1999 E300D No Start-Fuel Flow
 

Just bought a beautiful one owner 110K, '99 E300D that was garage kept and had all the receipts since new. Ran perfect for exactly one week, then refused to start, cranked and cranked, no start. Only problem with the car was a leaking plastic fuel line from the filter to the SOV. Noticed small amount of fuel on the ground and below the SOV at this time. So I ordered and replaced all the plastic lines, SOV o-ring, the filter and pre-filter (w/oring) last night. Cranked and cranked(5 times) on a level surface with 1/2 tank of gas and still no start. Checked the SOV and it is clicking so it should be fine and I assume the K40 is working ok if it clicks. I noticed fuel in every line except for the line from the heater to the pre-filter( Line 1 in diagram), it is completely empty. Does this indicate a problem with the heater itself or the fuel lines to the heater? Do you think the in tank filter suddenly clogged? If so would I not have seen a bunch of junk in the prefilter/fuel filter? What is the next troubleshooting step I should take or part I should replace?

Make sure lines 3 and 4 aren't reversed at the lift pump.

Happened to a close friend of mine...;)

make a setup to suck diesel fuel from the prefilter feed line, if you can suck it up easily then the screen is clean enough to flow at least startup fuel.

At this point you should look into the above recommendation and check the pull and push lines of the lift pump,

Did you fill the secondary filter with fuel before installing it? If not, it can take a lot of cranking to get the air out of the system since I don't think you have a manual primer pump.

Yes I did fill the pre-filter before cranking. I will check the lines, now that I think about they may be crossed. I have a Mightyvac so I can try to suck fuel from the tank to from the pre-heater. Any other lines aft of the pre-heater that are prone to failure?

The crankshaft position sensor can cause starting problems on the 606 engine, too. I had one with a lot of fuel leaks but still refused to start after repairing them. Crank sensor fixed it right up.

Do like Delta said...I remember that friend of his.;)

Confirm all your new lines are seated properly and that the horse shoe clips are all retracted (loose and floppy) after installation.

Having done that, if you still have zero fuel from the fuel thermo to the prefilter than you must have a leak somewhere from thee back to the tank which is causing loss of suction to pull the fuel up the the SOV.

Fuel lines at the lift pump were reversed!! Thanks for the replys.