That true, its an almost closed loop system.
The only points of OEM provided air are the fuel port and the injector tips.

Quick recap for new readers. Car ran great on a 2 hour road trip and started acting up. Went down hill from there. Fuel tank and lines eliminated by the bottle under the hood method. Both fuel filters new. All hose connections tightened.

Max... my 82 300D 617.952 gets a whole lot more fuel out while just cranking as does a buddy's 80 300SD

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1985 300D 198K sold
1982 300D 202K
1989 300E 125K
1992 940T

"If you dont have time to do it safely, you dont have time to do it"

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

OK, I believe you, but on the four different engines that I've used this method (OM617, 602, 603, 606) there was about the same amount of fuel as in the video. Perhaps the difference is the position of the throttle linkage? If your linkage was held at full throttle, I certainly agree that more fuel should flow to the injector, but the video showed the linkage was at idle position I think.

__________________
Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC

I forget, do you have better success getting it to start if you are working the hand pump while cranking?

Are you getting unburned diesely smoke when you are doing all this?

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'85 300D ~ 381k, HD Bilstien shocks, 27.50x8.50x14R General Grabber AT2 tires, 4 E-Code headlight upgrade with 90/130w bulbs, boost turned up, new timing chain, and injectors. SOLD

'85 CJ7 ~ OM617 swap, Tarus electric fan, T5 trans, Dana 300, 4.88 R&P, Mile Marker locking hubs, ALDA removed, AMC 20 rear disk brake conversion, Aussie locked with 33's and 5" Rough Country lift.

I've read on this forum before that the position of the power lever has no affect on the IP until the engine starts. In other words, it puts out max fuel until the engine starts, then the governor kicks in and starts scheduling fuel amount. True or not I don't know, but reasonable, I think.

The damper is in perfect condition: smooth, stiff action. Looks like a newer one to me. Now that everything possible is eliminated I assume people will start agreeing its the IP. Yep I get smoke but I always do with every diesel when its cold and I cant warm it up so seems normal. No hand pumping doesn't help. For the 100th time, BRAND NEW $170 LIFT PUMP, NO CHANGES.

Nothing has made any difference. Lift pump and lines ARE ALL NEW, as in, a week old! Video tells all.

Timing chain with 5000 miles on it at most. Timing device would not let the engine run as it shows in the video if it were bad. The IP is TIGHT, cant have moved. Again, two injector service techs (who do this all day long) both agree this is a gov. related issue inside the pump. The trick is finding an IP now that I can somewhat trust. The pick-parts near me have nothing I can trust. The few I found were taken off unknown cars and stored in an unknown way. I want to see it in a car or with caps on the injector connections... for all I know they are dry inside.

WHAT A G-Damn NIGHTMARE.

Go on the parts for sale and wanted forum of this site. Post your wants. You might or should get lucky with someone in your state. Almost have to be some parts cars around in private hands there.

There are still a lot of these older models out there. Almost none left up here in eastern Canada. If the injector pumps you saw at auto wreckers where cheap enough and had the removal dates on them that indicated just removed in the last month or two I might take a chance.

Especially if they have return policies. . No removal dates and sitting dry for a long time. They would need testing or far more likely to have issues.

Put it back in.

Here is an additional simple and occasionally "successful" test.

Remove the ALDA, and try starting the engine.

Here is all the data you will need.
ALDA issue threads
ALDA issue threads

.

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np,mate ...yes plunger, or more often called IP element(s)
you dont want mess with these..

yes I did watch and I would say (combined with OP previous note about red turbo) that he is getting too much air and less or no fuel at all...

stuck ALDA or bad IP (Ip setup/timing at least...)

but lets see where it goes....


I would consider reading this one also...

cheers

.

__________________
w126 500SEC gen II euro, powered by OM617 turbo stolen from 84 300SD 2.88 diff,EGR blinded
next wish/project: w114 coupe OM603 powered

The many helpful suggestions in this thread just go to show why reading this site can become so addictive. I really look forward to learning the cause and cure for what ails the OP's car. The 2010 post referenced above by Cho was very interesting and might explain why the onset was sudden rather than gradual. 300 Super, please keep us "in the loop"!

That post is indeed very interesting. Thanks for that. I will check this as soon as I can by looking down through the ALDA, although I wish there was a pic or diagram of what Im looking for as I dont understand it completely.

Edit: I just thought about it and this doesn't make sense for me since I was driving at half throttle or more (doing at least 60) when the power started fading. I will check it anyway but I seriously doubt its possible given this fact.

I just took the screws out of the ALDA plate and was able to twist it around a little so I could look down into that part of the IP. The linkages all seem normal, spotless and move well. The lever that the shut-off hooks to moved back and forth fine so it doesnt look like its the same problem in that link above, if I understand him correctly.

Interesting thread. Looking forward to resolution.

I m not sure that is the best way to test ALDA but it may be ok,usually
we take ALDA off (32mm and 27mm IIRC) plug the turbo line and test drive without one... if much much better response is observed ALDA has to go

you have to be careful as you can break vcv holder during
ALDA removal ...

.

__________________
w126 500SEC gen II euro, powered by OM617 turbo stolen from 84 300SD 2.88 diff,EGR blinded
next wish/project: w114 coupe OM603 powered

OK everyone... update!!

It was my IP! I should not have doubted myself when SOME advice argued against it.

Finally! I got an IP I bought from a guy in town who had one from a 185K engine. I put my new lift pump on it and swapped out a couple of newer parts my old IP had and cleaned it up as best I could.

I want to take the IP I took out and have it looked at to see what failed. I had two 30+ Merc. mechanics tell me they have replaced maybe 2 of these pumps total and that I must have the worse luck ever. My IP looked brand new and had been reman'ed and installed by the previous owner. It had run perfectly while I have owned it until this happened. I assume some part was poorly aligned or was defective inside the pump. The Bosch service center in LA wants about a $100 to inspect it so it may not happen but I'd love to have it as a spare since it ran so strong. It has new parts all over it and looks like a mirror in comparison, even the vacuum shut off is all gold-looking and definitely new. Maybe it was just some simple issue with the shut-off mechanism getting stuck or partially cutting fuel off somehow. When cranked with a wrench, the compression feels good and I bet the critical parts in it are fine.

I have studied IP installation and timing so much now I think I could actually write a book on it. I ended up doing the drip method. I made an exact replica of the drip tool from the pipes this used IP had on it. I learned that the drip timing can change with extremely small variances in pump movement. Even tightening it down will change the drops from, say, 1 per-sec to 1 per-20 seconds so forget about worrying about those differences; you couldn't be more than 1/2 degree off if you are close either way. I'm not convinced the do-it-yourselfer could get it absolutely perfect except by luck. I would like to try moving it slightly and driving it to see if some position is better than another but I'm not sure how practical that idea is. It feels right to me and idles and revs like new. I had set the engine to 25 BTDC.

I removed my oil filter assembly which made the job 100 times easier and I replaced the leaking filter housing-to-block gasket. I also cleaned it all up and made sure the male nipples on it for the oil cooling hoses were extra tight which will keep them from backing out if I have to do this again. Some lock-tite is a good idea there too.

Some people say that your IP gear will move when you install it but that is not true if you do it carefully enough. I did this whole job on my first try and didn't have to reset or screw with anything. One tip: Mark the gear collar and housing with a marker. When you are installing it, you can watch the mark to make sure it hasn't moved as you are getting the pump lined up in the hole. I did this and it didn't move even a mm. Just be slow and dont fight any resistance. Find out what its hitting and adjust. The IP is actually not heavy at all. Some books act like its 50 lbs but its not close so its easy to handle.

I filled back up with a bunch of Rotella 15-40w. I poured a good bit straight into the filter housing since it was all dry.

Another note: Since everything in my fuel chain was taken apart and very dry, it took a while to get fuel coming out of all 5 injection holes. I didnt install the injection pipes/lines at first so I could make sure fuel would shoot out of each hole. This wasn't happening on my old pump and I was paranoid about this whole used pump thing. My heart almost stopped when I didn't see any fuel coming out at first. I kept priming it and cranking. Finally, number 4 hole starting shooting out little lasers of fuel that would hit the underside of the hood and I smiled for several minutes straight because it was HOPE. I laid a heavy paper towel over the holes and watched for wet spots as I cranked. A bunch of cranks later, 2 and 5 started. 1 didnt start until 5 minutes later which was not a fun period of time to live through... I kept thinking I would have to take this pump back out! I finally had five wet spots appearing and I almost cried.

I hooked up my pipes and bled those, tightened everything up and went to start it after ALL THIS TIME. Nothing. I went back, primed it again, checked for leaks, got back in and waited on that yellow light and.... rattle rattle rattle.. puuuuurrrrrr! Drove it slowly, heated things up, hit the highway, did 60mph, came back home and checked for leaks. I guess that theory about the turbo getting red hot was indeed too lean a burn because its fine now. I had a couple of drips but those will be solved tomr. along with a good Moly Purge treatment and some Moly Super diesel treatment for the tank! This thing is back! oh and diesel is a FRIGGIN dollar cheaper than gas here in this useless state of Ca..

Thank you for posting the results of your endeavor - I had often wondered about this case. Congrats on your good work and on successfully swapping out the IP on your first try. Nice tips in this final write-up, too.