So, it's been years - like five years - since I have posted, or since I have driven Frau Frankenbenz. She has sat patiently in the garage, weeping fluids waiting for her chance to come back to life. I took her offline because she needed the entire front end rehabbed, and I was in the midst of a divorce and had no place or tools available to work on her. The local euro shop wanted $800 in labor with my parts to do the job. Looking back I should have gone that route, but hey - hindsight is 20/20 right? I instead bought a $600 VW golf, which after some tinkering and adjusting was an OK car to get me back and forth to work over the next 3 years. In the mean time, I met the love of my life, and we got married two years ago March. I ditched the golf, and we bought a used 2004 VW Passat Wagon TDI which has been a wonderful car. Unfortunately, the passat transmission (apparently one of their achille's heels) went out early this summer, and the Passat has been sitting. So my daily driver has been the old faithful 78 scout, but we really need another vehicle - so we're looking at getting Frau Frankenbenz revived and back on the road. I bought the parts 5 years ago - they've been sitting in their baggies in the trunk this whole time. I now have tools, space, and a willing mechanically inclined companion to work on this. I've been out of the Mercedes world all this time - my question is this: Is there a checklist of things to address with a vehicle that has been sitting idle for a couple years? She did move under her own power about 3 1/2 years ago to the current garage spot. I tried turning her over since then, but no luck - cranked but no start. I found dieselxj's thread on his engine - what else? Thanks in advance for your help!

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Frau Frankenbenz: 1983 240D manual w/ 1984 300SD engine; 81 240D tranny; 2.88 diff. 317,XXX miles.

2004 VW Passat TDI Wagon: Offline awaiting an oil pump balance shaft delete

1978 International Scout 4 Cyl all stock: Awaiting exhaust repair

2005 Ford E350 Diesel: Getting everything from point A to B without complaint

I would pull the glow plugs, squirt in some MMO, and let it sit for a couple days. Then spin it over a few times by hand to feel for problems.

Make sure the MMO has blown out, you don't want to hydrolock it.

Then just reassemble, change the oil, and fire her up. The brakes may be rusted, and ou might have issues with stuff growing in the fuel tank, but other that that I don't see any problems.

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$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

Good advice there.

I would add to just be prepared to replace the calipers when you get it going since they don't seem to like sitting for a long time.

Are the glow plugs cycling correctly? I read recently in the FSM that it may be necessary to cycle the glow plugs several times, without starting, to charge a capacitor in the glow plug relay. Placing a charger on the battery to get, and keep, it at top charge seems to help with this. Originally, I thought the glow plug relay had failed on mine but going through this procedure brought the engine back to life. It's worth a shot!

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Sam

84 300SD 350K+ miles ( Blue Belle )

How does the see thru fuel filter look? Dark? Replace. Light? Ok.
Prime the fuel system by pumping the manual push primer down by the lift pump. Make sure that it's pumped until it's hard to pump it more.

Glow it a couple times and try to start it.

If she starts, keep an eye on the see thru filter for possible clogging indicating gunk in the fuel. Take some spare fuel filters with you.

If the fuel is dirty or infected, you'll need to re-mediate the problem.

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Codifex
1981 240D ChinaBlue (Got her running with a donor engine.)
1983 300DTurbo w/sunroof.
1984 300TD manual sunroof. (Electrical Gremlins)