car stalled and can't start it...

[bigyin1]

Morning

Yesterday morning i'd just left the house when about 400m later i lost all power and i coasted to a stop. Since then the car has refused to start. It started off like it was trying to start but since then just cranks over. i've put some diesel in it as it was quite low, although i've had it lower but nothing.

Last week it stalled coming up to a junction but i managed to get it going again, and i've had a couple of issues of starting problems in the last 6 months now it appears to be permanent . All the lights come on and when you crank it the oil pressure is at the top as usual, it has fuel in, it's not leaking. I think it's fuel related and based on the problem the other day perhaps air lock or O-rings perished??

Either way, bit miffed just now as i'm without a car which I really don't like and I only had it serviced a few weeks ago and i did mention the starting issues but presumed it was OK as nothing was changed...

Oh and I have an engine oil leak somewhere and my diff is leaking which came up on the service so i guess they need to be fixed at some point? Actually i do have a 1 year warranty i wonder if they are covered under that?


Thoughts anyone?

 

[lynall]

Do the diesels have the same crank sensor problems the petrols have?



Lynall

 

[kwakdonut]

If you have a warranty, I would contact the place you got it from and get them to sort ALL the problems!!!!

 

[bigwidewindow]

see my problem

hi

see my thread re: 300 engine stopped
/similar problem. please don't drive yours even if you get it started unless you find something DEFINATE... when the engine stops the steering turns to rock on the autos...you will have an accident if you aren't very lucky!

 

[bigyin1]

hi

see my thread re: 300 engine stopped
/similar problem. please don't drive yours even if you get it started unless you find something DEFINATE... when the engine stops the steering turns to rock on the autos...you will have an accident if you aren't very lucky!

Ha, indeed, when gently letting roll down the hill to get it off the road i found that out, arms like trees to move it .

She's being picked up by Mercland and on it's way to be fixed this afternoon, good service

 

[bigwidewindow]

feed back

well it would be interesting to know what they find. i have an electrician booked.

 

[grober]

Is your vacuum cutoff diaphragm leaking on the injection pump or have you a loss of vacuum somewhere?

 

[Number_Cruncher]

>>Is your vacuum cutoff diaphragm leaking on the injection pump or have you a loss of vacuum somewhere?

Believe it or not Graeme, the vacuum cut off actually works the other way round! - the only time there is vacuum applied to the cutoff diaphragm on the injector ump is during the few seconds between the key being turned off, and the vacuum leaking away after the engine stops. While the car's parked, and during normal running, there's no vacuum there.

Which means that if your vacuum system fails while driveng, you *can't* turn the engine off using the key. On the older diesel MBs, the stop lever on the pump was accessible by hand. With the manifold covering the IP on an OM606, this option was no longer available, so, a tap was fitted on the fuel filter of the OM606s in the W124s.

I'm not sure the safety nutters would allow such a design today.

One other quirk of this system is that if there's excessive crankcase pressure, the fuel shut off valve can be activated by the crankcase pressure, shutting the engine down shortly after starting. Loosening the oil cap allows easy diagnosis.

When W124s were fitted to W210s, there was also an electrical shut off switch fitted to the injector pump, so, the tap on the fuel filter was deleted. The tap can cause fuel leaks, and some are tempted to avoid the cost of replacement by fitting a blank W210 filter bolt - I tend to think it's rather an unwise course of action.

For the OP, I would begin to look at the fuel in the low pressure pipes - perhaps even rigging a temporary supply from a can suspended above the engine.

 

[bigyin1]

It looks to be the fuel injector pre-pump that is weak and is introducing air into the fuel system as it is clear before the pump and full of air after. The warranty company has agreed to put £100 towards it so will hopefully get it back fairly soon now . Once the oil leak has been fixed too then i'll be good to go.

yay i'll get my baby back.

 

[SilverSaloon]

low fuel.... - sounds like the fuel tank strainer to me stuggling to get fuel past. Your E300 is the same as mine; very quick to check (if a little messy!). Are all the clear fuel pipes in the engine bay dry?

i cant see either car being an electrical fault to be honest. sounds identical to the problems i had.

 

[Smiley]

Is this also known as the "lifter pump"?

 

[SilverSaloon]

well it would be interesting to know what they find. i have an electrician booked.

i dont think an electrician is going to be able to help you here.

 

[SilverSaloon]

Is this also known as the "lifter pump"?

i dismantled mine and replaced the o-rings inside and fitted a new gasket. not sure if i have any pics anywhere; i'll try and see. a very simple mechanism.

turned out i didnt really need to as i did it when i was avoiding dealing with the DVS leaks, which ultimatly was the main fuel leak problem on mine.

if there is air introduced after the lift pump then i suspect that the o-rings are perished going into the lift pump. You can change these without removing anything if you are careful and use a long screwdriver to pop the new pipe back on and clip into place.

 

[Smiley]

i dismantled mine and replaced the o-rings inside and fitted a new gasket. not sure if i have any pics anywhere; i'll try and see. a very simple mechanism.

turned out i didnt really need to as i did it when i was avoiding dealing with the DVS leaks, which ultimatly was the main fuel leak problem on mine.

if there is air introduced after the lift pump then i suspect that the o-rings are perished going into the lift pump. You can change these without removing anything if you are careful and use a long screwdriver to pop the new pipe back on and clip into place.

Are the o rings the ones on the pipes? - I have changed all of those but did not remove the lift pump when I did them. Are there more o rings in the lift pump itself?

 

[SilverSaloon]

Are the o rings the ones on the pipes? - I have changed all of those but did not remove the lift pump when I did them. Are there more o rings in the lift pump itself?

yeah there is supposed to be 2 o-rings in each valve. i couldnt remove one of them so i only actually replaced one. + a big green one.

there are also o-rings on the pipes itself as normal with the clear pipes.

the EPC shows the o-rings in the exploded diagram with the lift pump.

 

[Smiley]

Thats interesting I thought I had replaced all the fuel delivery o rings. They had all gone flat and hard so were probably sucking air. If there are similar rings in the lifter pump then they must be in the same state. Do you have a link to the EPC for these parts please?

 

[Dieselman]

It looks to be the fuel injector pre-pump that is weak and is introducing air into the fuel system as it is clear before the pump and full of air after.

Then it has to be a bad seal on the suction side pipe or the tank strainer is blocked so causing high vacuum inthe fuel pipes.
I doubt it will be the lift pump itself causing this problem.

 

[SilverSaloon]

Thats interesting I thought I had replaced all the fuel delivery o rings. They had all gone flat and hard so were probably sucking air. If there are similar rings in the lifter pump then they must be in the same state. Do you have a link to the EPC for these parts please?

i think there is a link or pic in this thread; if you cant find it let me know and i'll take a look on the EPC

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

if its not leaking and the lift pump is dry though i wouldnt touch it - i dont think i actually had any problems and the o-ring i bought wasnt there in mine, but i fitted it anyway....