Algae in the diesel.

[burtcheca]

Last week I bought a 1981 Mercedes 300D. I'm going to try put the pics here now but sometimes the system gives me a headache to do it.
The car is beautiful, has been kept very well and is 95% original. Factory paint, seats upholstery and even the original first aid kit behind the rear seat! Almost everything works fine but it gave me a lot of troubles on the highway from the old lady that was the owner home to my farm. Every 2 or 3 miles the engine died, the secondary fuel filter got clogged with algae! I had to remove it, shake it, blow it and put it back, all that in a dark night (last Friday) by the side of the road, with car passing at 60+ MPH and only a flash light in hand.
I already drained all the old diesel that was in that tank for three years and some gunk came out too (brownish flakes and stuff), then I put 10 gallons of fresh diesel with a bottle of Bio-Con. I bought 5 secondary filters more and one primary with a bottle of Diesel clean. I'm going to change the aux. filter, the main filter and run a test around the farm to see how it behaves.
Any advice on how to get rid of the algae and stuff in the tank and lines?
Thanks,
Burt.

 

[Desertrig]

Uh, get it cleared up and don't let it sit. Bugs were always a problem at the refinery, damn things will survive everything h2s, HF..... I'd consider replacing the tank if you want the car to be able to sit for a couple months without going through the process again. You could try bleach, but I would be scared that would give you a rust issue... If it's a daily driver, I'd get it cleaned up and not worry about it..... I'd probably mostly be concerned about the tank, the IP, and the injectors.... Algae increases the rate of corrosion, but not an internal engine issue and probably not an issue at standard temp and pressure for metal fuel lines and the like as far as corrosion, but that tank sounds like it could be a continuing issue.... Note my Pops is the metallurgist so my childhood dinner conversations finally have a purpose....

 

[Desertrig]

I've also heard of this in the marine world. You might check some boat forums out.

 

[RavenTBK]

Just had to deal with this with a new 85 300D I bought last Saturday. Fuel gauge was stuck empty even after adding $30.. went to clean it out and it was SOLID with the "black death" inside the sender tube. Same with the primary and secondary filters.

My solution: suck all fuel out of the tank from the fuel sender hole, let most of the larger solids settle out in a bucket, then pumped back in from the top of the bucket. Ended up buying a bottle of "Killem" (biocide) from my local big truck parts shop..$12. Did a shock treatment with that, and have been changing primary filters since. On #3 now since the shock. This last time took much longer to plug, so I believe its almost all gone. Will know better by next week when I finish off the second full tank.

Outside from pulling the tank and having it professionally cleaned at a radiator shop, the best you'll be able to do is kill it with biocide, and let it simply suck it all through the system. Keep some more spares handy.

 

[idiabuse]

start using waste motor oil and gasoline mixed and it will knock out all that funk. Gonna have to swap out a few filters as it knocks it all loose.
Best part is with WMO it will never grow algae again or cost alot at the pump.


Javier

 

[burtcheca]

OK, after a couple of weeks following the advices given to me here I can say now that most of the junk seems to be out. I'm on the fourth full tank and had to go thru more than 12 inline filters. Now it takes about 200 miles to clog the inline filter out. I put a bottle of Bio-Con from NAPA in the first two tanks and Seafoam in the last two. I had siphoned out all the old diesel first that was brownish in color and with lots of junk in it. The engine runs smooth now. Thanks a lot to y'all for your help and advices.