qat727

I'll try to tell you all as much about the car as I can, but this is my first Mercedes, so I don't know a whole lot about it. It is a 1974 450SEL. Looks to have 81,000+ original miles. It has a 4.5L FI V8. Auto tranny. 4 door. Pre-Cat. OK. As for the history. Apparently it was purchased new by an old Greek lady and only driven very little. She became incapacitated and the car set for years. It was purchased by a local import mechanic who specialized in Mercedes, Porsche, Volvo, BMW, and VW. He fixed it up, got it running good, and then got liver disease and fell terribly ill. A friend of his bought it from him to help pay off medical bills. He drove it and put something like 20,000 miles on it. For some reason he parked it, and left it there without starting it for 6 years. I got it, and started fixing it up. I finally got the motor to fire, but it wasn't getting fuel at all. So, I found that the fuel pump had fully turned to varnish. I rebuilt it, and reinstalled it. Get all the wiring back together, put good gas in the tank, after giving it more than enough time to drain the old out, and tried to turn it over. Well, the fuel pump works, but it won't pull out of the tank. I have a nearly worthless Haynes manual that doesn't have anything in it on the tank, and considering it has been hovering just above freezing for a while, I really don't want to tear into it again without knowing what I'm getting into. So, I'm left knowing a few things. 1) the fuel pump works. 2)the line is clear from the fuel pump to the motor 3)the motor ought to run now, with new coil, points and various other parts 4) it has gas in the tank.

What I need to know is what to look for. Is there some sort of a sump in the tank that could have become clogged with varnish that would require me to drop the tank to fix, or could I pull the fuel pump again and blow the line out to the tank with air, or what is my next course of action.

Oh, and if anyone wants this car, it would make a wonderful restoration project for someone who knows about these cars. I'd take $1500 for it and help you load it. Otherwise, I hope you all can help me fix it. - Thanks in advance.

CP1

I don't know if the gas tank has a sock covering the suction line but it's possible. If it does, I would guess that the sock is completely blocked. Is it easy to remove the pickup from the tank?

Silly question - this is a MB where nothing is easy.

1st_C_Class

I had one a couple years older than that and it had an electric fuel pump mounted next to the tank. I believe some models had pumps in the tank but don't remember which.

With the rear pump not running they definitely won't run.

Is this possible with yours?

Regards,

Tim