is there one anywhere? My car isn't starting, keeps sounding like there is air to be purged but the tank has tons of fuel in it. I popped the gas cap and the metal flap that you push the nozzle through when filling it up is just gone. Im trying to find a diagram of the neck to see if its a removable and replaceable part in case I need a new one but I keep coming up blank. Does anyone have a walk-through on how to remove the filler neck?

Does the diesel vehicle have the flap like gas engine cars? - My old W124 didnt have that, just a restrictor type thing to support the fill nozzle.

I think you need to check the strainer in your tank, it can become plugged with debris.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

Yeah it has a standard flap like any other car. If guess ill have to just tear into it to see if it's removable and maybe change the strainer just in case. If there is an in tank filter, perhaps the flap parts are stuck in that and can be somewhat easily pulled out and replaced.

see post #55 of this thread

My 1997 E300 is extremely slow

its my old W124, E300D tank strainer.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

I've been coming across threads talking about this filter. I'm going to order a new one, but I made another post in the diesel section...now the car is dripping diesel from something on the pump bolted to the block. It has never leaked a drop of diesel before.

You dont need to buy a new tank strainer, just clean it out with some hot water and tough soap like dawn dishwash or even concentrated simple green.

the new item you want is an O ring, which is easy to get from a parts store like NAPA or oreilly etc. - It required a 46mm socket to remove - which I bought cheap from northern tool. AAP also sell it, you can remove it with a toilet wrench too (good quality only - sloppy quality may cause great injury). If you see the same crap I saw on the screen, you need to carefully scrape the debris from the tank with a bent wire hanger from the hole where the strainer was screwed into, the debris I had was quite strange, it dissipated quickly into smaller chunks and I had to remove the tank to clean it out (very easy job on W124) as I went stupid and tried to use my finger to pull it out.

also check the prefilter in the fuel filter stand on the engine, its not visible immediately, but its easy to spot - its the sunken in filter in the stand assembly where the fuel line from the fuel heater connects to (trapped by a C washer which is held by a bolt) - similar concept like strainer - it just requires a good cleaning (replace if its damaged, its cheap too) - and use a viton O ring for long life service.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

It sounds to me like your strainer is stopped up with algae. Best option is to pull the strainer and clean or replace it. Getting all the fuel out of the tank before removing the strainer is the biggest hurdle. And once you get the strainer back in it would be a good idea to add an additive that kills the algae to clean the rest of the tank. "Diesel Doctor" is what we used back in the day but I don't think it's available anymore.

There's also a pretty good chance your fuel level sending unit is full of algae also which will cause it not to read properly.

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Mercedes Benz Master Tech - Retired