I just got done with a bunch of work on my '81 300TD. For reference I have been running high quality B100 in the wagon.

I did the following:

Replaced oil cooler lines and cooler
Replaced Rack Damper Bolt
Replaced motor mounts and Engine Shocks
(not related: I replaced the wiper relay and restuffed my front seats)

It was a multi-week project and I finally got it all back together. I took it for a test drive and it seemed to all be working, but it was running a little strange. The normal operating noise was "different." Hard to describe. Nothing alarming, just different. I assumed that it was the fact that I had spilled motor oil on the belts and they were making a funny noise.

I parked the wagon and went out of town for 10 days. When I came back it acted up. It seemed starved for fuel. It was idling ok but then when I put it into drive and tried to drive up my steep driveway, it would die. Just putting the shifter into drive would make a huge difference in the idling.

I thought it must be the biodiesel, so I put 3 gallons of regular dino in the tank. Nothing. Now it won't start at all. It cranks and cranks. So then I used temporary external tank for purges and filled it with dino. Still nothing. Cranks away, but no starting.

I noticed 2 things during this:

1. There are little flecks of white in my pre-filter from the biodiesel. Saponification type stuff maybe?

2. My primer pump leaks when I pump it. I'm going to replace it. Maybe it's putting air in the lines?

I didn't really adjust my rack damper bolt properly. I hadn't gotten to that. Could it be starving my fuel?

Thanks.

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1981 300TD
1986 300SDL

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=235923&highlight=won%27t+start

Just found that. My car is pointed nose up on a steep hill and is low on fuel. I guess that's the mostly likely culprit.

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1981 300TD
1986 300SDL

I put 10 gallons total of dino in the tank and replaced both fuel filters. I also jumped the battery just to make sure it was getting enough juice. Still just cranks.

The primer pump is definitely putting air into the lines, but it always worked before. I'm ordering a new primer pump but I'm thinking there is still something else going on. Maybe the glow plugs are kaput. I'll check that next.

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1981 300TD
1986 300SDL

When you get the new Primer Pump installed and pumped enough to get the air out or the IP housing it might be beneficial to loosen a few or all of the Injecter hard lines and bleed the air out of there also. Tighten them up and try starting.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Update:

I installed the new primer pump and 5 new glow plugs. The battery is charged up and I bled the lines. Still no change. It does the same thing. I'm going to check the glow plug wiring, but after that I'm sort of stumped.

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1981 300TD
1986 300SDL

If you loosen the banjo bolt for the line from the lift pump to the seconary fuel filter and crank the engine, does fuel come out? You want to make sure the lift pump is working. If it isn't you could have something as simple like a bad lift pump or worse like a problem with the drive for the injection pump. See this recent thread for more details- http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=238949

Tried what you suggested. Fuel is coming out of the banjo bolt when I crank.

The battery is discharging somehow I think. I fully charged it last night. It was at about 12.5 This morning it was at 12.2 Also I noticed that it wasn't cranking that well, even when I had the jump starter on it. It was cranking like mud.

Think I should be looking at the voltage regulator and/or starter?

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1981 300TD
1986 300SDL