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  #1  
Old 07-21-2010, 03:00 PM
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Location: Vicenza, Italy
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'93 E250 TD won't start for anything

Hello All. This is my first post here. I recently purchased a Euro spec '93 E250 TD stationwagon. I'm stationed in Italy and just happened to stumble across it at a local MB dealership. It has the 2.5L turbo diesel and it ran perfectly when I bought a few weeks ago plus it was owned by one of the longtime MB mechanics at the dealership. It had 228K kilometers on it but had new front-end steering, new exhaust front to back, new brakes, new bushings throughout, no leaks, solid Dunlops, awesome interior/exterior, etc. It was in kept in too good of shape to pass up. Anyway, I picked it up didn't have any issues with it-even drove on a couple long trips (700 kilometers each way) to Croatia without issue two weeks ago. Well, last Wednesday, I drove to work in the morning and when I came out for lunch, I couldn't get the car started at all. Ran the battery down cranking her. Just a little bit of smoke coming out the tailpipe but no firing. I had the car towed to the base self-help garage where myself and the local garage helpers tried everything we could to figure why it wouldn't fire. I could crank all day long but no firing. Since I'm in Italy, I don't have any of my tools and no garage so I reluctantly had her towed to a local Italian garage. (This was quite an ego blow as I have a full machine shop at my disposal back home in Texas and I'm quite familiar with Ford Powerstroke Diesels.) While the car was in the shop, I surfed this forum this weekend and learned a lot about my car- thanks! I can't way to get her back and do some of the preventive mainteance mentioned in the forum. Anyway, the local shop figured out why she would start: the a/c compressor was bad.

Here's how they figured it out. They started out with the same troubleshooting logic I did. Checked fuel first. Cracked the lines everywhere and cranked. Fuel came out everywhere except after the IP. At the injector connections, fuel barely flowed but was visible. Didn't know if this was enough to fire the cylinders so moved to next step: checking glowplugs. Yep, they're fine also. Intake was clear and it's hard to believe that timing would change so drastically during a shutdown (I know it's possible for the timing chain to slip but what are the odds) so something was limiting fuel to/from the injector pump, but what? Vacuum was fine as was the manual cut-off. The shop hooked up the MB diagnostic computer and noticed the starter was only making 310 rpm. On a hunch, they took the car outside and tow-started it quite easily. Just couldn't start it with the starter. As a shot in the dark, they removed the serpentine belt and the car started right up. That's when they notice the a/c compressor was hard to move-okay locked up past hand strength. They looked up some MB engine specs and figured out (at least this is what they told me) that the engine needs at least 350 rpms during crank to allow some electric shutoff switch to open in the IP to allow fuel to flow. Since the a/c compressor was draggin the engine down during crank, the electric cut-off valve never opened and the IP couldn't pump fuel. Never heard of this nor did I see it when surfing the forum. I also would have never figured this out without the diagnostic run on the computer. If this is common knowledge and I missed it, well, it's still new to me and the shop.

Anyway, I have a new a/c compressor on order and hope to have the car back by this weekend. Just wanted to share my experience with my "new" car.


Last edited by LCA078; 07-21-2010 at 03:21 PM.
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Old 07-21-2010, 03:07 PM
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Location: Raleigh, NC
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Funny you didn't hear any belt squealing or smell a hot belt with the a/c compressor locked up.

Didn't know about the RPM limiter on the IP, but hey, I'm still learning about these 2.5's too.

Glad you got it figured out.
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1993 W124 300D 2.5L Turbo, OM602.962
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2002 Ford Explorer, 4.0L SOHC
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  #3  
Old 07-21-2010, 03:20 PM
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The compressor turned with the belt on but was definitely dragging the engine down during crank. No squealing or slippage. The garage never heard of such a thing.
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Old 07-21-2010, 03:29 PM
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So it was almost like the a/c compressor clutch would not disengage?

Where did you find out about the RPM limit? I'd like to read about that.
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1993 W124 300D 2.5L Turbo, OM602.962
2000 Chevrolet Cavalier, 2.4L DOHC
2002 Ford Explorer, 4.0L SOHC
2005 Toyota Prius, 1.5L

http://www.fuelly.com/sig-us/40601.png
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  #5  
Old 07-23-2010, 12:59 AM
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Location: Vicenza, Italy
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The mechanic told me about the 350 rpm limit. Not sure where he got it from.
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  #6  
Old 07-23-2010, 05:55 AM
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Location: UK
Posts: 357
Which injector pump is fitted to your car?, an inline one, or a distributor type?
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  #7  
Old 07-23-2010, 01:44 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Vicenza, Italy
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I have no idea of the difference between an inline or distributor one. I can tell you that the 5 hard injector lines are inline like I see I in everyone else's pics but I don't know if that is what you mean. What's the difference between the two?

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