so, i have never experienced anything like this before: yesterday, i went for a short trip in my 300d. maybe 10 miles round trip, 60*F day. i pulled up to a stoplight, and the benz started shaking. my first thought was that my motor mounts, which need to be done, had totally given way. but when the light changed, i hit the gas, and the benz totally dogged--poor acceleration. i pulled into a lot, and checked all the fluids and obvious things. everything looked okay, although the temp was up a bit (~95*C). i pulled out again, and it revved up and shifted fine--no shaking, temp went back to normal. i got to the highway onramp, and once at the top of a long incline, it stumbled and died at the end of the merge lane. when i tried to start it again, i had to crank a bit and floor it to get it to start. it would barely idle (~450 rpm) with me flooring it and the oil pressure was about 1 bar, until the revs reached about 3k rpm, and then it revved just fine, and oil pressure pegged. i was low on gas, btw. thought i had run out (fuel gauge is finicky), but i heard fuel sloshing in the tank when i took the cap off and bounced the car. then, it started acting fine again, and i took off, only to have the same thing happen again a few miles down the highway. finally started again, and i went to the nearest diesel pump and filled up. behaved fine til i got home.

fuel filters? they only have a 2-3000 miles on them, but it seemed starved. i'm stumped! thanks in advance!

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1985 300d champagne/palomino ~133k
1979 300d dead parts car ~???

My '81 did pretty much exactly this a couple weeks ago, and finally stalled from fuel starvation with three or four gallons of fuel still in the tank. My guess is a partially plugged strainer, but I haven't had time to pull it yet; I've just been filling up when I reach 1/2 tank.

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1981 Mercedes 300TD, 1994 Honda Civic Del Sol
http://mefi.us/images/fuelly/smallsig-us/67195.pnghttp://mefi.us/images/fuelly/smallsig-us/103885.png

Just for trouble shooting purposes change the Fuel Filters. You can put the old ones in a Zip Lock bag and re-use them if it turns out they are OK.

Swapping the positions of the Fuel Inlet Line and the Fuel outlet line (the Cigar Hose) will bypass the Fuel Tank Screen and draw Fuel from a higher position in the Fuel Tank. (keep the Fuel Tank at least 1/2 full all of the time the lines are swapped.)
If it runs OK like that your Fuel Tank Screen is restricted.

Another issue is if your Fuel Tank Vent is restricted. To test for this simply drive without the Fuel Fill Cap tight enough that a vacuum could build up in the tank. If you like your paint job it is not a good idea to do this with the Fuel Tank Full.

Also brand new Filters can plug up quickly if the Fuel is contaminated or something is growing inside of the tank. Plenty of threads on that.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel