1985 300D issue
 

I have had a 85 300D for about 10 years. It has been parked for the last 5 years and I have not driven it. I have decided to sell it. It ran good and only had about 170,000 miles on it.
So i put in a battery, and just tapped the key and it started, and the linkage was stiff, never thought to spray it, and the engine just took off.
I tried to force the stop lever down, and it took about 45 seconds to shut it off while it ran wide open.

So i change the small fuel filter, and spray all the linkage with liquid wrench, and try to start it again. Now it wont even think of firing.
Any ideas?
Did I ruin my engine? When you crank it, the oil needle moves up to 2 when cranking, so it is getting oil pressure.

I hate to see a fellow Gravely owner in this situation....
Did you hear anything break ?
Did the engine possibly stop without your actions causing it... ?
Does it turn over at the speed it used to ?
You need to check the availability of fuel.... crack the injector lines at the injectors... just loosen enough to let fuel leak out under pressure..
IF you are LUCKY..... it ran wide open with a limited amount of fuel....and you have a fuel problem...... WHICH IS A GOOD THING AT THIS POINT IN TIME....
easily fixable...
whereas if something broke and caused it to stop.... probably way bad situation..

I didn't hear anything break. But, I did not feel that it was me that made the engine stop. I did press the stop lever, but I don't think that did it. It just slowly ran out of steam and stopped. But I never heard anything.

But obviously I thought of a fuel issue, since I changed the small filter. It was parked with a whole tank of biodiesel. thinking of that sitting in the tank for 5 years, I immediately thought of all the junk going to the filter and plugging it.
I do not have the spin on filter to replace. I did crack the spin on loose though, to see if fuel was getting that far.

The cranking speed seems normal. The glow cycle is normal. When it first started, it did not turn over, it was just tap the key and it started, like that car always did when i drove it.

Sounds like there is hope..... crack at the injectors and turn over... fuel has to get ALL the WAY to count.....
If you change the spin on filter.... suggest filling it with straight Diesel Purge...and put rest into tank....

Why did you do that? Did you know that biodiesel is not as stable as diesel and polymerizes with age and create restrictions in the fuel system? Hopefully what happened is it ran out of fuel due to restrictions. I'd try replacing both fuel filters, purge the bio from the IP and try to start it with a bottle of diesel in the engine compartment.

Yup... I HOPE it's not your issue, but you could have a tank of jello in there, and a badly gunked up IP... I agree, get a bottle of diesel purge, or two, run it through the fuel filters and work the linkage back and fourth...

He knew that would peg your BP when you found out.....He is just another of those Rabble Rouser Gravely two wheeled tractor owners.... they are known for that trait.....

I second that on the BioD, any fuel after five years can be a problem but BioD goes south pretty quick, hydroscopic(right word?) as hell

Hygroscopic I think....

I too suspect fuel issues. The ability to shut it down yourself. Indicated the govenor in the injection pump did not allow over reving the engine. So it was not a true runaway.

Not the best treatment of a cold engine after siting five years though at the same time. I was also suprised at the car even starting on bio diesel that old.

You may or may not have quite a project on your hands to get that fuel system back in shape. I would start by draining the fuel tank totally and checking it. If biodiesel is really hydroscopic you may have had a substantial layer of water sitting low in the tank or in the fuel. The fuel that was in the system past the tank when you started the engine was protected from air exposure.

Hygroscopic.

While we are being picky, what the heck sort of word is MISSIBILITY? :D

I may have misspelled it... but it is a legit concept... and the correct word when spelled correctly....
the ability of something to dissolve into and be carried by... something else...

Miscibility - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It is a really important concept for people with an R4 compressor... very often not even mentioned in the parameters being used to make serious AC decisions.....

Well...
It wasn't planned. i loved my 85 300D. I thought it was the best car in the world! Then someone traded my an 87 300D for a project car that i had. I never drove the 85 again.

Update
 

I finally charged the battery back up and did some further diagnoses. ran the manual primer pump until the return lines started bringing back fuel, lubed all the linkage good and gave it a try.

It turns over way to fast. I am thinking the timing chain either jumped, or broke all together.

Now i have to decide if i am going to fix it, or sell it as is.

Do you guys agree with my diagnosis? I know its fairly easy to pull the valve cover and confirm it.