A little history first. Purchased my '83 SD a few years back. 310K miles on a broken odometer. No real idea how many miles on car. Always smoked some on start up and engine shakes at idle. However it has always run really well and uses no oil. Now for the problem. A few weeks ago she was purring along and suddenly developed a pronounced clatter in the engine compartment. Ran poorly also - like it was not firing on all cylinders. I had my wife and grandson in the car so I just limped it on home and parked it. A couple of days later I had time to start it up and see if I could identify the problem. It fired right up and ran smoothly. Drove it to town and after about 30 minutes of driving, the problem showed up again. I think the clatter was coming from the left side (injector pump?). When I got home I popped the hood, but she was purring smoothly again by that time.
I knew I had better call in more competent help for this one, so I drove it to a local diesel mechanic for a diagnosis. He didn't have time to investigate at that moment, so I made an appointment for later in the week. On the way home I heard the dreaded clatter again (seemed to be a rythymic double clatter). By the time I neared my driveway the engine died completely and the car did a bit of a nose dive. Kinda like the engine reversed itself. I hit the key and it started again, ran a few seconds, and did the die / nosedive thing again. I coasted into my drive (thank the Lord) and tried once again to start it. Engine would not turn over (battery is good). I pulled it to my garage with the tractor and waited a couple of days. Tried to start it again and the engine turned freely and sort of tried to run on a few (not all) cylinders.
Although I intend to trailer it to the mechanic before too long, I would like to have some idea what to expect. Given that long story, do any of you seasoned MB folks have any good advice?
06-13-2012, 09:49 PM
Threaded Mode
