HELP! car won't start

[vixpy1]

My E300TD won't start, its parked forwards up a steep hill. It turns over but won't fire, I've tried pushing the pedel to the floor.. now have flattened battery, can jump but run out of ideas?

Can anyone offer advice?

Cheers,

Charlie.

 

[Brian WH]

My E300TD won't start, its parked forwards up a steep hill. It turns over but won't fire, I've tried pushing the pedel to the floor.. now have flattened battery, can jump but run out of ideas?

Can anyone offer advice?

Cheers,

Charlie.

One assumes it run before OK to where you are now?
Could be low on Fuel??? If so turn car round facing downhill if possible to help fuel be picked up by pump.

 

[vixpy1]

There is air in the fuel line, it ran fine before, could it be a dodgy fuel guarge? It says its got a quater of a tank

 

[Brian WH]

There is air in the fuel line, it ran fine before, could it be a dodgy fuel guarge? It says its got a quater of a tank

Air in the fuel line is a bad sign? It will want bleeding even when you start to lift fuel. A quarter of a tank might not be enough if the gradient is large, once the pump has pulled air. You can either put more fuel in or as previously suggested try and turn the car round. When you try to jump start it will still pull air for a while and may flatten the other battery. So make sure the second car is running before trying it.

Also see this thread.

Air in system.

Moving to Engine section.

 

[vixpy1]

Thanks, We put some more Diesel in it and put it on a flat section of road and it started, seems it does'nt like the hill, have parked it facing downhill now, with a full tank of fuel.

Could the the pickup of moved out of place, I've never had a problem with any of my other cars, has anyone had this problem before?

Thanks,

Charlie.

 

[watsone91]

check the return pipe at rear nearside the clips can rust and cause a small almost undetectable leak this allows air into the system

 

[vixpy1]

Ta, will have a look.

 

[Dieselman]

This will be the usual culprit, the O rings on the clear fuel lines leading to the filterhead.
Fit new pipes.

 

[vixpy1]

ha dit checked and All the pipes are ok and in excellent condition. Diesel leakage is surplus from service carried out last week apparantly. Anyway, Mercedes suggested it could be the return valve or the banjo rings inside the fuel pump which are on two nuts???

 

[Brian WH]

Diesel leakage is surplus from service carried out last week apparantly.

Didn't they clean it down after service???

 

[vixpy1]

Mercedes did'nt do the service, a local garage of the sellers did, hence why i had it checked out today, nothing wrong with the service per say, but they did leave some surplas deisel.

 

[vixpy1]

I'm a little cheesed off now with the garage, have just paid £200 for all the pipes to be renewed and put it facing upwards on my driveway... won't start!

Have managed to roll it out and turn it around.. it then started.. Run out of ideas now.

Cheers,

Charlie.

 

[Brian WH]

I'm a little cheesed off now with the garage, have just paid £200 for all the pipes to be renewed and put it facing upwards on my driveway... won't start!

Have managed to roll it out and turn it around.. it then started.. Run out of ideas now.

Cheers,

Charlie.

There is an air leak somewhere mate????

Take it back and tell them that they haven't fixed it and money spent was for no gain, and what are they going to do about it????

 

[vixpy1]

Problem was there was a small diesel leak which they have fixed. by doing the pipes, so should they refund part of my money? I will at least insist they fix it for free!

 

[Brian WH]

I will at least insist they fix it for free!

Thats the main aim mate.

Makes "them" find the problem for you too.

 

[Dieselman]

I'm a little cheesed off now with the garage, have just paid £200 for all the pipes to be renewed and put it facing upwards on my driveway... won't start!

QUOTE]


The pipes come to about £25 tops. No wonder you're cheesed off.

 

[vixpy1]

re-read the bill and they have'nt replaced the bloody pipes!

They have 'replaced all fuel line seals, replaced shut off valve seal, replaced fuel filter, pre-filter and housing assembly'

Is this right?

 

[Dieselman]

re-read the bill and they have'nt replaced the bloody pipes!

They have 'replaced all fuel line seals, replaced shut off valve seal, replaced fuel filter, pre-filter and housing assembly'

Is this right?

One can replace the seals seperately but it's not really worth it.

You should really be able to see where the air is being sucked in, especially as the system is only under vacuum upto the lift pump on the side of the pump.

The filterhead is about £20 and the filter another £7, the rest is pennies.

 

[vixpy1]

When its parked on a hill, and you are facing the car from the front,the left clear pipe up to the filter is full of fuel, the pipe coming out the right side is totally empty.

They charged me 3 hours labour, but i dropped the car off at 11am, and when i rung at 12.30pm they said it was almost done, I'm sure they will say that thay had two people working on it, but from experience i've found it hard enough for two people to work in an engine bay. Does this sound excessive time to you? I only thought of it when i got home unfortuneatley.

 

[Dieselman]

When its parked on a hill, and you are facing the car from the front,the left clear pipe up to the filter is full of fuel, the pipe coming out the right side is totally empty.

They charged me 3 hours labour, but i dropped the car off at 11am, and when i rung at 12.30pm they said it was almost done, I'm sure they will say that thay had two people working on it, but from experience i've found it hard enough for two people to work in an engine bay. Does this sound excessive time to you? I only thought of it when i got home unfortuneatley.

Second question first.
Yes the labour sounds excessive, the pipes just clip on and the filter head is only two bolts.

All the pipes should be full of fuel with no air bubbles.

Flow goes through pre-filter and to stop solenoid then to the lift pump, back up to the main filter and down to the pump body.
The black pipe is the leak-off back to the tank.

The main filter should be under pressure from the lift pump.

It sounds like you have a problem at either the lift pump, the pre-filter or the stop solenoid body.

Firstly look for the first pipe with air in, then idle the engine and rev quickly. You will see air drawn into the leaky union.

You would have been quicker and cheaper doing this job yourself.