This far I’ve got about 500 miles on it since scoping the tank and prefilter remains clear - that said, I didn’t opt to tie fishing weights to the line and really probe around the whole bottom of the tank, but thanks for the advice!


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You DO NOT need to touch the rear seat to access the fuel sender ! remove the first aid kit then one #2 Phillips screw and gently lift the tray out, use a 46MM socket ir large water pump pliers to remove the fuel gauge sender, it will pi$$ Diesel fuel out as it slowly drains so have a rag ready and maybe another clean towel draped over the seat's back rest just in case .

The primary intake fuel screen is worthless ~ use the clear plastic ones so you can see the crud coming from the tank immediately, not after the entire thing is clogged with crud .

Buy several and always carry a spare in the glove box .

I find Ether (aerosol starting fluid) is the only spray cleaner that will blow the crud out backwards reliably .

Brown, hard chunks is usually rust bits, check with any magnet .

Take the time and effort to buy the proper fuel hoses, return feed and cigar, you'll be rewarded with far less hassles over time .

The 1983 300D you recently found, will have the upgraded '02' secondary filter head, discard the old filter and it should be about $5 at the junkyard .

NEVER raise up the filter heads bolt ! that's why they leak : you put a tiny scratch on the O-Rings and they'll weep ever so slightly forevermore .

Just loosen the bolt then spin the secondary filter off and down .

The proper O-Rings are cheap from The Classic Center .

The new primer pump is dead easy to install :

Clean the entire area Hospital Clean them remove the rubber hose and then unscrew the hose nipple making sure to not lose the metal washer, now it's a simple thing to put a 17MM open end wrench on the bottom of the primer pump, loosen it and unscrew, again making sure to not lose the metal sealing washer, you'll need it on the new primer pump .

Lotta good advice here, follow it and you'll be fine .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Well it is a sensible upgrade. A free spring is the best. Not worth spending much to get hold of one.

Let us know of you do this and how it works out .

My 240D is humming fine, not a trace of smoke and nce up t0 60 ~ 65 MPH sails over the steep Desert grades with the AC on but still doesn't break 25 MPGs and it used to before the engine rebuild .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Because of the potential trouble involved, if I’m going to pull the lift pump to swap the spring, I’d really like to do a full rebuild.

Finding a rebuild kit though... looks like pelican no longer sells them.

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1981 240D 4sp manual. Ivory White.

This is where testing with a gauge comes in. The lift pump may or may not have been dealt with before. It may be still really good, Average or in poor condition.


Really still good to me by test is good to still keep in service. As I tend to think they weaken slowly over time rather than just dropping dead.

I’d love to, only the diagnostic test I’ve read requires tapping a banjo bolt which I don’t have the tools for. The harbor freight gauge is cheap but connecting it to a line is where I’ve come undone.

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1981 240D 4sp manual. Ivory White.

You may be able to buy one. Or just have someone make up one for you. With the tools to do so it is pretty simple.

I will go out on a limb here. I think having the correct operating pressure on a 616 engine. Or better yet raising it to 19 pounds makes the engine quieter on some examples on the highway.

Probably more valid on those that you start with having a really substandard pressure. For those there is also usually a slight power increase as well. As for changing the regulator spring in the lift pump.

It will provide a greater chance of maintaining overflow into the return line at elevated base operation pressures. Also possibly maintaining pressure at highway speeds. Keeping the cigar hose working with the relief valve open. That hose may just moderate the hydraulic pressure spikes generated inside the injection pump to some degree.

There are more than one way to skin a cat. How to clean an infested diesel tank depends on what resources you have. If you have a lift, draining and removing the tank to clean is relatively easy. If you don't have a lift, draining and removing the tank is a lot of dirty work and not fun.

I did not / do not have a lift and had to clean the tank on my 83 300D which was infested with a bad case of algae that would plug the fuel filters and stall the engine. This was back in 2007.

This is how I did it w/o removing the tank, doing it all via the fuel sender. It was not difficult nor a dirty job:

From a heating supply house who also does home servicing I got an old oil burner (free) for home heating furnace. It has a motor which drives an oil pump (positive displacement self priming. I hooked a whole house water filter with a clear acrylic housing to the input of the pump and a long 3/8" PVC tube
to a long stick so I can reach all areas of the bottom of the tank. Before I started to suck the fuel (about 3 gal) out of the tank, I tied a small wad of bath towel to the end of a stick and agitated the settled gunk on the bottom of the tank and the strainer to mix it up so it will not clog the tubing.

I used a 5 gal jug that vegetable oil is shipped in to pump the fuel into. The whole house filter has a huge capacity compared to fuel filters and was to prevent clogging the pump. After the tank was sucked dry, I removed the fuel strainer to clean/ reinstall. I then used the same pump/ spray the 3 gal of fuel back into the tank to clean it a second time then sucked it out again. Pumped the fuel back in, changed both fuel filters, filled up the tank with Startron for diesel and never had fuel clogging again.

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

Sounds reasonable .

BTW : it's fungus not algae ! algae needs sunlight to grow .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better