I have inherited a 78 450 sel Mercedes. The tank was bad but car ran great with the fuel line attcahed gas can in the trunk. I bought a used tank but the mechanic did not clean it before installing it. The car quit running the day after the tank was installed. The mechanic then took the fuel distributor apart to clean it and did not note the spring and shim locations. I am going to rebuild the fuel distributor myself but need to know how to determine the spring and shim locations.

It sounds to me like the mechanic owes you a replacement fuel distributor.

I can't see information for that job in the FSM - may be getting in touch with some of the folks on W116.org will help.

There should be a filter next to the fuel pump and there should also be a filter at the distributor too. On my W201 it is a tiny little gauze thing but it is there none the less.

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

The only to "find" shim locations is assemble and put on a fuel test stand.

Look on e bay someone was selling rebuild kits.

What is the total story on this car? How long was it sitting? There is a fuel filter post pump that will catch the junk. The car not running is likely due to other issues not a "dirty" tank.

Did you specify to the mech that the tank needed cleaned or did you say, " Here is a tank, I need it installed. "?

There is a company on E-baaaayyy that sells rebuild kits for fuel distributors and they have video links on how to do it. That said this is a big job and must be done in an extremely clean area! The slightest bit of dust, dirt, or fuzz will screw this up. And when your done there are some adjustments to be made to the bottom of the dist and also the mass air meter fuel adjustment will basically have to be started from scratch.It can be done just have a lot of patients it is not a one day job.

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88 W124 3.0
96 R129 119eng
06 ML350
98 ML320 sold
02 CLK55 amg

Any chance of a link for this? (I'm interested just for the sake of it)

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

I have a good distributor from a 77 that I would sell for $50 + shipping. It would be a whole lot cheaper and easier to replace than messing with springs and shims. Send me a message if you are interested.
Thanks,
Lee