Engine will not start...!

[phil newman]

Hi,

I have just bought a 1995 E300 diesel.I fitted a stereo today I have drove the car about 25 miles since, so ruling out any problems there. I started the engine to pop out drove 25 meters and it cut out, and now will not start at all. The engine cranks but will not fire. I thought the fuel level was low but no reserve light lit so to be on the safe side put in a gallon or so of fuel. Still not firing. Can anyone help?

Cheers

Phil Newman

 

[dave elcome]

Phil.

Without wishing to sound condescending, check the basic's first.

Does the injector pump have an electrical solenoid type fuel cut off, if so is it operating correctly?

If it's the "powered arm" type, is this operating correctly?

These i would check first, if no joy PANICK and come back to us.

 

[phil newman]

Hi,

I am new to diesels so not sure about the fuel solenoid or arm pump, I bought this car from a dealer and last week it was into mercedes under warrenty because of a fuel leak. This was traced to the return injector hose to the fuel filter housing and was replaced. Would the solenoid be connected to the alarm on the car? But the alarm is working as it was before this problem.

Phil..

 

[dave elcome]

Phil.

Its a possibility, conecting some kind of immobiliser to the fuel cut off would be a good way to immoblise a Diesel.

I see you say that its under warranty, surely that makes it their problem, not yours, especially if they have recently carried out work on the vehicle.

 

[DerekMWood]

I have a 220CE and shortly after buying it it developed a problem where, on occasions, it would fail to start, pleanty of cranking but nothing else.  I got her into the dealer I was using at the time and they traced it to an 'over voltage sensor'.  80,000 miles later and have never been let down since (well once... but I'd left the lights on) Can't help more than that.

Derek

 

[phil newman]

Hi,

Well I think its the fuel gauge the tank must have been empty. A topup of a gallon or so and lots of cranking and it started (the system self bleeds according to mercedes and it takes about 2 minutes of continuous cranking !!!) the fuel gauge is reading 1/4 of a tank. So its going into merc tomorrow to fix that along with an oil leak thats been happening since ive had it.
So far merc ownership has been a bit of a pain, it can only get better i suppose. The supplying dealer has been very good so far and offered to pay those merc prices. I will post the results as and when its fixed.

Thanks for the input.

Phil..

 

[phil newman]

Hi,

Well its all sorted out now.
The fuel sender had some black jelly stuff stopping it from working correctly this is a common ish thing on these diesels apparently. As for the leak, the engine undertray sound proofing foam was full of auto transmission oil. The transmission oil cooler pipe has at some stage been replaced due to the condition of it. The dealer has checked the auto box fluid and its okay, so maybe the cooler pipe failed leaked onto the undertray soaking it using it as a wick. Then when I parked it on our drive on a slight incline the rear of the tray saturated and dripped onto the floor.
Two and a quater hours labour and very courteous treatment at the merc dealer later and im a happy chappy.

One thing I have learned from this is NEVER RUN OUT OF DIESEL.


Cheers

Phil..