83 300SD - no start
 

I'm trying to get the motor to fire on my parts car. The motor is the main thing I want on it, I plan to swap it into my truck later. Anyway the car has sat for nearly a decade. "Ran when parked" of course. I disconnected the fuel lines from the tank and have the fuel circulating from a bottle connected right at the pump. Diesel leaks out when I prime the fuel pump, which may be a problem, who knows. As I turn the engine over, diesel does seem to go through the system (or at least it comes out of the return line above the primary fuel filter). There's no air filter in it so I'm pretty sure that it's getting air to the cylinders. Typically with cars I do the "fuel, air, spark" check but I honestly don't know what the equivalent of spark is for diesels. My 190 sat for a long time before I bought it but it fired up as soon as I tried to crank it. Since this one won't fire I'm at a bit of a loss. Any troubleshooting tips?

Replace the primer pump from the mushroom to the black one. IIRC, it's a quick fix -- just two bolts and they are easy to get to. You will have lots of trouble getting it started if you can't prime it, and the primer pump is introducing air into the system.

Dkr.

can you blow some propane or WD-40 into the intake? Seems to me I’ve heard that’s a safe way to get one to run, but I’ve been wrong before..

Thanks guys. I found the primer pump piece, says its an actual Bosch one, got it on ebay for $16. Hopefully that'll sort the issue. I want to hear this thing run before I pull the engine out of it.

When you loosen the Fuel Injection Hard Lines at the Injectors is there Fuel coming out of the.

Is the Glow Plug system working?

Propane seems a very bad idea. I have never heard of it advocated.

Wd 40 though is pretty much just like diesel and can be used to start an engine with an air bubble in its injection system. You can spray it directly into the intake after removing the air cleaner with no danger. Just keep spraying until the engine will run on its own.

propane works good

I'd adjust the valves and make sure the glow plugs are working before I turned the key. This time of year a fight with a diesel which needs valve adjusted or glowing glow plugs is fruitless and puts way too much work on a starter, imo.

Installing the primer pump was a good start.

Diesel equivalent of gas engine spark is the glow plug and compression. Problems with either one can cause a no start.

All good information to know. I've got some WD-40 laying around. I'll try some of that if I can't get it to turn over. It's been in the 60s (F) the last few days here in AL so I figure it's not too cold even if the plugs aren't warming to maximum. I'll read up on adjusting the valves and how to check the plugs though just in case.

apparently the propellant in WD-40 used to be propane, but is now carbon dioxide.

on a diesel?

so does a diesel still run on it?