300 DIESEL engine stops!

[bigwidewindow]

Hi

My 97' 300 diesel turbo has about 130K on clock. from time to time she'll fire up & stop almost immediatly. after a few attempts it will run properly. thought it might be a filter & this was changed, but as it was intermmitant anyway i can't tell if it helped. ALARMINGLY ! at christmas whislt driving up the motorway & it just died...including dashboard gauges etc. once i'd coasted to a halt i turned the ignition off & on again & statred her up no problem I drove about 3oo miles then & for a month since & not missed a beat. saturday it did its statring thing again & then ran well...on the way home it died again on a bridge down a windy lane. because shes auto the engine wasn't even turning so the power steering & ABS failed... resulting in the car slamming into the railings. obviously im not driving it again until its sorted. any ideas?

 

[280gee]

Is there an alarm fitted to the car?

 

[Dieselman]

Not much will normally stop these engines and about all I can think of is; fuel shut-off valve, blocked strainer in tank, air leaking into the pipes bad connection onto the back of the pump or ECU, lastly crank sensor.

 

[SilverSaloon]

hi

take a look at these two threads - all quite simple to check. fuel tank strainer could the it if you re-filled after it died. it will only die again when the tank reaches a level that it cant get through the strainer.

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=55663

and

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=49844

 

[bigwidewindow]

Yes the car has an alarm. I dont think its a fuel tank issue as when it goes it runs fine. My girlfriend reminded me that last time to dash went dead but the radio was fine...this time i was too busy watching my life pass by my eyes to notice. Thinking electrical/ignition circuit. I have had merc trucks of a similar vintage & they have a habit of getting a faulty ignition switch that will engage the starter as youre driving (Mercv 814, 1720 etc) perhaps mine is a varition on this theme? What sort of job is changing the ignition switch i wonder?

 

[SilverSaloon]

Yes the car has an alarm. I dont think its a fuel tank issue as when it goes it runs fine. My girlfriend reminded me that last time to dash went dead but the radio was fine...this time i was too busy watching my life pass by my eyes to notice. Thinking electrical/ignition circuit. I have had merc trucks of a similar vintage & they have a habit of getting a faulty ignition switch that will engage the starter as youre driving (Mercv 814, 1720 etc) perhaps mine is a varition on this theme? What sort of job is changing the ignition switch i wonder?

so did mine; but do you fill up again after it conks out or happy run for 50 miles without filling?

the radio will stay on as the ignition will still be set at Pos II - radio will/should only go off when you turn it to Pos 0.

what fuel are you running it on? diesel, biodiesel or veg?

if this always happens when the tank is at the same level, then i reckon your fuel tank strainer looks like this:

 

[bigwidewindow]

Filling station diesel. In any case i would expect ignition lights etc when the engine dies if it were fuel starvation. have electrician coiming this morning.

 

[Dieselman]

Oops.
Re read your post.

If the Ign lights done't come on it's probably the Ign switch is faulty.