Hey guys. I just bought this 240D - 1979 w/4speed. Light blue w/navy interior. The exterior is nice - straight, and only a couple little surface rust scratches, and missing two pieces of the black trim on one side. Paint is oxidized, but not peeling. The interior is ok. mostly intact/unripped, but the seats are totally collapsed and a lot of the plastic interior stuff and the tex seems brittle, probably from sitting in the Cali heat. In the records, I only found addresses in cali and texas, so it has lived a salt free life!

The bad part: I knew going into it that it wouldn't start.

The odo is stopped at 156,000, but by looking back at the records, it has been stopped since somewhere around 1995, I would guess... So I am guessing it has anywhere from 225,000 to 300,000 on it.

The PO had been using it for a year or more and it had been a daily driver. One day it was running poorly, lacking power, seemed to be starved of fuel. Apparently it made it home, but wouldn't start the next day.

When I was there, he changed the both the fuel filters. When I pumped the primer pump, it didn't seem to do anything. I pumped many many times. Nothing came through it, and it didn't feel like it was pulling any suction at all.

We attempted to start it using a cup full of diesel with the fuel line before the small clear filter stuck in it. Also, the battery was weak from previous attempts to start it, so he ran a jump from his car. It turned over, and eventually almost caught - maybe fired on 3 calenders for a couple of revolutions, but it wouldn't quite catch.

Right now, I am charging the battery, because I think it has gotten pretty weak with all the cranking. The battery is 650 CCA. Is that enough?

Now, when I pump the hand primer pump, diesel comes squirting out of the top of it. Is it supposed to do that? Also, I can see fuel in the primary filter, but it doesn't seem to be getting very full. I know there is commonly a buble in there, but it seems more like 1/2 full. I am wondering if it is sucking fuel from the other direction or something (don't know if that is possible).

Oh, also, I checked the air filter and it is totally filthy. Is it ok to try starting the car with the filter removed from the housing, just for a test?

The glow light comes on on the dash, but it doesn't seem to go out automatically. I have only owned newer (relatively) mb diesels before (see sig), so I don't know how the glow system behaves in this car.

So where should I start? What would be the first thing you would try? I am tempted to try some more cranking it over with the fuel lines run to a soda bottle full of fuel. We didn't really get to try too much, because the battery seemed so run down.

Also, there was a seal around the bottom of the plastic tube part of the primer pump (on the outside). It was cracked and brittle, and I picked it off. Could this be allowing air into the system?

THANKS! Oh, and for your gratification, I included a couple pics.

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