When the manual says to engage the stop lever, is there a way to lock it down or do I keep my finger on it while the engine is cranking? I can tie it down can't I?

How about this section of the manual:

"The position of the piston ring gaps can result in incorrect determination of the cause. If it is suspected that the pressure loss results from the piston ring gaps being positioned directly above one another, completely reassemble the engine and repeat test after operating engine for a short time."

Does this ever happen on it's own? If the engine was built correctly and the rings spin, isn't it highly unlikely that the gaps would align and stay aligned?

Sixto
91 300SE
87 300SDL

I think what they are talking about is after a motor is built problem. Never seen piston rings move on their own . I have built about 50 of these 603 motors , yes you can use a tie strap to hold down the stop on the pump. What are you cking compression for ?

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euro 287
Mercedes Technician 7 Years (retired to Hyundai)
2000 Dodge Durango
98 Mazda truck

Symptoms: difficult to start, lots of white/gray smoke when started, rough idle, noisy idle (nailing?), great at speed (faster than my SE), lots of smoke with downshift at speed (4-3 going... uhh... very fast).

Records show new injectors within 10K/10mo.

I'm taking off the manifold to do a visual on the glow plugs. I might as well do a compression check with everything out of the way.

I'm also going to check IP static timing.

Advice greatly appreciated.

Sixto
91 300SE
87 300SDL
81 300SD (its back!)

Sorry to hear your are having problems with your new baby.

My uncle's ebay SDL had some blue/grey smoke and was making some mechanical noise, I took it to my mechanic who adjusted the IP timing (I didn't know how) and now it sounds great, and smokes alot less.

Does your glow plug light work? Mine did, but my plugs were getting weak and it would smoke some when you first started it at 30-50dF.

Good luck

We have had a lot of injection pump problems on these motors. Check the basics and you might have to send the pump off for recalibration.

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euro 287
Mercedes Technician 7 Years (retired to Hyundai)
2000 Dodge Durango
98 Mazda truck

The glow light works but stays lit much longer than the SD's glow light... more than twice as long. I haven't heard that that means anything. Oh, it's in the high 50s or warmer when I start the car. Warm enough that the SD will start within 10 seconds of cranking without glowing (another story).

The smoke isn't a puff either, it's a constant billow. I'll idle for a couple of minutes and the smoke continues. If I idle after a hard freeway run, and they all are , it billows as well. Very light smoke and I don't have coolant loss to suggest that it's burning coolant.

I'll probably take the IP and injectors to a shop, but I'm wondering if setting static timing at 15 ATDC with the locking tool is good enough. I don't want to be worse off than I am now... though it's hard to imagine I could be.

Sixto
91 300SE
87 300SDL
81 300SD (it's back!)

When you check the compression, please post the results. I checked mine and got 26-30 bar (mostly 28 bar, 1 high, 1 low). I did this before pulling the head (which was cracked). I just got it back together with a new head and have run it for ~200 miles, and I want to check the compression again sometime. I also had my I/P calibrated while the engine was apart, according to the Bosch shop it was "a little low on fuel delivery". Now I just need to try to stem an oil leak at the rear corner of the head, behind cyl #6... it wasn't there before, I don't know what I did wrong...!


I'd pull your I/P and have it calibrated at a Bosch shop. Mine was $150 in labor plus gaskets (another $20-$40). Make sure you replace ALL the gaskets, this will cure the oil leaks! There are 4 main ones, plus one little O-ring under the shutoff pod, and one formed "O-ring" behind the VCV on the side.



Regards,

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Dave
Boise, ID
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