Okay..
I rolled my '81 240D off the ramps, after changing the rear
diff fluid (boy-- I bet THAT stuff was there since the Reagan
Administration!)..
It stalled when it came off the ramps, and refuses to restart..
IN THE LAST WEEK-- I replaced the passenger rear window (as some
vandal put a rock thru it!). Also last week, I changed the
transmission fluid (including draining the TC) and put up a new filter..
I also put up a new starter-- because the old one wasn't always
engaging.. (New one works fine, and I had it bench tested BEFORE I put it up)
Anyway--
The car has historically HAD a vac leak-- to shut it off, you turned
the key, and locked the driver's door, and it would stumble out.. The
central locks 'sorta' worked, but not meaningfully-- it would take probably a minute of driving, and not all of the cylinders would "suck down" on any given day.. It seemed to VARY from day to day which one wouldn't work-- and it apparently quickly lost 'reserve' as I don't think I ever successfully locked all the doors from the door key (ignition off).
Okay...
What I know is that I have a car with a known vacuum issue, that
realistically had that system manipulated and now it won't start..
..Everything appears connected, so I don't see an easy fix.
As I look under the hood, I see one 'main' vac line-- going straight
to the brake booster.
There are two tees off of that.
One goes to the firewall, where it branches three times, with the
middle branch having what appears to be a check valve, that then branches twice, before entering the firewall. All 5 of those 'branches' appear color coded-- which will hopefully aid what I'm going to ask.. Two appear yellow (the last branches, with the check valve) there's a brown and blue one, a black one (that go to the IP) etc..
The second one goes 'on top' of the valve cover to what appears to be
some sort of valve. It has one branch capped off, and a tee with what
appears to be another check valve on one branch.. These lead to black
and black and brown striped leads that, again, go to the IP.
What I'm hoping to do-- is isolate out the central locking 'branch' or branches-- to see if I can't get the car started..
Since I wasn't having luck, I thought maybe I had a fuel filter issue-- though I thought it odd, as it hasn't had starting issues.
I'd filled both with ATF, as I'd previously heard that it's a good clean and lube for the IP.. I tried cracking the injectors, to reprime those-- and found little if any fuel coming out-- leading me to believe the IP isn't getting sufficient vaccuum to 'spray..'
I looked under the hood of my '84 300SD.. UH-- the engine looks sort
of familiar, but the vac system is wholly different, with exception of 4 vac lines leading into the IP.. (So that wasn't a help!!)
SO-- anyone who can direct me to a color code, or tell me which goes
to what would be doing me an incredible service..
I considered hooking a vac gauge to one of the tees, while I cranked,
to make sure the vac pump itself hadn't failed.. (Will this tell me anything??)
I'd primed the filter, with the handpump (that I'll need to replace!) after filling the filters.. I took a 60cc syrringe, and blew back half a quart of ATF into the tank, then sucked fluid out, to make sure the strainer hadn't plugged.. It drew fluid without issue, much quicker than the motor should need it..
What's next to do/try?? I threw the battery on the charger, to make sure it's 'fully ready' when I attack the little beast again..
Okay-- I'll shut up now!
AJ