chilsta
Active Member
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2010
- Messages
- 105
- Car
- '94 S124 E300D
Sometime in the summer I had a couple of times when the engine would start, but immediately die again.I had to turn over the engine many times before it would eventually start, with periodic glows inbetween.
After those couple of times it seemed to rectify itself & was fine.
Until a couple of weeks ago, when it started to not start every time that I tried in the morning. It gets to the point where the battery has pretty much drained and just as I think it's not going to, it will start to fire again. Once it's started it runs absolutely fine and will restart immediately even after sitting for 9+ hours while I'm at work.
So last week it went into my local mechanic. My initial thought was that it was probably a leak in one of the injector line seals at the top of the injector pump (I had this on a 201 years ago). Over time, air bleeds in and the fuel bleeds back to the tank.
The mechanic wasn't so sure, or was the Mercedes guy over the road from him. They both suspected glowplugs. They also spotted that there was damp coming from at least one of the lines on top of the injector pump.
So the inlet manifold came off, new Bosch glowplugs fitted, new seals and O rings fitted on the injector lines.
On reassembly it started fine, they MoTd it for me (no advisaries after replacing the light switch so it didn't pull off when trying to switch on the fogs) and dropped it back to me. I was away so it sat for around 5 days until Monday when I used it for work. It took maybe a turn or two of the engine to start (it normally starts immediately, but I put this down to the fact it had just had work done and had sat for 5 days). It started up immediately 9 hours later after work and I was fairly satisfied that all was well.
I didn't use the car yesterday, but this afternoon I went to start it and was gutted to find the same thing happened- started straight up but almost immediately died. After nearly cranking the battery to death it started and all was well. I turned the engine off and restarted a few times after that while running errands and it was fine each time.
I spoke to the mechanic and he's at a loss, but said he'll take a look.
I'm still of the opinion that air's getting in somewhere, but really don't know where that could be now. He's suggesting that we change the fuel filter housing. I've not heard of this being an issue before. Is this likely to help?
Anyone have any ideas where air could be getting in, or another solution to this?
Many thanks in advance
After those couple of times it seemed to rectify itself & was fine.
Until a couple of weeks ago, when it started to not start every time that I tried in the morning. It gets to the point where the battery has pretty much drained and just as I think it's not going to, it will start to fire again. Once it's started it runs absolutely fine and will restart immediately even after sitting for 9+ hours while I'm at work.
So last week it went into my local mechanic. My initial thought was that it was probably a leak in one of the injector line seals at the top of the injector pump (I had this on a 201 years ago). Over time, air bleeds in and the fuel bleeds back to the tank.
The mechanic wasn't so sure, or was the Mercedes guy over the road from him. They both suspected glowplugs. They also spotted that there was damp coming from at least one of the lines on top of the injector pump.
So the inlet manifold came off, new Bosch glowplugs fitted, new seals and O rings fitted on the injector lines.
On reassembly it started fine, they MoTd it for me (no advisaries after replacing the light switch so it didn't pull off when trying to switch on the fogs) and dropped it back to me. I was away so it sat for around 5 days until Monday when I used it for work. It took maybe a turn or two of the engine to start (it normally starts immediately, but I put this down to the fact it had just had work done and had sat for 5 days). It started up immediately 9 hours later after work and I was fairly satisfied that all was well.
I didn't use the car yesterday, but this afternoon I went to start it and was gutted to find the same thing happened- started straight up but almost immediately died. After nearly cranking the battery to death it started and all was well. I turned the engine off and restarted a few times after that while running errands and it was fine each time.
I spoke to the mechanic and he's at a loss, but said he'll take a look.
I'm still of the opinion that air's getting in somewhere, but really don't know where that could be now. He's suggesting that we change the fuel filter housing. I've not heard of this being an issue before. Is this likely to help?
Anyone have any ideas where air could be getting in, or another solution to this?
Many thanks in advance