I am having problems with 1989 230E's fuel distributor. The car is idling and starting fine but is hasitating at high rpm and not crossing above 4000 rpm at all.
The fuel distributor's plunger is leaking fuel into the air intake when depressed. The leak is not a minor because I see a lot of fuel in the air intake.
I have read the posts but didn't find one that has detailed intructions on how to change the plunger seal. I can't see how the rubber seal can prevent the fuel leak in my case because it seals the sides but the fuel is leaking from the center. I have attached the photo where you can see all the parts that go inside (except the spring) and where the leak is coming from.
If anybody has experience on this please help.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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1989 230E, 8v, 166.000 km, updated to 94/95 trunk & hood
2002 Daewoo Nexia 50.000 km
Sold:
1987 VW Jetta GLE 16V, Recaro seats
1982 Volvo 240 DL (lovely car!)
and few more american cars.

Good luck. I replaced my seal and it didn't solve my problem. I hope you measured the static plunger height before disassembly. I never verified that the fuel was leaking from the plunger, just assumed so since there was gas puddle in the manifold. But, as you mention, there is no seal against the plunger itself, so if it's leaking there one must assume that the plunger itself is out of tolerance. Admittedly, I didn't learn a lot from doing this on my motor except for the fact that it needs to be done by a trained tech.

I read the posts on this topic and before taking the plunger out I measured its heght.
One thing that caught my attention is that the fuel distributor started to leak so suddenly. The inside of the air intake was crystal clean a few week earlier. Then last week I noticed some dirt on the walls of the air intake, looked inside and saw fuel.
As you say,there is no seal against the plunger itself, so I am assuming that the plunger may be worn or something went wrong inside of the fuel distributor.
After disassembly I reassembled everything and restarted the car. The car is running but the plunger is still leaking.
I then took out the spark plugs and it turns out that the #2 and #3 plugs were covered with black stuff. This might be because of the fuel passing into the air intake is mainly sucked by the #2 and #3 air intake tubes.
If anyone has any info please share.

__________________
1989 230E, 8v, 166.000 km, updated to 94/95 trunk & hood
2002 Daewoo Nexia 50.000 km
Sold:
1987 VW Jetta GLE 16V, Recaro seats
1982 Volvo 240 DL (lovely car!)
and few more american cars.

here is how the plugs look

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
1989 230E, 8v, 166.000 km, updated to 94/95 trunk & hood
2002 Daewoo Nexia 50.000 km
Sold:
1987 VW Jetta GLE 16V, Recaro seats
1982 Volvo 240 DL (lovely car!)
and few more american cars.

Do you know fuel is leaking by the plunger, or do you just assume it because you see raw gas looking below the air-meter plate? If the source could still be in doubt, You might look into a ruptured pressure regulator diaphram. The safety outlet for the gas then is routed to the breather tube, where it would be sucked into the intake just above the meter plate, in the air cleaner. This would explain its sudden occurance.

Steve

I replaced my pressure control which was leaking as you describe, but I am still getting raw gas in the chamber. I wonder.... can an injector (or several) go bad and stay 'open' all the time allowing excess gas to puddle back into the manifold?

I know for sure that the fuel distributor itself is leaking because I tried pressurizing the fuel system and pressing the plunger with my finger. To do this remove all the fuel lines to cylinder, uscrew the fuel presure regulator and the fuel distributor and pull the fuel distributor up. You will stll have the pressure in the fuel system if you don't remove incoming and outgoing fuel lines and the starter injector line. Then, if you push the the plunger the fuel will leak if the plunger is leaking.
I will try getting a new plunger. If I don't find it I then would have to buy a new fuel distributor .

Hurshi

__________________
1989 230E, 8v, 166.000 km, updated to 94/95 trunk & hood
2002 Daewoo Nexia 50.000 km
Sold:
1987 VW Jetta GLE 16V, Recaro seats
1982 Volvo 240 DL (lovely car!)
and few more american cars.

Three days after I added a bottle of injector cleaner to the tank the car suddenly changed and running like never before. I don't know if adding injector cleaner has resulted in this but the car has got almost double power compared to yesterday. The change could also be a result of removing overfilled excess engine oil from the engine.
I am not sure if the fuel distributor is still leaking or not. Hope that the leaking problem is gone with this. I will post again if the problem returns back.
So far I have to knock on wood and hope problems will not return.

__________________
1989 230E, 8v, 166.000 km, updated to 94/95 trunk & hood
2002 Daewoo Nexia 50.000 km
Sold:
1987 VW Jetta GLE 16V, Recaro seats
1982 Volvo 240 DL (lovely car!)
and few more american cars.

This guy rebuilds fuel distribution valves. He is a certified MB mechanic of long standing and a German to boot. Call Stan Keutz at 830-217-4170. He might be able to help.

They are a NO NO on older Mercedes...do a search on copper vs platinum plugs.

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J.H.
'86 300E

They are not platinum. They are Bosch 4 head copper plugs.
BTW, now after my car started running fine I have to crank it for about 5-10 seconds for it to start.

__________________
1989 230E, 8v, 166.000 km, updated to 94/95 trunk & hood
2002 Daewoo Nexia 50.000 km
Sold:
1987 VW Jetta GLE 16V, Recaro seats
1982 Volvo 240 DL (lovely car!)
and few more american cars.