I've been cleaning and fixing and replacing things in my car as I learn what goes where and whats missing and what needs rehab......Amongst my pondering I have been reading and reading.....and reading the archives....

The normally dark light bulb above my head emit a faint glow last night As I pondered the turbo inlet and the soon to be installed shut off valve at the injection pump....

Just shy of having nightmares I'm slowly and methodically preparing for the shut off valve replacement in hopes of not gaining personal experience with a runaway condition.

OK OK enough rambling here's my idea......

Instead of a phone book (No phone in my garage) I'm going to have a hockey puck handy.....If I get fancy I may take a puck and (with a circle cutter) cut a circular groove the same diam. as the turbo inlet. whaddaya think?

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Rob M
Norwich, VT USA
1980 240D Euro delivery 4 speed manual silver/blue
~160K miles

you're better off having wrenches handy to loosen the injector lines. I was a bit paranoid about the runaway issue, so here's what I did: I set several vise grips on the nuts leading into the injectors. The nuts were "almost" fully tightened, just enough to seal, but not fully tight to securely stay that way for long. The vise grips were attached, similarly pointing 1/2 way back. This way I could rotate several nuts CCW in just a second if I needed to. All you need is to loosen them a little, because the injector will not open without over 100 bar of pressure.

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'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

Get a CO2 fire extinguisher and hang it next to the garage door. If your engine runs wild give it a shot of CO2 into the air intake and it will stop right away with no damage.

You will have protection from fire too. The reason for hanging it near the door is you never want the fire between you and the exit. If there is a little fire and you are trying to put it out you want the door at your back just in case it doesn't stay little.

...and make damned sure it is a CO2 extinguisher. The other chemical extinguishers would make you wish you had just let it blow up on its own.

Get a 6X2 board ready to close the air inlet. Even if it is a poor seal it will stop the engine. Before starting, operate the vacuum shutdown under mouth vacuum to operate the valve a few times, making sure the shutdown lever works. Better still search on "runaway" and you will find a few relevant threads.

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Tony from West Oz.
Fatmobile 3 84 300D 295kkm Silver grey/Blue int. 2 tank WVO - Recipient of TurboDesel engine.
Josephine '82 300D 390kkm White/Palamino int.
Elizabeth '81 280E, sporting a '79 300D engine.
Lucille '87 W124 300D non-turbo 6 cylinder OM603, Pearl Grey with light grey interior


Various parts cars including 280E, 230C & 300D in various states of disassembly.

Don't mess around with a hockey puck. Get an old phone book, wooden board, fire extinguisher. When your engine runs wild and is roaring and vibrating away you won't be able to choke it with a hockey puck with a little groove in it, near as well as the above items.

Agreed. CO2 extinguisher is the only way to go. Personally, I don't think any of those items would choke the car off. I have tried to choke out my 240D for sport with phone books, my hands, etc. and it didn't even come close to stopping.

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1982 Mercedes-Benz 300CD
1982 Mercedes-Benz 240D - stick

In a pinch, cut or pull off the fuel line between the lift pump and the injector pump. Perhaps even squeeze it shut with a vice grip.

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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

this won't do. There is enough fuel in the primary filter to keep running. You want to stop the pressurized fuel supply by loosening the high pressure lines right on top of the injector. The next best way is a CO2 extinguisher.

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'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

With the air cleaner off a piece of 1x4 or 1x6 will choke it out. I wouldn't even think of putting my hand near the intake on a runaway engine!

The clamping of the fuel line is unlikely to do much. The only way is to restrict the air flow to the motor. There was a recent thread about this.

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Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club group

I no longer question authority, I annoy authority. More effect, less effort....

1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
Other toys ~J.D.,Cat & GM ~ mainly earth moving

These boards were helpful when I tackled this project a few weeks ago. Prior to taking the shutoff valve off of the engine I tried various things to cap off the air to cut the engine, just in case I ran into a runaway engine situation. I used a spray paint can cap over the air intake to the turbo. Worked well and should it have been necessary, it would have worked out well.

Perhaps it was because I took the time to understand the procedure and potential hazards that I thought this job was particularly easy. Like many of these MB projects the most difficult part to deal with is the tedium of moving fasteners microns at a time to get them in or out around other overengineered parts and systems.

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This area is typically used to brag about one's current or former automobiles.