my 4th delivery valve is leaking, more like a little spirting diesel fountain. yes i searched the forum saw how to fix it seems quite simple except that im out of town and have limited tools and a hotel parking lot to work in. so im thinking of using an INDY here in indianapolis. my question is whats a fair hours of labor for this job as in how many hours is resonable i dont wanna get hosed cuz im an out of towner. also, aside from leaking fuel (doing a great job of degreasing my engine bay) and running a bit rough unless under throttle am i going to do damage if i wait the month till i get home to fix it my self?

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1987 300SDL "Rudolf" 239k 8/10


Gone but not forgotten
-1980 F250 4X4 351C Snowplow "The Beast"
-1976 Caddy Eldo Convertible, in triple red. "Red headed Slut"
-2002 Honda Accord EX-V6 loaded 107k, My first brand new car!


*IM A HORRIBLE SPELLER*

I'd say about 2 hours would be fair, possibly up to 3, depending on the particular car and if the intake manifold has to come off. Despite the fact that this is commonly touted as a simple DIY job, there are a fair number of us who have screwed up the IP doing it. I'm a mechanical engineer and former mechanic, pretty meticulous about things, and I screwed it up. The DIY instructions floating around don't provide enough caution about making sure the barrel doesn't get mispositioned. You do need a special tool to get the holder off.

Labor hours by the book is 1.3.
Parts should no be more than $30.00 retail.
Total should be $150-175.
That's for all 6 delivery valves.
You might call your local Indy if you have one to get a price as a comparison.

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1986 300SDL 201K Daily Driver
1984 300D In Progress
1989 240GL 196K Swedish Brick
1984 300SD -- Sold 289K
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All 60x pumps require the splined socket to remove the pressure valve holder.

ONLY remove the pressure valve holder, spring, crush washer and ring. NOTHING more and you'll be fine. Diff in opinion whether to torque to 30,30,35NM or to 35NM one time only. I did the latter.

Your leak sounds bad as far as DV leaks go; I'd fix it sooner rather than later.

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Terry Allison
N. Calif. & Boca Chica, Panama

09' E320 Bluetec 77k (USA)
09' Hyundai Santa Fe Diesel 48k (S.A.)

There is also some Indys that have screwed the job up.
Besure to as the Indy if he has done the job before and how many times.
Also I would only allow him to fix the leaking one unless you plan to contiune a long trip.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Thats an awful lot of fuel your leaking. Sounds like more then a DV. Did you check the hard line on top of the injector? It may look tight and seated but be broken inside the collar nut.

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VegStew
1983 300SD 70,000 WVO Powered miles
1990 300D In driveway with Head Off - Cracked

True, as far as it goes. What is left unsaid everywhere including the MB shop manual is that IF the barrel (the part just below the delivery valve) gets lifted out of position slightly, it may rotate and when the holder is tightened down the barrel will get jammed in the wrong position. The result is wrong or no fueling on that cylinder. If you are lucky, a magnet may be able to raise the barrel again to rotate it to the correct position. It may also be necessary to remove the side cover and push the locating pin back into position and restake it, as the mispositioned barrel may push the pin out far enough that it won't engage the slot in the barrel. If you are NOT lucky, the pump has to come out for possibly major disassembly and recalibration. The moral of the story is to be sure that you pick the copper crush washer off the delivery valve gently, do not lift the delivery valve up off the barrel, and if you think you *may* have accidentally lifted the barrel up (it can stick to the delivery valve) compare its height carefully against the other barrels. It may only be a couple of mm high if it is out of position.

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1987 W201 190D

What you say is correct, but, the instructions do pertain to replacing the "seals", not taking the pump apart. To do the seals you need only do I as mentioned above. Nothing more. The DIY showing un-necessary "extra" pieces and parts removed and photographed is indeed misleading, as is how dirty the pump is when the work was perfromed.

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Terry Allison
N. Calif. & Boca Chica, Panama

09' E320 Bluetec 77k (USA)
09' Hyundai Santa Fe Diesel 48k (S.A.)

Agreed, that the instructions do not need to show all the things that are not involved with the specific job, but some words of caution are certainly in order for most people -- professionals included -- who do not have a lot of experience with injection pumps.

In my case, it was awkward to get at the copper washers. On one cylinder the delivery valve came out when I was trying to get just the washer. Seeing how easily the delivery valve came out, I decided to use a magnet to remove the other delivery valves to get the washers at the same time. Stupid? Perhaps, but certainly uneducated. I learned the hard way that the magnet will also lift the barrel out a bit, causing big problems. A cautionary sentence would've saved me a day of work (and it could have been much worse). I hope my experience can save others from a lot of trouble.

I'm not the only one on this forum who's had the problem.

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1987 W201 190D

Well I met the local indy, very honest! He told me that I needed the hard fuel line and that its 2 of the flare nuts and I could do it myself in a few mins with a wrench no need to pay him unless I don't want to get my hands dirty. So I ordered the hard line from the dealer at a cost of 47.50 and will be here tomorrow.

The indy could have charged me for the oring job making more money and really just have changed the line not like I could have really known. Thank god for honest people in todays economy. Maybe that's why his lot was full of vintage 123 126 and newer MBZ

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1987 300SDL "Rudolf" 239k 8/10


Gone but not forgotten
-1980 F250 4X4 351C Snowplow "The Beast"
-1976 Caddy Eldo Convertible, in triple red. "Red headed Slut"
-2002 Honda Accord EX-V6 loaded 107k, My first brand new car!


*IM A HORRIBLE SPELLER*

The above makes sense when you go back to the Symptom "spurting fuel". No one with leaking O-rings has had the fuel spurt out.

If we have a section for recommeded Mechanics maybe you could put his shop there or at leat post his address and ect. here.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

You are again correct. Most folks ask about the job first like the OP did in this thread. Had you done so I'd have emailed you my write up on doing the project and you would have been warned.

It is important to remember that you don't know the qualification/motivations of anyone providing advice online. IMO forums tend to work best when consensus from numerous sources is acheived.....

Glad yours did work out in the end.

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Terry Allison
N. Calif. & Boca Chica, Panama

09' E320 Bluetec 77k (USA)
09' Hyundai Santa Fe Diesel 48k (S.A.)

JonL
Even under the idea conditions of a Fuel Injection shop I would occasionally get the barrels in an IP misaligned when I was assembling an IP. I never damaged any as I had learned to screw all of the Delivery Valve/Pressure Valve Holders by hand first before I torqued them.

After that you look and compare the heights all of the Delivery Valve Holder before you torque them. On the one with the Barrel that is not aligned the Delivery Valve Holder will be higher than the rest.
After you do that kind of work a while the higher Delivery Valve Holder sticks out like a sore thumb.
But, it is easy for someone doing the job for the first time not to notice it; especially when you are looking down on the IP and the light is not good.

I was often given instructions by other Mechanics who had many years more experience than me but I found out that I could not blindly follow their instructions. The reason was is that the often forgot to tell me some little important detail. The reason was they had been doing the job so long it was second nature to them; this second nature also made it easy for them to forget to tell me something.

Since our DIY threads are often the work of non-experts I would not expect them to be able to cover every possible detail.
Just like the Mechanics that forgot to tell me something they are/were doing their best.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

No complaints from me. I did the job following the MB service manual, didn't even come here for advice first. But after having the problem and coming here to learn more it seemed to me that it was an easy screw up and not getting much press... so perhaps I've been shouting it from the mountain tops a little too much. My apologies. This is an incredibly helpful forum, and I'm grateful for what I've learned. I hope I can give back by sharing some of the lessons I've learned on my own, too.

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1987 W201 190D

As I do not remember reading about leaking O-rings when I first became a member of the Forum. I think that the leaking O-ring problem is recent and starting to get more prevalent due to the ageing of what compared to my 84 are Newer Models and as some people claim changing to low sulfur Diesel Fuel.
As always the problem comes before the solution.
The Older Model IPs do not have and O-ring to go bad; so with that and the problem being fairly recent there is not a lot of people have experience of changing O-rings to share.

Yes, we need more people willing to share their experiences with the other Members. When you see some one asking about or saying they they want the change the Delivery Valve O-rings you are the on that can best caution them.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel