New to MB Diesels and already a Vacuum question
 

Hi,

My name is Noel and I am new here. I have read the site about 2 days now when I have downtime at work. I acquired a 1983 300D a week ago with 200K (the odometer broke because I made the mistake which I did to my vanagon of resetting the trip meter while the car is running

I only have experience with Powerstroke Diesel and my current truck just runs and runs and I don't mess with it. I did have a Nissan Sentra diesel in 1987 to 1988 and my family had Isuzu trucks when I was growing up. I have also been helping a friend working on his Cummins 12V. I did drive 2 240Ds for my friend from Mainz Germany to Poland on 2 occasions in 1993 but I was in a caravan (he sold them and was his livelihood) Otherwise I am clueless to these otherwise solid and simple cars.

I have changed the oil of the car last Saturday and ordered some parts so I could change the fuel filter, transmission filters, the bleeding fuel return hoses, diesel purge. From diesel giant.

The car had a vacuum leak that the owner pointed out and currently the green line from the firewall next to the brake servo booster on the driver sides is disconnected and the left side of the trident tubing (looking from the top) is closed off with a golf tee. When I changed the oil, I accidentally removed the trident from the yellow valve. What is strange is that the yellow valve is connected to the right fork of the trident instead of the center and the brown line is in the center of the trident tubing. The two hoses leaving the yellow valve is connected. I do not know if there is a right way of connecting the 2 yellow valve to the hoses. Moving on, I found out after changing the oil and driving around that I cannot shut off the car. I connected the yellow valve to the trident hose and it took 5 minutes for the car to shut off. Since then I had no problems.

Yesterday I had to lock the car. And even though the "door line" was supposed to be disconnected, the car locked all the locks. (could the prev owner cap the wrong line?)

Today, I was curoius to where the manual primer pump is (I have the old style screw) and I opend it this morning and spilt some fuel when I pumped it once. I though that the manual pump is not tight (I was thinking it is sweating some diesel) and tightened it a bit. The car still shut off after that

When my wife used the car and went to a car wash. After that she called me and could not shut the car. So I told her how. I was thinking the yellowvalve is off the trident again.

Now I cannot shut off the car from the key. My wifed use the aircondition today. I have been thinking that there is a coolant boil or a a failing fan -- I have asked here to not use AC this time but she forgot.

So pardon for the lengthy post but I thought I'd narrate what happen and you gurus could tell the quirkiness of this car and why suddenly exhibit the non stop issue. I also followed the hoses connecting to the black box on top of the valve cover and they are all connected. Three hoses. One leading to the passenger side into what I would guess related to the AC and two back to the vacuum area. I tried sucking on one line as it was suggested in one of the DIY but no can do. Also I noticed there are only 3 lines going to this box although it looks there is a possibility for 2 to three more. The hoses are connected to the top three female outlets.

I have searched a bit for solutions but the diagrams are not exactly understandable to me yet or the pictures are different from my car

Also the previous owner also said that either the master door lock is causing the leak ot the servo booster. I do hear a hissing sound that's decreasing when I turn off the engine in the vicinity of the servo

I suppose a manual Vacuum pump/gauge is in order. I was hoping there is a stop gap I can do so I can turn off the engine from the key. I also do not want to start teeing off lines and prevent shifting. Will vaccum issues affect shifting as well?

I will post photos ASAP.

Any help is deeply appreciated. I will do my best to use search again.


Thanks

Noel

Welcome to the forum! You'll find that you're in good hands here as this forum has very knowledgeable folks who have plenty of experience on these cars, and people like me, who can help if we can or refer you to whoever can :D
Your car should have a vacuum diagram in front of the radiator that should help a bit; also, here's a link that might help you if you haven't chacked it out already (as you mentioned that you bought some stuff from dieselgiant):
http://shop.pneudart.com/products/Model_193_Rifle-57-4.html
I'd also buy both the Haynes and the Chilton manuals as they kind of complement each other; each one has stuff the other doesn't.
Good luck with your project!

post a pic and I'll compare it to one of my cars.
the yellow line feeds the door locks.
the brown line feeds the shutoff to and from the ignition switch.
the hose under the dash can get soft and fail to shut off the car also.
Welcome to the forum! and post as wordy a question as you like!

Unless I am not reading this correctly....i do not see how it is possible to do any damage to the odometer by operating the "trip reset" under any condition. Sitting still, engine on, engine off, driving, flying through the air, what have you.

Perhaps there is something I am over looking here?

Welcome to the forum. There is plenty of info here to help get your vacuum system in order.

oh, and it's simple to fix the odo. not to worry.

Unless it is coincidence but I had heard it before that some VDO this couldhappen. I am not sure if this is the cause but my Vanagon Mechanic Mr. Dieter (yes from Germany) told me that this was the case. I was zipping along and hit 200K last Friday. I wanted to gauage mileage after my first fill up. I reset it while moving and it is stuck ever since.

Thanks. I scoured the forums last night and was still confused. Then hit dieselgiant http://dieselgiant.com/mercedesvacuumtroubleshooting.htm. This so far was the easiest to follow and the PO (now I just found what that meant Previous Owner) mdisconnected the HVAC AC not the door lock system. I was also sucking yesterday at the wrong tube also. The tube from the black box on top of the car goes to the transmission. Duh. Now, I also know where the Vac pump is located and also the fuel shut off solenoid. I thought that it was the black box on the valve cover. What is the VCV? Saw that on a lot of vacuum related threads.

It took less than a minute for the vac to fill up (or is it evacuate) and i can now shut off the car via the key . Wo hoo!!!

So it seems that my door lock issue just got worse after the one instance that I locked the car from the outside with the key and two locks were still up and "they worked" the last time.

Going to the parts store to get a vacuum pump gauge. If it took less than a minute for the shut off to work, does that mean my vacuum pump is good and my booster okay? Or you can't really make assumptions with the vac system.

Thanks again.

Will still post a pic later.