Crankcase Full Of Fuel. 1991 350SDL

[Squiggle Dog]

My friend was in need of a car since his was wearing out and had no air conditioning (in Phoenix, Arizona, land of 120F degree Summers). GregMN donated his 1991 350SDL to the cause.

The engine wasn't idling well and had no power for the first several seconds of acceleration. I felt a refurbishment of the fuel system was in order. I have spent almost all of my free time for the past few months replacing all the hoses, filters, and O-rings. I also removed and cleaned the intake manifold, replaced the glow plugs, straightened the hard lines and installed new clips... I've done a lot of work to it.

Today was going to be the day I would reap the fruits of my labors. I put some diesel purge in a can and cranked over the engine. It took lots and lots of cranking until finally the fuel started leaking down the tops of the injectors. I tightened up the hard lines and then cranked over the engine.

It sputtered a bit and finally started to run. Then it sputtered again and the engine locked up. It seems to be seized. The shutoff lever was pushed down nearly in the off position and required some force to push it back up, but then it would spring back down.

I saw dark fluid running out from underneath the car, but all of the hoses were dry. Odd. It appears the fluid is coming from the front crank seal, gasket on the side of the oil pan, the exhaust pipe clamps, and between where the injection pump meets the block.

Then I checked the dipstick. It was extremely overfull with a very thin liquid. It smells like diesel purge. What the heck happened?

It appears that the crankcase is extremely overfull with diesel purge, yet less than half a can actually was sucked up.

I have a feeling that the engine is done for. I am feeling really sick right now. I don't know how my friend is going to react.