well, took it for a spin this evening around the neighborhood, ans she died pretty hard. It was just struggling for anything it could get. It must've took me 20-30 mins to get her home. Worst was my wife was with me and she HATES the car to begin with!
Im just sittin there with it floored and its just barely idling. It would rev a couple of times and then go right back to barely idle. Pumped the primer pump, nothing. Prefilter had a big bubble in it though.
Jeez, what is the freakin deal!
I guess Ill replace the lines to the overflow tank as they are the only ones that I havent replaced yet.
Anybody know what the deal with that tank is? Reserve? Overflow? why would there be an overflow?
I have the lifter vavle rebuild kit, but man, I dont look forward to dealing with that!

Sounds like this is a new used car to you. Did it sit any before you bought it? Sounds like typical algae problems? Put some more inline fuel filters in it for the time being. Carry spares. Put a biocide in the tank to kill the algae. For more info do a search in this forum. Try searching for "algae"

If you can drain the tank thru the biggest hole available. The thing not having a strainer in the tank does not sound right. Not sure that is actually possible. The fuel lines attach to it. This is the biggest hole to drain the tank thru. You can search for this too. Try "tank strainer"?

__________________
"Know other lessons I need to learn? TELL me. Tired of learning'em the hard way".

Glow Plug Wait: [i} Time of silence in homage Rudolph Diesel. Longer you own a diesel. more honor you give". [/i]

Life; SNAFU Situation Normal All Fouled Up, & FUBAR: Fouled Up Beyond All Repair

-Now: Snafued Jeep TJ w/OM617 2Be daily driver & building SS M1079 w/Ambo boxed /live in Adv. Truck, Diesel KLR conversion
-Sold 62 UNIMOG Camper w/617 Turbo, 85 300SD

Checked the expansion tank and the lines running to it. Lines are good, tank is bad. Came seperated at the seam in the plastic. Looking for a stell one, but until then used a soldering iron and gasket maker to seal it shut. Tried to get it going again to no avail. It must be the lift pump. I have the kit to repair, but will need an opportunity to pull it. Its been suggested to me I should just get an electric pump and bypass the lifter pump. Is this wise? Anyone done the pump repair?

With that strainer gone any sort of crud can find its way into the lines....get a strainer put it on...

Go to Home Depot get 15 feet of small braided steel cable, fish it completely through the fuel lines in the car. Both the feed and return lines...to clear out anything that found its way into them...and with the strainer gone its a forgone conclusion something has.

Untill you do you are spinning your wheels...

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

When I say there's no strainer, I mean it didnt come with one, unless Im missing something. All I have is 2 fuel barbs, one in, one out (pic 1) I thought the fuel strainer screwed into the tank and then the out fuel line ran from it. I have this (pic 2) on the bottom of the tank, but as far as I know it is just a drain plug? Another Euro mystery...

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OK, I looked up your profile and found you have a 300TD, not a D (like me), so what you have there are the fuel supply and return hoses. The tank strainer is the large flat circular piece with a large hex cast into it. I presume that the tank breather comes from the top of the tank and then goes to the expansion tank (behind the spare wheel?)
In a 300D, the fuel supply line comes from the centre of the tank strainer.

__________________
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.

I guess I have missed something. I guess my 'drain plug' is most likely my strainer. See pic 2 above.
So how does it filter anything?
Update: After reading bonehead's post and the one about the maple leaf I thought Id bypass the fuel lines and tank all together. I got a piece of line and ran it right from the pre-filter to a jug of diesel. Strted it up and she ran so great! You should have seen her suck up that diesel!
Only question now is... whats the problem? blockage in fuel line, blockage in tank, or still weak lift pump? The jug of diesel was only about 2' away so it would make sense that the pump could easily pull fluid so close right? I guess I need to get a full pump flow meter. Anyone know how much it's supposed to be pumping?

Go to home Depot or Lowes or a hardware store....get some 1/8 or 3/16 braided steel cable...a piece longer than the car....fish that through the return line..adn the fuel feed line all the way from the front to the back....that will play rotorouter and clean out anything that may be in the fuel lines clean out the pickup strainer assembly too...then let us know how it runs....make sure the tank vent is clear too...mud daubers (mud wasps) like to put nests in them plugging them up.

Also crawl under the car and make note of any spots that may appear wet near the fuel lines....if they are rusted you can have a pinhole that draws air but is not leaking fuel....pay close attention to where there are clips holding them to the body...under those is the most likely places to corrode in this manner.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Just wanted to jump in here and check something. First, the drainplug is the tank strainer, so pull that and look for anything obvious. You can just clean it out and reuse it.

Secondly you mentioned you were using SVO. Have you ever run Biodiesel through it? What type of SVO kit are you using, or are you just running it straight with no pre heat or extra filters?

I ask this because BioD is a great solvent and will clean all the gunk that dirty petrodiesel will leave in your tank which can leave the prefilter as well as the tank strainer gummed up although this is rare (the tank strainer) unless you have an algae bloom. SVO is much more likely to cause algae problems than BioD, especially if you are not letting the water settle out before filtering it into your tank. Algae loves SVO!

Also, even though the 123 IP is extremely robust, robust enough to run SVO without a second tank( I have run out of fuel going up the hills of San Francisco and pulled up to the corner market to grab a gallon of Wesson before it died and it got me home just fine. Alot easier than fiddling with the primer pump on the side of the road while waiting for AAA), an additional superfine heated filter and and inline preheater(or a preheater of some sort) are absolutely neccessary. The car will run on cold SVO but it sure won't like it. Even an SVO biodiesel blend is rough on her unless you are living near the equator.

Oh, and the expansion tank is just that. similar to the overflow on your radiator. When the tank is full and it is hot out the expansion tank will fill up. I also had this fail along the seams and fixed it with a little alcohol, sanding and JB weld.

Good luck!

__________________
Jeff
AKA: "El Jefe de Biosmell", at your service.
Locally brewed B100 100% of the time.

83 300TBD-T 300,000+/3+years B100
82 Datsun 720 Longbed 86,000/B100
81 300D AKA: The Turd/parts(gone to the bone yard)
75 O309D AKA:The Blue Turtle/76,000

83 VW Golf Diesel/ Girlfriend's
83 F250/ Girlfriend's
Sold all the gas burners!

yes, I ran a tank or two of B20 before I ran it on SVO. I just put the SVO straight in the tank and blended it with dinodiesel usually about 4/1 mix but sometimes as much as 1/1. It ran great in the summer until the problems started. I did filter the SVO really well.
My next move is to drop the tank, and clean it out really well, blow out the fuel lines, and clean the strainer. Ill go from there...

B20 would be inconsequential, however the difference in viscosities between petrodiesel and WVO can cause stratification between the two if left to sit. While Biodiesel and petrodiesel are similar enough to not cause problems. This also brings up the matter of nozzle spray patterns under different fuel viscosities and unburnt fuel. I noticed you said it ran fine all summer. A simple inline heater and an extra heated filter would help tremendously.

__________________
Jeff
AKA: "El Jefe de Biosmell", at your service.
Locally brewed B100 100% of the time.

83 300TBD-T 300,000+/3+years B100
82 Datsun 720 Longbed 86,000/B100
81 300D AKA: The Turd/parts(gone to the bone yard)
75 O309D AKA:The Blue Turtle/76,000

83 VW Golf Diesel/ Girlfriend's
83 F250/ Girlfriend's
Sold all the gas burners!