Getting my bearings... ...that's a big boat... ...pretty clean... ...most folks just throw a couple poodles in there for a few minutes... ...Feefee and Fluffy get turned into Mucky and Yucky... ...spring fever anybody?

From a car's perspective we're looking forward. Cooling water tank above the exhaust manifold - and high pressure fittings on the sidewinder heat exchangers. Hydraulic steering or autopilot? The filter and solenoid to left of sidewinders?

Looks like fuel from fuel pump (lift pump) through blue handled "L" valve to water separator to secondary fuel filter. Looks like a belt-driven water pump is behind the "L" valve. Must be a primary fuel filter in front of the fuel pump somewhere...

What's the big red line coming out of the loom and going to a shiny contraption next to the governor?

I don't get the air intake/throttle - unless I'm seeing it wrong. Throttle cable looks like the big red line on top of what looks like an electrical distribution bus. On a car the air ducting goes horizontally to the throttle body and into the side of the manifold (top of cooling water tank is in the way - your manifold probably has a cover plate here), the governor vacuum line is routed behind the valve cover (the front in these pictures), and there's a rod/linkage mounted to the firewall that controls the throttle butterfly from the foot throttle pedal - starting about where what I think is the end of your throttle cable adjustment. Is your throttle body mounted at the front end of the intake manifold (rear of these pictures) - and the rod running diagonally across the valve cover is the butterfly valve control rod?

That tickler - it's the vertical rod coming off the side of the injection pump - you can see the top ball joint just under the upside-down "V" of the red and white lines coming out of the loom. On a car there's another rod off the tickler "bar" that runs over the top of the valve cover to the throttle body. But I don't see the other rod on your engine? On a car the tickler controls loping at slow idle and there's a hand cable that over-rides the tickler for fast idle setting via opening the throttle butterfly a bit. Hmm....

On a car starting and stopping is through a bleeping "gorilla knob", attached to a cable that ends at a slotted connector. Off-Run-Glow-Start with very stiff springs to pull against for glow and start. In operation you "push" the rack closed to stop the engine and "pull" the rack to start/full fuel position. In between is the run position, where the slot floats and does nothing - foot and hand throttle and tickler and governor do the work.

This leads to a really dumb question. Can you explain how you start and run your engine? Could all this trouble be a simple cable stretch issue?

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daBenz - 1970 220D

I would suggest using cold vegetable oil.

you got the forum thinking,hows the project going.
u didnt go out with just the sail did u?
larry perkins

Many thanks for all your excellent advise. I went through all the initial steps to double check--it just didn't start. Finally decided to pull the head. That was yesterday. Today, being a Sunday, I didn't get far except thorough cleaning. To find out the state of the valves I squirted gasoline into every valve to see how bad they are leaking. And leaking they do. Next I will take the lot apart and start grinding the valves. As of the block, the cylinders are not shiny, but see no damage on top of cylinders nor the cylinder walls. Will gauge the i.d. dimensions. Obviously, oil leaked into the cylinders, I have no doubts about it. How much? Is there any way to determine how tight or porous the cylinders are? Squirting gasoline in there as well and see how quickly it disappears? Please advise of all the things I should pay attention to. As always, your help is much appreciated hein

as to dabenz's questions I better take a few more pics--if ever I succeed getting them uploaded into Forum. What I mean by it: once uploaded from the gallery successfully I don't see them transfered to the Forum. Another problem! hein

seems to me u cant lose much if you try to free up the plungers,set the crank pully 180 deg from tdc(exhause stroke)take a tool like a small nail,punch(use your imagation)tap with small hammer to see if you can knock the plunger down,keep the tool in place and rotate the engine,if you see the tool rise during the compression stroke then the plunger is getting loose,repeat till it will go back down by its self(its under spring tension), i use a strond solvent to do this with,but pb blaster could work also.
i have a old 1966 200d that sat for 14 years and i got all 4 injector plunger to work again like what i am telling you,diesel looked like maple syrup and that thing runs today with the same ip.
let us know.
larry perkins

my bad
larry perkins

windjammer, I don't understand the cylinder question. It's a sleeved engine, as you know. Perhaps you're thinking a head gasket failure? Or a crankcase breathing issue? I'm thinking the oil may be from the WD-40 you used for starting, or maybe leaky injector(s). And the original cause of the progressively worse slow/no-start was primarily carbon buildup from the low rpms - too bad we all got suckered by the compression readings. Keeps a guy humble, I guess.

There's rules in here somewhere for posting pictures. File size needs to be pretty small. No big deal - you have bigger work to do, like getting onto the water before the summer calms. Don't forget the poodles!

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daBenz - 1970 220D

man u in deep fast,maybe i missed a post,did u verify compression first?
dont wont to b redundant but a diesel needs compression,timing with fuel entry and air, then it has to run.
if it looks like you are going to replace the engine, i have a fresh one thats completely rebuilt to factory specs. it runs clockwise.
larry perkins lou ky

I'm confused. Can you clarify how you are testing the valves with gasoline? It seems to me that with compression at 300lbs, the valves can't be a problem. If the valves are leaking, how can you get that kind of compression?
The compression numbers are also inconsistent with the leak down test. How did you assure that both valves were closed when doing the leak down test? Did you take off the valve cover and assure that the cam lobes were not engaging either valve during the test?

My gut instinct is that given the oddity of these test results, there may be a timing issue.

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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

first a compression test. next a leak-down test--making sure that none of the cam lobes were engaging the valve at a particular cylinder. With the valve cover off I was unable to determine where the air was escaping. With the cover on it blew strong out of the filler cap. Also there was strong bubbling in the water-lift, indicating exhaust leak. Also there was some oil leakage past the dip stick. With the head off now i squirted gasoline into each valve, eventually all the g. escaped past the seats. Up to this point the head is clean and looks great The valves look good too also there was carbon build-up on the exhaust valved but nothing what I would call excessive. The question now is should I redo the entire engine--and one of my question was how to determine the condition of the pistons and rings. Is there any way doing that--in addition that oil showed up past the dip stick during leak-down? cheers hein

windjammer, a fella named engatwork has built a "few" engines and will have definitive (and good) opinions as to what to look for with rings and cylinder wear. Search under his name or better yet - send him a Private Message and get him here.

He (and we) will want to know how you did the leak-down, including pressures and times. And where the crankcase is vented to - goes back to one of my other questions regarding the throttle body. Did the leakdown test pressurize the crankcase and the vent do its job - sending the air to the valve cover if it's plumbed that way - then pushing lube oil from head to crankcase as the air went around before you opened the oil filler cap? The other way around?

Are you using a closed loop keel cooler?

kerry, the gasoline drip test is old school - can do it on a gas engine without pulling the head. Gas is cheaper than parts cleaner (so far). We can forget the compression numbers - the gage lied. The head's off now anyways.

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daBenz - 1970 220D

Right now the head in a shop for a leak test and also have the pre-chambers pulled and checked. With the valves lapped, the head should be perfect, if the test is positive! Being a weekend I will measure each cylinder very carefully AGAIN, it will give a picture of its condition. Mentioning AGAIN because I did it before, and with all 24 numbers within the specs—although very much on the high side, up to 3.428 inch—I want to make sure I did it right. As of the bore of the pistons, with enough imagination, and after cleaning off the carbon with a scotch pad, I may feel the slightest ridge where the rings stop,. As mentioned, I'm checking inside an engine room, and under artificial light, and not much room to wiggle about it is extremely difficult to know whether I see any cross-hatching or not. Anyway, I thought I let you know how I stand so far, and certainly keep you further informed. As always, any help is much appreciated. hein

just thinking maybe a call to the coast guard may be in line.
windjammer hasnt reported in lately.
larry perkins

Larry, perhaps spring fever got to him and he went to plan B: oars.

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daBenz - 1970 220D