I searched the archives but cant find anything specific about whether I need to drop the tank or how much of a PITA cleaning the fuel screen in the tank of my wagon will be. Any seals, or plastic bits that will need to be replaced? Could somebody please point me in the right direction or give me some directions on doing this job right the first time? Thanks a bunch.

Joel

A friend of mine has a couple of 300TDs (NA Wagons). If yours is one of these, there is a hex socket in the underside of the in-tank strainer.
As a trial, reverse the fuel delivery and return lines to see if that improves your fuel delivery. (I assume you need to do this to overcome fuel starvation issues)

I did this in my wife's car due to a delaminated fuel line at the strainer closing when fuel was drawn, shutting down the motor. I cleaned the strainer, with no improvement. I reversed the lines, all OK. Hmmm still that way after 6 months - must replace that fuel line.

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Tony from West Oz.
Fatmobile 3 84 300D 295kkm Silver grey/Blue int. 2 tank WVO - Recipient of TurboDesel engine.
Josephine '82 300D 390kkm White/Palamino int.
Elizabeth '81 280E, sporting a '79 300D engine.
Lucille '87 W124 300D non-turbo 6 cylinder OM603, Pearl Grey with light grey interior


Various parts cars including 280E, 230C & 300D in various states of disassembly.

the screen has an o ring on it that may need to be replaced but when i did mine it did not leak and the screen was cleanable.
if you are certain that you have an alge problem the you may want to order the new screen
it will come with an o ring. i needed to catch about 5 gal of fuel when i drained my tank. it had some grit but i just filtered it out & poured the fuel back in. when you get it out if you need to clean it use brake cleaner or carb cleaner.
hth
JOHN M

Here's what I did:
1) Ran the car out of fuel until it was literally missing out and shuddering on take-off from traffic lights.

2) Bought 1 gallon of diesel in small gas can. Bought 1 qt of Mazola™ and dumped it in tank to make it home.

3) Backed car onto ramps with front wheels at kerb to maximize the downward angle of the tank and, hopefully, reduce the level of fuel at the strainer.

4) Placed my biggest catch pan underneath the strainer and removed it using a large pipe wrench on the outside edge of the strainer.

5) Drained at least 2 gallons of Mazola™/diesel mixture onto and into the sleeves of my work coveralls and onto driveway. Squeezed excess from clothing into catch pan.

6) Scrubbed strainer using toothbrush and diesel (wasn't particularly dirty or clogged). Wiped strainer and made sure that the rubber seal was intact.

7) Reinstalled strainer and poured in the gallon of diesel in order to get to filling station for fillup.

8) Rolled car off ramps, checked for leaks and started engine.

9) Cleaned spilled Mazola™/diesel mixture from driveway with Greased Lightning™.

FWIW-The TD's tank strainer is about 2X as expensive as the sedan's...I'd recommend pulling it and cleaning it instead of outright replacement.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

I recently checked my '80 300TD tank screen. I raised the car on my homemade wooden ramps and removed the hex socket plug with my biggest Allen wrench shimmed a bit bigger. It came out easily. I noticed a pretty big cut on the outside of the plug where somebody apparently had tried to loosen it in the past with a cold chisel. I had prepared a plug made of a golf ball wrapped in a sock, covered with a plastic bag. This was pushed up against the hole as soon as the tank plug was removed. Lost about a cup or two of fuel, which was caught in a shallow plastic pan about 12" x 15". This was done with the tank nearly full of fuel, mostly WVO. My son then slid some wooden blocks under the tank and we held the golf-ball device in place with a 12-ton hydraulic jack. I was pretty sure that would be adequate. The screen was found to be perfectly clean. We reversed the procedure to replace the screen. Total fuel loss was less than one quart, which I recycled to my WVO filter in the back yard.

"This was done with the tank nearly full of fuel,"
WHY

The reason im doing this is because I have just placed my first load of B100 in and changed the fuel filters approximately 200 miles ago when performance dropped significantly. After the change, everything was fine but now I'm "mis-firing" at idle (sounds like im running on 4 cylinders). I looked at the secondary fuel filter to find that it is almost empty at idle and when reving the engine, it will fill with fuel. I assume that it cant get fuel from the tank. I dont want to fill the tank and reverse the lines since its almost empty and a perfect time to check the screen. If i reversed the lines know, it probably wouldnt run due to where the return line comes into the tank.

Does anybody know what size hex will fit that plug? The screen is attached to the nut somehow?

Thanks for all the help.

The plug and screen are all one assembly.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Buy a 22mm bolt and 2 nuts to make a unit to remove the screen. Her is a post on the sedan algea problem. If you scrol down you will see my illfated post about the nut. I did not know at the time that the sedan was different, so I put my foot in my mouth. Now that I own the 240D I have also done that car.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?threadid=85130&highlight=22mm+bolt

Check the condition of the fuel lines. You will see two lines running parallel to each other under the car. Are they damaged, crushed etc.
Disconnect the rubber hoses at the tank and the fuel filter and cigar hose at the fuel pump. Blow air thru them. They shoud be clean. Remove the screen and clean it with brake cleaner. reinstall and put in Algeacide to clean the tank. You will have to replace the inline and main fuel filter after a couple of weeks. the dead algea will clog the filters.

Dave

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1970 220D, owned 1980-1990
1980 240D, owned 1990-1992
1982 300TD, owned 1992-1993
1986 300SDL, owned 1993-2004
1999 E300, owned 1999-2003
1982 300TD, 213,880mi, owned since Nov 18, 1991- Aug 4, 2010 SOLD
1988 560SL, 100,000mi, owned since 1995
1965 Mustang Fastback Mileage Unknown(My sons)
1983 240D, 176,000mi (My daughers) owned since 2004
2007 Honda Accord EX-L I4 auto, the new daily driver
1985 300D 264,000mi Son's new daily driver.(sold)
2008 Hyundai Tiberon. Daughters new car

The fuel strainer in my fuel tank was so plugged with algae that the fuel only dripped out slowly after removing the fuel hose from the steel fuel line. After 3 days only about 2 gallons came out. So I used an air hose to reverse blow out the strainer. Fuel came out a little faster and finally the tank was drained.

To remove the strainer, I used 17 mm wrench to turn the fuel hose nut and it was tight enough in the strainer to unscrew the strainer. To clean the strainer, I soaked it in gasoline, which didn't dissolve much. So I unscrewed the fuel hose and and blew the strainer clean with an air nozzle.

I put everything together and added 1/2 ounce of Biobor and refilled with 20 gallons of fuel. Have yet to see if the filters plug as I've only driven it a few miles since. I plan to remove the fuel hose from the steel fuel line after the tank is almost empty and see how fast the fuel runs out. This will give me an idea if the strainer is plugged and needs to be cleaned again.

P E H

With my "golf ball" plug technique it doesn't make much difference how full the tank is. Running the car until the tank was more empty wasn't very attractive because of the poor performance I was trying to diagnose. I did drain out a couple of gallons by disconnecting the fuel line, but it was going so slowly, being mostly WVO, that I thought it was too much trouble as I had only a bunch of 5-gallon containers, so I would have to monitor the draining closely to avoid overflowing them.

Well, yes, that would be very slow using the line out..

If you go to ACE HARDWARE or someplace like that... and get 7 ft of clear tubing....like half inch inside diameter.... and put that into the tank and into a five gallon gas can..... and then use a little section and a mechanics rag... or plastic bag... to cover the top of the fuel filling pipe... you can BLOW into it and start the syphoning process... which should take about five minutes... take the bag or rag off as soon as the flow starts....
I just try to plan for the worst case......and if the golf ball did not work for some reason.... getting that plugged with it full of ' whatever' would sure be a mess.... and potentially dangerous for others attempting it...

Knotman,

Your golfball technique may work on a T type MB but I wouldn't want to use it on a sedan. It seems that if the tank had much fuel in it and with the large hole the strainer fits in, quite a bit of fuel would rush out before you could get the golf ball in place.

So for once, I agree with leathermang that its better to drain the tank first.

P E H

No, PEH, I have to disagree with you.... that is the third time in three years that you have agreed with me.....

Leather,

Looks like its getting to be a bad habit. LOL

P E H