From: owner-diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net (diesel-benz-digest) To: diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Subject: diesel-benz-digest V1 #680 Reply-To: diesel-benz-at-digest.net Sender: owner-diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Errors-To: owner-diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Precedence: bulk diesel-benz-digest Friday, December 7 2001 Volume 01 : Number 680 Forum for Discussion of Diesel Mercedes Benz Automobiles Derick Amburgey Digest Coordinator Contents: Fuel pick-up Re: Fuel pick-up RE: Fuel pick-up Re: Fuel pick-up Diesel Benz Digest Home Page: http://www.digest.net/diesel-benz/ Send submissions to diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Send administrative requests to diesel-benz-digest-request-at-digest.net To unsubscribe, include the word unsubscribe by itself in the body of the message, unless you are sending the request from a different address than the one that appears on the list. Include the word help in a message to stag-digest-request to get a list of other majordomo commands. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2001 19:31:31 -0500 From: "Boyd McLernon" Subject: Fuel pick-up I've been experiencing similar fuel pickup problems with my '83 300SD. I can drive however I want until the fuel gauge gets to the 'R' hash mark. The reserve indicator light does not come on. I go coughing and sputtering to the next service station. I'm lucky, we've several in town. I put in exactly 17.7 gals. Here's the eerie part; the owners manual says the fuel tank holds approximately 20.3 US gal including a reserve of approximately 3.3 US gal. Could that screen hide 3 gallons consistently? I also had the same problem with my previous 240D. I could never get more than 17.n gallons in it, even after replacing the screen in the tank. The owner's manual says it should have held 22.5 gal including reserve. Comments... Thanks Mac McLernon bmclerno-at-bluecrab.org ------------------------------ Date: 7 Dec 2001 12:31:27 -0800 From: "Mark Fountain" Subject: Re: Fuel pick-up Boyd, et al My guess is that there is water or contaminated fuel or who knows what (algae slurry)?? in your tank. I drained mine completely a couple years ago by removing the large plug and filter screen at the bottom of the tank on my 82 300D. Had to wait till it was almost empty but if you have a dishpan, washpan or something that can hold about 5 gal. you can drain it at 1/4 full or less. There wasn't a whole lot of goop in my tank (only some rust and grit), but I'd be interested to know what drains (or crawls) out of yours if you take this step. Boyd McLernon wrote: > I've been experiencing similar fuel pickup problems with my '83 300SD. I can > drive however I want until the fuel gauge gets to the 'R' hash mark. The > reserve indicator light does not come on. I go coughing and sputtering to the > next service station. I'm lucky, we've several in town. I put in exactly 17.7 > gals. Here's the eerie part; the owners manual says the fuel tank holds > approximately 20.3 US gal including a reserve of approximately 3.3 US gal. > Could that screen hide 3 gallons consistently? I also had the same problem > with my previous 240D. I could never get more than 17.n gallons in it, even > after replacing the screen in the tank. The owner's manual says it should have > held 22.5 gal including reserve. Comments... > > Thanks > Mac McLernon > bmclerno-at-bluecrab.org ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2001 17:21:52 -0700 From: "HAALAND,SCOTT (A-Roseville,ex1)" Subject: RE: Fuel pick-up Hi all, Is it possible that there is some mechanism that starts delivering less fuel on purpose when a certain level is reached? The reason for doing something like this? Because getting a Fuel injection system started when there is any air in the line is very difficult. The pump is unable to draw diesel from the tank because it can't develop suction without fluid. My brother-in-law's BMW (albeit gas-powered) behaved this way when he nearly ran out of gas on a long drive in the middle of nowhere. His engine slowly produced less and less power until he could only maintain 45 mph on a flat road. His theory was that the fuel injection system was trying to avoid completely running out of fuel, and knows that it will consume less fuel at slower speeds, thereby making those last few drops last longer? I'm probably giving the fuel injection system way too much credit....anyone have some hard facts on this that can set me straight? BTW: My 80 300SD behaves the same way right around the "R" on the gauge, just before the light comes on. It starts running rough, especially at idle. However, I have a problem at the other end also. When I fill my tank with more than 12 gallons, it leaks/spills around left turns :( It's probably in the filler tube, where it connects to the tank...? I've never bothered to fix it yet.... R, Scott - -- Scott Haaland 80 300 SD - The Silver Hornet 87 Acura Legend 83 VW Vanagon 69 Chevy 3/4 Ton Pickup - -----Original Message----- From: Mark Fountain [mailto:fountain-at-spiritone.com] Sent: Friday, December 07, 2001 12:31 PM To: Boyd McLernon Cc: diesel-benz list Subject: Re: Fuel pick-up Boyd, et al My guess is that there is water or contaminated fuel or who knows what (algae slurry)?? in your tank. I drained mine completely a couple years ago by removing the large plug and filter screen at the bottom of the tank on my 82 300D. Had to wait till it was almost empty but if you have a dishpan, washpan or something that can hold about 5 gal. you can drain it at 1/4 full or less. There wasn't a whole lot of goop in my tank (only some rust and grit), but I'd be interested to know what drains (or crawls) out of yours if you take this step. Boyd McLernon wrote: > I've been experiencing similar fuel pickup problems with my '83 300SD. I can > drive however I want until the fuel gauge gets to the 'R' hash mark. The > reserve indicator light does not come on. I go coughing and sputtering to the > next service station. I'm lucky, we've several in town. I put in exactly 17.7 > gals. Here's the eerie part; the owners manual says the fuel tank holds > approximately 20.3 US gal including a reserve of approximately 3.3 US gal. > Could that screen hide 3 gallons consistently? I also had the same problem > with my previous 240D. I could never get more than 17.n gallons in it, even > after replacing the screen in the tank. The owner's manual says it should have > held 22.5 gal including reserve. Comments... > > Thanks > Mac McLernon > bmclerno-at-bluecrab.org ------------------------------ Date: 7 Dec 2001 17:18:13 -0800 From: "Mark Fountain" Subject: Re: Fuel pick-up Hey Scott, It looks like you might have a problem where the best solution is removing your fuel tank entirely. I've heard that's not too difficult a task for the average shadetree mechanic. Also, I really don't think that there are any gizmos that regulate fuel delivery at any tank level. Most diesels have a fuel return line that collects the overflow from the injection rail and delivers it back to the tank, so the fuel flow is constant. If you want to eliminate the possibility of a tank vacuum problem, you might try driving around without a fuelcap for a while, taking precautions to keep more moisture from entering the tank, of course. It is still my guess that there is some algae or gunk in the tank that can be gotten out only by draining, or better yet, a complete removal and cleaning. Have fun, Mark "HAALAND,SCOTT (A-Roseville,ex1)" wrote: > Hi all, > Is it possible that there is some mechanism that starts delivering less fuel > on purpose when a certain level is reached? The reason for doing something > like this? Because getting a Fuel injection system started when there is > any air in the line is very difficult. The pump is unable to draw diesel > from the tank because it can't develop suction without fluid. My > brother-in-law's BMW (albeit gas-powered) behaved this way when he nearly > ran out of gas on a long drive in the middle of nowhere. His engine slowly > produced less and less power until he could only maintain 45 mph on a flat > road. His theory was that the fuel injection system was trying to avoid > completely running out of fuel, and knows that it will consume less fuel at > slower speeds, thereby making those last few drops last longer? > > I'm probably giving the fuel injection system way too much credit....anyone > have some hard facts on this that can set me straight? BTW: My 80 300SD > behaves the same way right around the "R" on the gauge, just before the > light comes on. It starts running rough, especially at idle. However, I > have a problem at the other end also. When I fill my tank with more than 12 > gallons, it leaks/spills around left turns :( It's probably in the filler > tube, where it connects to the tank...? I've never bothered to fix it > yet.... > > R, > Scott > -- > Scott Haaland > > 80 300 SD - The Silver Hornet > 87 Acura Legend > 83 VW Vanagon > 69 Chevy 3/4 Ton Pickup > -----Original Message----- > From: Mark Fountain [mailto:fountain-at-spiritone.com] > Sent: Friday, December 07, 2001 12:31 PM > To: Boyd McLernon > Cc: diesel-benz list > Subject: Re: Fuel pick-up > > Boyd, et al > My guess is that there is water or contaminated fuel or who knows what > (algae > slurry)?? in your tank. I drained mine completely a couple years ago by > removing > the large plug and filter screen at the bottom of the tank on my 82 300D. > Had to > wait till it was almost empty but if you have a dishpan, washpan or > something that > can hold about 5 gal. you can drain it at 1/4 full or less. There wasn't a > whole > lot of goop in my tank (only some rust and grit), but I'd be interested to > know > what drains (or crawls) out of yours if you take this step. > > Boyd McLernon wrote: > > > I've been experiencing similar fuel pickup problems with my '83 300SD. I > can > > drive however I want until the fuel gauge gets to the 'R' hash mark. The > > reserve indicator light does not come on. I go coughing and sputtering to > the > > next service station. I'm lucky, we've several in town. I put in exactly > 17.7 > > gals. Here's the eerie part; the owners manual says the fuel tank holds > > approximately 20.3 US gal including a reserve of approximately 3.3 US gal. > > Could that screen hide 3 gallons consistently? I also had the same problem > > with my previous 240D. I could never get more than 17.n gallons in it, > even > > after replacing the screen in the tank. The owner's manual says it should > have > > held 22.5 gal including reserve. Comments... > > > > Thanks > > Mac McLernon > > bmclerno-at-bluecrab.org ------------------------------ End of diesel-benz-digest V1 #680 *********************************