Hi All,

Some brief history: I only drive my 300D turbo in the summer, which is about May through October here. Parked it for last winter with a full tank, once in a while I'd start it up and let it idle for 10 minutes or so on a warm day. Spring rolled around and I got hot to try some minor repairs on it. I removed and cleaned the valve cover with the intention of putting on a new gasket so it wouldn't drip oil all over the engine, and discovered hairline cracks around where the hose goes out to the air filter (which has some oil in it). Being in there also was enough to aggrevate the old hoses that go from injector to injector into cracking at the ends and leaking fuel. So, I got some new hose and replaced those. I cleaned the valve cover and put it back on (old gasket for now until I get a new valve cover), reassembled the throttle assembly. (Over)Charged the battery, stuck it in, and got only weak crankage.

I was getting busy and so it went to the local shop. It now has a new starter and a new battery and turns over fine but will not stay running (mechanic's words). After dropping nearly $500 I wanted to get some more opinions before proceeding with any more work.

So: my first thought is that I failed to completely bleed the fuel lines of air. Is there any special procedure required to ensure they only contain fuel?

Then, what other possibilities are there? The mechanic said some of the vacuum hoses were looking brittle/showing some cracks, and the vacuum lock system for the doors is very slow and sometimes not functional so I know it's not holding a vacuum very well.

Sorry to be so long winded. Just trying to put all the relevant info out there. Any suggestions for simple tests I can perform, etc would be most valued.

Bill