I have a 1982 300TD that sat for ~10 years. While driving home the fuel filters kept clogging. I ran through 3 sets of inline and canister filters in 450 miles. Here are some photos of the 2nd inline filter.













Is that Algae? It looks like mud.

It seems like there is some contrasting advise as to what to do about about it. A lot of trusted people suggest using Biobor JF to clean the tank while it's still attached to the car but I'm not sure if it can handle the level of infestation that I'm dealing with. Should I try it and see or should I go ahead and remove the tank and then add Biobor to clean whatever's left in the system.

As always, Thanks for your replies.

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1982 300TD

Everything I know about cars I learned from PeachParts.

There are two different items that will give you those problems.
Clean out the tank screen, then run some biocide, before you remove the tank.

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83 SD

84 CD

no actual experience, but from what I've read, the startron works best. and it keeps you from needing to clean the tank, the critters all die, and their bodies pass through the filter, and get burned up!

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

We now know why you had so much fun on your way home!!!!

If it was me, I would remove the tank & clean as much out as I could.
I am lucky to have access to steam at a local factory & have previously steamed out fuel tanks. It sterilizes them as well as cleaning them. That's not much use to you though!!
If you can rinse it out a couple of times to get the black crud out, including the fuel level sender, the tube often fills with crud. Biodiesel may be good for doing it. Then get it as empty as you can before replacing it in the car.
It would help if you could blow the supply & return lines out & refill them & blow them out again a couple of times with clean fuel before you reconnect them. All of this cleaning fuel should not be reused in the car, use it for getting a fire going or killing weeds, not as car fuel.
Then put it all back together with new filters & a clean strainer. Put new clean fuel with some biocide at the recommended concentration in the tank. Bleed the system using the primer pump with the return line off & running into a bottle until you have bled about a quart of fuel through the system. Then reconnect the return line.
Take the car for a run.

What I have described, some may see as an overkill. My aim is to minimize the chance of repeat trouble & the need to clean things out again in a couple of weeks.

It is critical that you find yourself a good fuel station, one that sells a lot of diesel, Truck stops are about the best as high sales of fuel = clean fuel.

Good Luck!!!

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Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club group

I no longer question authority, I annoy authority. More effect, less effort....

1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
Other toys ~J.D.,Cat & GM ~ mainly earth moving

I'd dump some Startron in and run another filter before pulling the tank. My SD wouldn't run & it did after the Startron. I was surprised & don't normally believe in possible snake oil solutions. Then others assured me it isn't snake oil. My 1 experience is a small un-scientific sample size but fuel hasn't been a problem. Perhaps you'll be as fortunate.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

No it's not algae. Algae need light to grow, they are a photosynthetic organism. It's either fungus or bacteria.

Anyway. I would try dumping in some biocide before pulling the tank out. You will need filters on hand though. All the dead gunk well move to your filters, and you'll likely want to clean the tank screen at the end of it all as well.

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I have always been successful using biocide and sucking all the dead bacteria through the filter.

It would be a cold day in Hell before I would pull a tank for bacteria.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Hi
I'm just wondering if anyone has tried cleaning the fuel tank in place with soap & water?

Seems like if you pulled the tank strainer plug and fuel lines - you might be able to get the biggest part of the fugus/mold flushed out. Then what remained might be well taken care of with biocide & filters.

Of course it would be important to dry the inside of the tank with compressed air or something. Water is a key player in microorganisms growing is fuel.

Anyway, its just a thought.
Joseph

I say pull the tank down, and go nuts. The tank comes down really easy with the exception of the driver side front bolt interfering with the SLS valve/sway bar location as far as tool access. I was able to finagle it out, but it might have been easier to just unbolt the sway bar and swing it down a bit.

My wagon only sat for 3 years according to the PO, and the crap I poured out of it was shocking. If you have 10 years, you will put serious money into filters being replaced all the time when a removal, cleaning, and reinstallation would make more sense.

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I would remove the tank. I just did it 2 weeks ago and it is pretty easy job to do on the TD. As metionned in one of the post, one of the tank fastener is located right above the arm for the SLS valve (left side). Easy to take the arm off but make sure you mark its position on the sway bar and more importantly its relative position to the SLS valve. Alsio, near the fuel sender unit you have 2 hyd lines attached , via clip system, to the top of the tank. Open the clip so when the tank comes down it wont pull on the lines.

I am glad I did it.You would not believe what's living in these tanks....

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1980 300TD(euro non turbo): Eng: 617.912 /Tran:722.118
1985 300SD: Eng: 617.951/Tran: 722.416

I've been fighting this battle for almost two years now. The crud and filters look exactly like yours. I originally drained my tank and cleared out the strainer. It was so bad that the engine was starved for fuel even with brand new filters. When I disconnected the line at the strainer, I barely got a drip when there was 5 gallons left. It ran pretty good after that, as long as I replaced the inline filter every couple days. It also seemed to clog the filter faster when it got below a half tank. I had 5 filters that I rotated through. I'd clean them out with brake or carburator cleaner and reuse. I don't think Startron will work on what you have. I used 4 bottles and it didn't even slow it down. That was a year ago.

A couple weeks ago, I noticed the strainer clogging up again. This time I drained the tank and the strainer was full of crud. Only a drop or two out of the strainer when I disconnected. This time I pulled the tank, filled it up with Chlorox and water and sat it in the sun for two days to bake (with the fuel sender out and fuel lines plugged). You wouldn't believe the crap that came out, even when flushing it thoroughly.

It sat for a few days in the sun to dry, but there was stil a few droplets of water. I added a bottle of HEET to take care of any moisture when I filled up. Around two weeks later, I now have the same crap clogging my inline filter. I assume it's in my entire fuel system, which is why it came back so quickly. It isn't nearly as bad as it was because I can now drive until I'm almost empyt, something I wouldn't have dreamed of doing before. This time I put Biobor in a few days after I refilled the tank. Maybe what I'm now getting is dead critters, but I will certainly be using Biobor for the next few refills or until the problem goes away completely. Even then I might still add some here and there to ensure that it doesn't come back.

Do what you want, but the only way to get rid of that crap is to attack it from every angle. Clean the tank, clean the lines, replace the filters, and use a decent biocide (not Starton).

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1982 Mercedes Benz 300SD w/ Greasecar Kit
2004 Ford F350 Dually
2004 Honda CBR1000RR
1992 Reynard Formula Continental

Will not work on "Greasecars"

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'84 300SD sold
124.128

I'm not looking to go grease. Dino only

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1982 300TD

Everything I know about cars I learned from PeachParts.