r/MercedesDiesel

Sunny Sunday Drive

I’ve been working on my 76 240D for a while now trying to bring it back to life with some success but I haven’t quite managed to get it to run properly yet. I took the injection pump out because all the plungers were stuck in it and took it all apart and cleaned it. After I accomplished that I reinstalled it in the engine and I had fuel pressure to my injectors finally. Now I have a new problem. I pull the start lever and it starts after priming and glowing a bit but it smokes really bad and it dies immediately after letting off the start handle. It will stay running if I hold it open part of the way and better still if I give it throttle but it will not idle in the “run” position. I did a bench test on the pump and made sure the injectors fired when the start lever was in the neutral position and that it ceased firing when moved to stop position. All injectors delivered approximately the same amount of fuel. It was hard to tell but the spray pattern seemed okay on the injectors too. I’m pretty sure it’s timed appropriately too. I’m kinda at wits end with this thing. It is my first diesel car so I’m hoping others might have some insight into this problem. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Trading one of old trucks that i don't want anymore for 1974 240D in pretty decent shape. I've been looking for a while. Here's a video of the engine running, just seeing what you guys think. What are some things I can do right away to start tinkering on it