Once I got it to start it also ran when I put the plug back in, so I put that theory on hold.

I am putting the intake back now and replacing ALL fuel lines (many look original). We'll see if that seals up any air leaks (which I think there was). At this point I don't want to do too many fixes at one time because I want to pinpoint what the real problem is.

I replaced all the glow plugs today(all visually confirmed to work now looking down the injector holes), and did a compression test to be sure the internals are strong.

Compression test results were very good and consistent with the engine at 115 degree ambient temp- from the block heater
1- 400
2- 400
3- 395
4- 415
5- 400
6- 410


I should have it together tomorrow to test. I want to clean it all real well before putting together. Intake and all, since I have it apart. The injectors and hard lines are soaking in cleaning fluid all night to clear them up.

to be continued....

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1987 300TD 147,000 miles- Palomino leather interior, 1995 facelift and body cladding, E350 wheels, Rebuilt suspension and sport springs, rebuilt turbo, New Monarch injection pump and injectors....and the list goes on and on...

I have my fingers crossed! My bet is that when you get all the air out of the lines after reinstalling them, it is going to start. Only having two glow plugs is going to make a real hard start (if any). Also, as I said before, I think the return lines will make it run rough and smoke. Between the two problems I think you got it!

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1998 E320 150,000
1980 300SD 240,000
1965 190D 79,000

Getting pretty frustrated now!

I put it all back together with new fuel lines & new glow plugs (all working)

I reconnected all the hard lines and put cups under each end. I cranked it over until diesel and the diesel Kleen came out each of them. I did these to make sure any crud would not go right into the injectors. Glad I did because there was very little coming out in the bottom of cup (likely from IP). Just enough to clog the injectors

Since all the air seemed to be out I installed the injectors and return lines. It cranked and cranked but there was not inclination that it even wanted to start. I cracked the lines to let out any bubble just in case. Just cranks.

I have compression, glow, and fuel up to the injectors - What is going on here??

Could all the injectors be clogged? It should start, or try to start now. I soaked the injectors in cleaning fluid over night and blew it out with carb cleaner. MAybe the pin holes are clogged....on all of them??

I have the plug out of the exhaust manifold so it should run (don't think it is a CAT issue.

I'm about to have it towed in somewhere, but really want to conquer this one!

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1987 300TD 147,000 miles- Palomino leather interior, 1995 facelift and body cladding, E350 wheels, Rebuilt suspension and sport springs, rebuilt turbo, New Monarch injection pump and injectors....and the list goes on and on...

This is an interesting one. I think that if the exhaust was clogged well enough then removing the plug on the exhaust manifold might not be enough for it to run. I would unbolt or just loosen the exhaust manifold to allow enough exhaust.

I was skeptical of others guessing on the clogged cat, but now there doesn't seem to be many other options. I am not sure how the cat is connected but it might be easlier to disconnect the cat rather than the exhaust manifold. On my later model mercedes the cat can't be disconnected. It is one piece with the exhaust.

Someone else with knowledge of this model chime in. What would be the easiest way for him to allow exhaust flow? Exhaust mainfold or cat? Or maybe you can disconnect the exhaust from the headers.

Don't give up. You have figured a lot out so far. It would be a shame to pay someone to fix it now when you have done 90% of the work so far.

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1998 E320 150,000
1980 300SD 240,000
1965 190D 79,000