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92 Mercedes E320D won't start....HELP

Am going to look at a 92 MB E320D on Tuesday afternoon 2/10/04, it is a repo at a local bank with no reserve .....sells on Sat. this week...ad says it won't start, color is white...looks good in picture, 225,000 miles. What would be some things to look for as to the reason it would not start other than a bad starter, battery, corroded bat. terminals and the like, what about a timing chain....if the engine turns over and has fuel in the tank what else could a fellow look for, could it be air locked, will these engines start if the tank is ran dry after being refueled or do the injectors need to be bled out, and how could you tell if it was air locked, any particular sounds .....what would this vehicle be worth in this condition, $500 or less if it has TC broke.

Thanks for any help anyone could give on this MB question. Tim, Ohio Otherwise know as: mercmerc

Reply to
mercmerc
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Open the lube oil fill and look inside with a flash light to see if the timing chain is busted and the cam etc. broken. Otherwise you have the right idea as to possibilities.

Reply to
T.G. Lambach

Thanks T.G. I will be sure and take along the flashlight for that test.

Tim

Reply to
mercmerc

I went and looked at the 300SD.......nice car......if I can see the cam rolling over that means the TC is intact correct? I found a fuel filter box in the trunk and what looks like a new fuel filter (canaster Type GRAY).... and a little bit of fuel around the last injector tubing nut connection closest to the firewall .... air lock maybe??? What does the glow plug lite look like, a double circular line on right side of dash? does the glow plug system run off of a timing relay to cycle the plugs or other system? How strong should the battery be to crank this engine over and heat the glow plugs and bring combustion chamber to a firing temperature.....we tried to start it with a battery box but no go...at least it did turn over for us though.

Thanks for help.....Tim

Reply to
mercmerc

If you saw the cam turning the timing chain is OK.

Battery is OK if you turn the key to ON, the glow plug light burns for say 10 seconds and then you crank the engine.

Now you say this is a 1992 300SD. I believe this model uses the 3.5L diesel. This is NOT and engine that you want to own, BUT if you can buy the car for very, very little money and buy a new engine or have this one overhauled then this car may be worth the effort.

The 3.5L diesel has had many many failures. Apparently the connecting rods get fatigued and eventually bend causing the pistons, usually #1 and #4 to no longer be square to their cylinders and score their cylinder walls. As you see this is heavy stuff - engine removal, new connecting rods etc.

So the old formula applies: market value less repair costs = purchase price

If you choose to proceed I can e-mail you some pictures of these con. rods.

Reply to
T.G. Lambach

Thanks so much T.G., I went to the auction this morning to bid on the car......wow....the thing brought 2600.00US, they still did not have it running and it had a cracked windshield to boot.....I was thinking along the lines of

5-600 but no more. I will tuck that bit of info away on the Conn. Rods and that particular engine. Going to continue the search. They also sold a 99 320E with 121,000 miles and a cracked head and it brought 8500.00US and I thought that was way out of the ball park...not sure everyone knew it had problems though...it was a bank repo auction. Thanks again for your input and comments, much appreciated. Tim
Reply to
mercmerc

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