My SDL lost all power and is sitting in a restaurant parking lot
 

I've been fixing little things on the SDL slowly but surely. It needed new brake calipers, and some vacuum things replaced, which I did.

Took it for a ride today to warm up the engine for an oil change. Started driving as normal but then I noticed that on a straightaway it wasn't running normal and it really started smoking. It lost power gradually and I barely made it to a gas station. Got more fuel there, checked the fuel filter - the clear filter is little dirty but fuel is flowing.

Pulling out of the gas station on the way back home (less than 1/4 mile) the car struggled down the flat road... thought it was the trans, but as I shifted to neutral and tried to rev up the engine it did not respond to the throttle - it just barely runs no matter what I do with the excellerator. Under full excelerator in "D" it was lurching back and forth going down the flat road... hardly any power whatsoever. Managed to coast into a restaurant parking lot - it smokes white smoke - but the smoke smells like fuel.

Where do I start? I plan on replacing the clear fuel filter just in case, and looking a the air filter to start with. I'm going to start with fuel and air delivery. Please help diagnose.

I would try and run it on a fuel can.

White smoke is fuel starvation. I would replace the fuel filters (both of them) immediately and retest. If you fill the filters with diesel (or even ATF) before installing them, you won't have to bleed the system...

If you are not a Member of one of the Auto Clubs you also might want to re-evaluate the value of being a Member. Or, now some Insureance Companies are offering towing.

X2 on changing the Spin-on Fuel Filter.

I suspect clogged tank strainer. I would treat it with boicide and see what happens.

I would conduct the risk/reward study after I replaced the secondary fuel filter.

Went out to the car and hooked up the fuel supply line direct to a bottle of diesel (bypassing the tank), but found out I don't have the right fuel filter for the SDL - need to source that before I can continue. Calling around now - thx.

Update: replaced the clear plastic filter, got a brand new MANN spin-on filter from NAPA, filled with fuel and PowerService before putting on. It fit fine this time. Hooked up fuel line directly to a bottle of diesel and ran the return line back to the same bottle. Cranked and cranked, it started first but then it died. I don't think I filled up that filter completely full and now I bet I got air in the lines... :(

Cranked until the battery died... it was caughing and trying to start but would not start completely. We towed to my house (about 400 yards).

Question: how to I purge the air out of the system (hopefully that's what it is)? Do I crack the injection lines open one by one?

I would take the time to pull the glow plugs and crank with the throttle wide open until you have a fuel mist exiting every hole. No strain on the starter. There are other methods, but this is the one I prefer....

ALDA Removed?
 

Be careful if you crack the injector nuts. That fuel is coming out at super high pressure and can hurt you if you take a direct squirt. If you crack the nuts make sure you wrap the hell out of them with towels.......Better to just be patient and take your time with the cranking method only or do as Doktor Bert says re: glow plugs....but on a SDL thats tough to do what with the hard line configuration.

When run dry I always start with the spin on filter full of fuel. It takes my SDL about 5 minutes of cranking with 3 minute breaks every 20 seconds of cranking (cool off starter) to get it back to "chitty chitty bang bang" then another 20 seconds running to full fuel delivery to all injectors.

I see in your signature you have removed your alda. Anything going on in that area of the IP causing fuel flow problems i.e. debris in the rack, or stop lever connection issues. Careful of over run.

May want to have a "jumper car / battery" in line to help out.

Remember ...don't let that starter get too hot!

You might try starting it and perhaps running it on wd 40 sprayed into the intake with a helper. Should be easier to get fuel up if that system is working.

Assuming you're not going to try to start it again this evening and will be charging the battery overnight, a couple hours before you try again to start it, plug the block heater in. The warmer the engine, the easier it is to start, everything else being equal.

When you do go to try and start it cycle the glow plugs a couple times first, then when you give it the try hold the accelerator to the floor and as one or more cylinders starts to fire keep it there until they are all firing. Keep the starter turning as the cylinders are firing intermittently.

Visualize Jimmy Stewart in the "Flight of the Phoenix" engine starting scene!

I had similar results in my car when the primary (clear) filter got goo in it from some bad fuel. I took out the clear filter, put in a new one, and all was well. (until the vacuum pump failed later on...)
any time you have power issues on the road... it's ALWAYS a fuel filter... unless you are out of fuel...

Our 603 engines supposedly have a "self purging" system, but in my experience it only purges the battery. I would try for 6-7 cranks at 10 second intervals and then I crack the feed line at the fuel filter housing. I think it is the middle one. Crank until it seeps diesel and about that time it usually cranks up.

Got it started but there are issues...
 

I got the car in the garage (had to jump through hoops but got it in there). Recharged the battery, I cracked all injections open and cranked until they were wet. It started on the first crank! Ran fine though dang noisy - strange sound unlike anything I heard before. It ran until I tried to re-connect the crossover intake - which killed it.

Turns out there is nothing wrong with the fuel delivery - it runs just as well on the tank fuel as it ran on the bottle of fuel. The problem is that the car car cannot run with the cross pipe connected to the intake - it stalls as soon as I try to hook it across. It seems that ALL of the exhaust is vented through the hole that comes out of the turbo (through cross-over and into the intake). When I rev up the motor, it smokes something fierce - black diesel smoke that comes out of the turbo opening - it's like a chimney. I tried some things with the EGR valve - when I put my Mity Vac on it and pull a vacuum the exhaust seems to disappear, the engine sounds much more quiet though strange sucking sounds from the intake... Do I have a bad EGR valve?! Note: I used to have a BB that was plugging that vac line but I removed it (replaced the vac line and rubber connectors to the original configuration) - still makes no difference. Is the EGR flapper open when it should be closed?!

One other thing: there is nothing coming out of the tailpipe - I mean nothing. Not even when I have a helper put a rag across the top of the hole to plug it there is nothing coming out the back!

So I either have some type of problem with EGR or some other obstruction in the exhaust?! Don't understand why there isn't anything coming out the tailpipe because when I first started losing power it smoked like a locomotive out the tail pipe - right to the end before it died in the parking lot it smoked a lot.

What should I start checking next - the EGR?!