I drug a '87 190E over to try to get it going. The owner tells me that it was leaking gasoline at the back of the car so I told him I'd take a look at it. After getting it to the house I found the car has been sitting for 2 years and the fuel has gone to heck. I drained/blew all the old crap out and about the only thing I have found was the vacuum line on the fuel pressure regulator was broken and the fuel pump seems to be inoperative. The only thing that looks like there may have been a leak is at the fuel hose manifold area at the filter/pump connection. Anyone know the part number?

I am going to get the fuel delivery system working and then start troubleshooting everything else. .

Anyway, are there any thoughts on how a Bosch fuel distributor holds up to this type of treatment? Any precautions or maintenance type things I should do while getting the fuel delivery going? The mileage is only showing 135k but you can tell there has been some neglect.

tia

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Jim

The best thing would be to pull the gas tank, have it cleaned and cleared. Replace the in-tank filter and probably renew the fuel sender at the same time. If the car has been sitting, I've have the valve seals inspected and flush and replace all the fluids and easily servicable gaskets and filters.

I second the tank removal & clean..........or at least R & R the in-tank screen and check for crud (as a MB Diesel owner you probably have alot of experience with this operation!)...........on my w123 you can also look down the sender hole with a torch to get an idea of the crud in the tank (not sure about the 190E)

Really I strongly suggest you 'Bite the Bullet' and pull the tank……start at the top and work down stream to clear all the supply system

I learnt the hard way when I got my 1978 280CE going again after sitting for 5yrs ...........PSFRED's advice....."Dump the injector cleaner into the tank, jumper the fuel pump relay, and let the pump run for an hour or so -- this will clean all the varnish out of the fuel distributor".........was a very effective way of cleaning out my FD full of 'peanut butter'.......but I later had trouble with stalling after 15mins running which was traced to clogging up of the in-tank screen.......cost me a replacement fuel pump and quite a bit of diagnostic time (sounds like the fuel pump on the 190E is already ceased with varnish----injector cleaner & a few hits with a dead blow hammer with 12V applied sometimes clears them)

I first used an injector cleaner at ~130 times the usual dose (full bottle in tank with only a gallon or two) to circulate as PSFRED suggested and later carefully pressed the air flow plate until I could feel the vibration of fuel flow to each of the injectors

Hopefully the 190E won't be as bad as my 280CE .....but I wish I had started with pulling and cleaning the tank..........not as difficult as I expected (on a w123 anyway)

Jim:

I've got the same problem -- a "free" (up to $100 so far, just to get it home and put a battery in) 190e, been parked with a dead starter for about 18 months.

I suppose I should go ahead and check the fuel -- most likely it's toast by now.

I'd at least siphon out any that's left, replace fittings, pumps, filters, etc and fill with 4-5 gal of fresh fuel with a bottle of Techron in it. If it starts (unlikely, alas), this will get you going at the expense of crappy running. Might want to bleed the fuel distributor if you can get it going.

I'll keep you posted on my project -- gonna yank the starter next weekend (too dark to do anthing on it after work) and see if I can do a quick fix on that, then tackle the rest of the problems as they come up.

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!