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  #1  
Old 06-27-2010, 01:55 AM
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Fuel tank/Stalling

Took a small road trip from Chicago to Akron, OH in my 85 300TD. After getting there and driving around town, the car started hesitating and stalling at stop lights or whenever it idled. The fuel gauge indicated that I was near empty, so I presumed the stalling was due to low fuel. To my surprise, when I filled up, I was only able to squeeze in 14 gallons of fuel. My GPS was telling me that I had gone about 360 miles since I topped off when I left Chicago (about 26 mpg). The car ran perfectly after the fill up. Same scenario occurred a few days later, and again, I was only able to fill up with about 14 gallons. In the meantime, I noticed my fuel gauge is bouncing around quite a bit and sometimes just stays buried on E, even after a fill up.

Any thoughts on why I am stalling when I appear to have 2-3 gallons in the tank?

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Old 06-27-2010, 03:20 AM
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Clean the tank strainer, I had similar trouble with my TD (124).
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  #3  
Old 06-27-2010, 10:23 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by layback40 View Post
Clean the tank strainer, I had similar trouble with my TD (124).
That figures. The tank strainer sticks up from the bottom of the tank and when the fuel gets low the strainer is only 'straining' from its lower portion which is 'gunked" and the fuel sender is also gunked up.
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Old 06-27-2010, 12:13 PM
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The strainer is probably your problem as said above.
Do you get a whoosh when removing the fuel cap? could also be the tank vent is plugged.

When you remove the tank strainer, make sure you are as low as you can go on fuel, or you better have a lot of buckets.

seems like when I was replacing the hose, I put a vice grip on the hose under the tank, pulled off the hose where is connects to the steel fuel line. then pointed it into the bucket and removed the VG. no mess this way.

If you still have the original hose connected to the tank, they were crimped on to the fitting. Unscrew the hose from the tank, cut off the crimp, and slide on your new hose and clamp it down.

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Old 06-27-2010, 01:51 PM
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Also, after you get as much fuel out as you can, jack up the passenger side of the car, less chance of a diesel shower.
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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

Last edited by Stevo; 06-27-2010 at 02:27 PM.
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  #6  
Old 06-27-2010, 02:13 PM
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I invested in a little syphon pump to remove all of the diesel in my tank before I did this job - well I actually then went ahead and removed the tank but that's another story.

My point is that I didn't get any trouble with the diesel showers that I've read about here. Nothing on my clothes either.

Get it all sucked out first - remove the pressure line (and return line if required) from the tank and let it drain.
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  #7  
Old 06-27-2010, 02:42 PM
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The W123 fuel strainer takes a 46mm socket.
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Old 06-27-2010, 07:09 PM
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With the proper socket size, is it a one-man job to remove the strainer bolt?
Can this be done with the rear wheel on ramps?

I have an oil extractor that I will use to siphon all the fuel out.

Thanks for all the help so far guys!
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  #9  
Old 06-27-2010, 08:31 PM
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Yes its a one man job and certainly can be done on ramps.

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