Fellas,

Due to unforseen circumstances, my 300D has sat in a garage for a year and a half with no special attention!

I need a procedure for safely starting this engine after all this time. It's important to note that I don't have the luxury of working on the car..i.e. removing the fuel tank and cleaning etc.

I'm going to have a few hours access to it and need to move it. Normally, I would remove plugs and squirt engine oil on the tops of the cylinders. I would siphon the fuel and replace with new gas and of course check all fluids before driving.

With a diesel, I have no plugs openings and the diesel may have precipitated and not clean out with a fuel siphon.

What advice can you guys give me on what to do given my time limited access before moving??

Rgds, Ed

__________________
Ed "Don't Benz's just feel better..."

Current wives...
2000 ML430 Skyview "The Mel"
2000 CLK430 Cab "The Cab"
85 300D Turbo "The Diesel"

Past wives...
92 300E
85 190E

"One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to
avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond
this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny, and is likely to
interfere with happiness in all kinds of ways."
Bertrand Russell

If it were mine, I would change the oil and filter, ensure the battery is fully charged, then crank the motor without waiting for the glow plug light to go out (as if you were starting a gas car). Some might suggest pre-lubing with a pressure oiler rigged up and if you search you could find that on this post, but I think a couple of cycles of cranking for about 10 seconds at a time, then wait for the glow light to go out, then crank it, you should be fine. I would wait about 1 minute in between cranks as well to give the starter and battery a chance to cool down.
I know people who start their cars easily after sitting for a year and they rarely have any trouble. Some fuel water absorber solution (alchohol based) like HEET would be a good idea, but you live in Cali, so this shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Also, diesel fuel is very stable in storage, unlike gasoline, so I wouldn't worry about it precipitating.
Good luck,
Adam Bush

Shoot a little engine oil or atf into the glow plug holes and let it sit for a few hours if you can. It's pretty certain that the cylinders will have been washed clean or just are plain dry and this can cause all kinds of problems during the initial crank up. Also the rings may be "stuck" so this will help free them also.

An added benefit is that your compression numbers will increase with the fluid in the cylinders so this will help starting too.

__________________
'99 S420 - Mommies
'72 280SE 4.5 - looking to breathe life into it
'84 300SD Grey - Sold
'85 300SD Silver - Sold
'78 Ski Nautique

My 307d motorhome sat for a year in a barn in England. I just charged the battery, turned the key, started after about 2 revolutions. I don't see a lot of difference between sitting for 2 weeks and sitting for a year unless you get algae in the fuel.

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

ML Dude,

I agree with Kerry. Crank engine with out waiting for GP to heat until oil pressure comes up. Then start the engine as usual.

Unless you have an algae problem, fuel will be OK. Gasoline is different. Certain volatiles evaporate out of gasoline and the engine doesn't want to start on the old gasoline.

I let my Diesels sit all winter and never had any problem starting them in the spring.

P E H

I do what PEH does, after checking the air intake and exhaust (I put coarse steel wool there to keep the critters out).

__________________
daBenz - 1970 220D

Fisherman,

Can you tell me where the glow plugs are located, I like that idea.

PEH,

You guys really think the crank it method you describe is safe after 16 months of sitting??

__________________
Ed "Don't Benz's just feel better..."

Current wives...
2000 ML430 Skyview "The Mel"
2000 CLK430 Cab "The Cab"
85 300D Turbo "The Diesel"

Past wives...
92 300E
85 190E

"One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to
avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond
this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny, and is likely to
interfere with happiness in all kinds of ways."
Bertrand Russell

My professional opinion is NO.

Jump in and start it up. Stop worrying and remember it's a $2000 car. Doing "maintenance" on it has about as much of a chance of damaging it at just starting it and taking off.

Now if it won't start, then you get the pleasure of working on it.

240Joe

Ml Dude,

If you don't know where the GP are, you don't know anything.

Don't pay any atterntion to Dieseldiehard about changing the oil twice, he's nuts. The oil is subject to less stress in a cold engine than in hot because it doesn't polymirize when cold.

If you ever took an engine apart, you would see how the oil is still in the crankshaft bearings and piston rings. It doesn't evaporate away.

Start the damn thing and stop worrying.

P E H

Boy, no kidding... Mine had been sitting for at least 30 months and probably more... I had to prime it, and I did change the oil and filter first, but it started... nary a smoke cloud. Oil sitting in your cases is like oil sitting on the shelf... doesn't get cleaner, but it doesn't evaporate either. Oh, the coolant was way low from the ACC servo leak (fixed! and the heat works now, btw!) Good luck!

Ash

__________________
Ash Peltier - tools, truck, tales
---------510-331-4118-----------
1982 240D - (272,000)
1998 Honda VTR1000F(RT) Superhawk Freeway (58,000) "Madrid"
1996 Toyota T100 4x4 (84,000) "Mary Kay"

farm tractors sit around all winter between seasons. All I did was reconnect and charge the battery, crank it with the fuel supply off to build up oil pressure, then crank it right up. This is with a 50 year old diesel!

One can be too cautious. So it goes...

__________________
71 220D 169K wrecked
83 240D 118K sweet 4 speed
91 350SDL (one of the 60% good engines) 156K
84 300d (loaner to my sister) 189K
79 300SD (partswagen)
86 420SEL partswagen
70 220d (partswagen)
68 280s GASSER!!! under construction now
85 300sd 310K miles winter beater car retired
93 300d 2.5 turbo 168K wife's car
83 280SL euro 5 speed 155K
69 250S newest project 54K

ML Dude, our "quickie" advice is based on you stating that you only had a few hours to move the car. Cold cranking will tell you right away if you have a stuck piston (probably not). Equally important: it starts the oil to the top end of the engine. If you really want to do it absolutely right and you can't remember how you put the car away, then whunter is correct and find his postings on pre-lubing. Use your few hours to pull the car onto a trailer, haul it away, then do it right. I'm not mad or even grumpy: we just tried to answer the question.

__________________
daBenz - 1970 220D

I would pull all of the injectors out and squirt a generous amount of ATF down into each of the injector ports, and let it fester for a while, and then crank the motor w/o the injectors in place until you have built oil pressure. Then, install all of the injectors and fire it up. I also recommend changing fuel filters.

Good luck...once it has started just let it idle for a little bit...then go for a drive.

__________________
Nick
*****
2002 Sprinter 2500 140" High Roof :

What good would changing the fuel filters do? They don't get any dirt in them sitting still!

There's the old wives tale about ATF again. Its a cure for everything.

ATF, made for transmissions but put it in your engine.

P E H