...If you have the equipment that is.

I recently came into possession of a 1979 Saab 99. Not a Mercedes I know, if you must, but my experience here will possibly save the forum populous hundreds of hours wondering why there CIS fueled engine starts, runs, idles, revs like crap.

Little bit of background on the car, keeping in mind everywhere I say Saab you insert Mercedes-Benz. Fifteen years ago the owner filled the gas tank and the fuel pump died, and every day the owner said you know I am going to get to that tomorrow...somehow after 15 years he finally decided to part with his car. I went over to the guys house and amazingly, with nothing more than a battery and a can of WD-40 the car turned over and sputtered. I promptly bought the car (for $250) and told him I'd have it out by the end of the week. The Saab 99 is powered by a 2.0L triumph motor more or less. It has the cool dude plunger door style CIS system on it.

I removed the injectors, totally varnished up, removed the warm up reg, totally varnished up. I pulled the plunger door up and it stayed in place and took a considerable effor to move it back down. I took every fuel component out of the car including the flapper door mechanism fuel distributor and frequency valve. Brought them all back to the shop and here is where the PSA part begins:

1. Surface clean in solvent tank, wash basin, or kitchen sink what ever you have to get any grit or road grime off the outside of these parts.
2. Go pick up some degreaser concentrate from Harbor Freight for $5.99 a gallon.
3. Now here is where having the equipment comes into play, you, the responsible owner/restorer of all things Mercedes, MUST have a sonic cleaner. I prefer a Branson, but anything with about a 1.5 to 2 gallon tank will do. Mix up the cleaner in about 1 part cleaner to 5 parts water. Turn the heater on your sonic cleaner (if it doesn't have one use the hottest tap water you can get) and immerse the parts, as many as you can fit in it pretty much, they will all get clean. I ran the parts for 90 minutes with 50 degrees C water and changed the cleaning solution and ran it for another 90 minutes.
4. Rinse with water to get all the cleaning solution off.
5. Blow out all ports and orifices with an air gun making sure to get all the water out, and making sure not to blow your filters in the fuel distributor across the garage.
6. Reinstall parts and watch in amazement.

I drained the tank of the varnished fuel, put in a volkswagen rabbit fuel pump (30 bucks at the local indy) and primed up the fuel system. The car fired over the first crank after sitting for 15 YEARS needing only minor adjustments of the mixture screw.

I found that most of the little filters that are internal to the fuel manifold and injectors come cleanest when upside down as all the debris that was blown into them can best shake out the way the fuel came in. I also used an air gun with a rubber nozzle to fire the injectors a few times after the first cleaning to make sure the pintles and flow passages were clean. Any questions, and I am sure there will be some, postify and I'll respond to the best of my ability.

The best part is still seeing the look on the guys face as I drive the car out of his back yard after sitting so long.

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2003 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins - Georend fully built trans, Banks Big Hoss Bundle, Smarty Tuner, 5" turbo back exhaust. 500 HP and 1100 ft/lbs to the ground.
1979 Mercedes-Benz 300CD - Lost to a four car pile up on 275, Thank You Michigan Drivers.
1986 Mercedes-Benz 300D - Sold, Euro non-turbo car.

I just broght back and old 280CE from it's 15 year sleep. I wished the previous owner had filled tank he didn't full varnished and rust (replaced), fuel pump shot replaced, accumulator shot replaced, rest of the fuel system was cleaned with just carb cleaner runs find now after 15 years.

Cool, from my experience anyway, carb cleaner is pretty good to get some stuff off grease grime and oils, but it works pretty poorly to remove the varnish of old fuel. Yeah rusted tank is a pretty tough break there. Good to hear someone else unearthing these old girls too.

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2003 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins - Georend fully built trans, Banks Big Hoss Bundle, Smarty Tuner, 5" turbo back exhaust. 500 HP and 1100 ft/lbs to the ground.
1979 Mercedes-Benz 300CD - Lost to a four car pile up on 275, Thank You Michigan Drivers.
1986 Mercedes-Benz 300D - Sold, Euro non-turbo car.

The 79 Saab was a nice find, I always liked the way the key is located in console between seats. The 99 is FwD correct? Great cars for snow. My car was sunk to ground and now I am searching for replacement floorpan as my rear driver's seat is poking out under the car.

yep FWD with the accesory drive toward the FIREWALL, yeah its wierd as hell to work on. Still has the big knobby 70's rally tires on it.

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2003 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins - Georend fully built trans, Banks Big Hoss Bundle, Smarty Tuner, 5" turbo back exhaust. 500 HP and 1100 ft/lbs to the ground.
1979 Mercedes-Benz 300CD - Lost to a four car pile up on 275, Thank You Michigan Drivers.
1986 Mercedes-Benz 300D - Sold, Euro non-turbo car.