why not try running it on the fuel it was intended to run on?

__________________
have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

did you de-water your VO? My guess is your IP is about to fail

I have noticed lately a lot of these problem posts are related to people running WVO

EDIT-Perhaps we should have a subforum for WVO related problems, as the troubleshooting for an engine run on diesel as opposed to WVO is quite different.

__________________
2005 SL65
1999 E300
1995 E300
1994 SL320
1988 560SL
1987 300TD
1982 300D
1955 300SL

This is pertinent information that should have been included in the first post. Take the troubleshooting advice that others have offered, but honestly, if you have "some weird wax growth in the tank" I would be much more suspicious of that than your poor starter.

If you are not brewing biodiesel (and doing it properly), you should just expect these types of problems.

__________________
'95 E300D ("Tank") - 231,000 miles
'79 240D ("Biscuit") - 197,250 miles (Sold)
'83 240D ("Ding-Ding") - 217,000 miles (Death by deer)
______________________________________

"Back off, man. I’m a scientist” ~ Peter Venkman

X2. That's why I decided my troubleshooting tips were inapplicable. Too many stories of people using WVO running into no-start conditions when their IP is failing. I have no idea how a person would test to see if their IP was on the brink from running WVO. I seem to recall some comments about the viscosity of the fuel when cold overcoming the poor performance of the IP and warm thin fuel pushing the IP over the brink.

__________________
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

that would make sense considering how the pump operates.

diesel #2 all the way

sometimes one if its really cold

__________________
Current
2006 E320 CDI, 57K bought at 67K "Liesl"
1986 190E 2.3-16, 198K bought at 56K "Brigitta"
1987 300TD (Chuggin Along), 292K "Friedrich"
1995 E320 Wagon, 200K "Louisa"

Past
1987 300SDL, (sold) 125K, bought for 1$ "Kurt"

I might have missed it but I did not see any mention of how old the battery is.

I have fallen prey to the 'the battery's fine' because over time, the battery gets weaker. Eventually, it might spin it over, but not fast enough to fire. If it always cranks when the battery is fully charged, I might suspect a weak battery.

If you continually drive the same car, you will not notice the gradual slow down of the cranking speed, then suddenly, one day it won't fire.

__________________
87 300SDL - 215K Miles !!
99 F-350CC Dually PSD - 190K
86 300SDL - 189K
All on B-100

My guess is either water got into the pump or the seals are gummed up with WVO residue. This could cause intermettent problems as the OP has described. I cannot see how letting viscous VO sit in the crevices of the IP can not be blamed for at least part of this problem. It would be useful to see if the OP uses some sort of blend or just pours a bunch of waste oil into the tank. Either way there are several key pieces of information missing to make an educated postulate about what exactly is going on here.

__________________
2005 SL65
1999 E300
1995 E300
1994 SL320
1988 560SL
1987 300TD
1982 300D
1955 300SL

Try removing the cap next time this happens. Or just try removing it when you shut the car off. If you hear an inrush of air, well, the vent is probably clogged.

Does this only happen when the tank is full? Worse when full? empty? The problem is almost certainly fuel related. Maybe when something gets warm under the hood, it loses its seal and allows air to enter the system. The car runs fine until the point when you turn it off and then it will not restart???

Jay.

__________________
On the road, currently:
'83 300D (German spec.) 168k mi. - - Wolfgang (tucked snugly away for the winter!)
'87 300D 375k mi. - finally went over to "The Dark Side"
'87 300TD 225k mi.
Cannondale 66cm CAAD5 w/Campy/Jamis Aurora
Hujsak Custom Fixie/Landshark Track Shark Custom/Ahearne Custom 29'er

x2. This is a diesel engine. Not a garbage disposal. Stop using that garbage fuel, that's the first and foremost problem I see here. So many perfectly good diesel MB's have been destroyed by this horrible wvo crap.

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'98 E300 turbodiesel

X2 on this - I was thinking the same and then the info about the WVO came out and that put the kibosh on the discussion . . . it just adds to many unkowns, that 's why I say take the advice offered but don't ignore the WVO problems that are going to appear.

__________________
'95 E300D ("Tank") - 231,000 miles
'79 240D ("Biscuit") - 197,250 miles (Sold)
'83 240D ("Ding-Ding") - 217,000 miles (Death by deer)
______________________________________

"Back off, man. I’m a scientist” ~ Peter Venkman

This just happened to the wagon last month.

I think the best advice is to try running diesel from a jug under the hood. Make sure to prime all the WVO out of the lines first. I think I would crack each injector hard line one by one until diesel came out.

Have you done a compression check recently?

__________________

Current Mercedes
1979 maple yellow 240D 4-speed

Gone and fondly remembered:
1980 orient red 240D 4-speed

Gone and NOT fondly remembered:
1982 Chna Blue 300TD

Other car in the stable:
2013 VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI / 6-speed MT

Wow.
I woke up this morning to reading many posts that resemble my father after I would come home late after drinking a few beers.

Guys, I want to thank you who gave me the sounds advice and I am going to the car right now to try to fix it. Really, thanks, I think that it might be the vent, hopefully.

I will not address the near aggressive remarks by some of you and you are right, there should be a side of the forum dedicated to WVO related problems and conversions.

Cheers,
Zack Smith

__________________
http://www.libertyagrifuels.com
1984 300D Turbo
1980 300SD Sold
1983 300TD Sold
Dagger 16 ft. Legend Canoe (for the weekends)
Marin Northside Trail Mtn. Bike

Zack,

You will almost always get more positive than negative responses here. But, you should see if from the perspective of all of the people who take the time to write out responses to help someone else. These people are pulling info from their own experience to help out someone they don't even know. All things being equal (i.e. we are all working with the same design in mind), then this would be fine; however, I have seen too many post that go on for pages of possible diagnoses for a problem, only to have the original poster eventually come around to letting everyone know that he/she is running "X" modification (which usually involves WVO). If you modify the original design of the car, then that modification necessarily becomes suspect when the system it involves fails. Are there people here who will flat out ignore your post if they see WVO in it? Yes, but there are others here would be happy to offer advice. By not adding that information up front you are doing your self a disservice for two reasons: 1) you are not likely to get the help you probably need and 2) your thread will get choked up with negative responses once you finally reveal that you are running the single tank WVO system with something strange growing in the tank.

I don't think you personally were trying to be deceitful - but I often wonder about other WVO folks who come in looking for help and just happen to forget that they added a variety of modifications to their car and are operating it on an unapproved fuel. It would sort of be like me asking everyone for their thoughts on why I experience so much wind noise at high speeds, letting a bunch of people offer their thoughts and scratch their heads at my problem, and then eventually get around to telling them that I modified my car by removing the doors because I don’t like having to open and close them every time I want to go somewhere.

Anyway, if you want to run a single-tank WVO system, that is up to you, but let people know so that those who have no experience or disagree with that set up can just move on to the next thread.

Good luck with your problem.

PS. I still think you should make sure your battery isn't on its way out before tearing other things apart.

__________________
'95 E300D ("Tank") - 231,000 miles
'79 240D ("Biscuit") - 197,250 miles (Sold)
'83 240D ("Ding-Ding") - 217,000 miles (Death by deer)
______________________________________

"Back off, man. I’m a scientist” ~ Peter Venkman

Make sure no WVO is in the system when you use the alternative fuel supply and that you use diesel. It is possible that the single tank system has trashed your ip.

__________________
1983 240D 3.0T 4-speed manual, now sold

1989 Subaru GL Wagon 5-speed Touring Edition

Since the car was designed to run on Diesel fuel, running a cold concoction of vegetable oil and whatever else, is not going to help the IP have a long life.....my bet is that it is internally plugged or damaged from running such a system.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)