I have same problem. Its been around 15-20 degrees here in the mornings and my car will fire right up with no smoke. Ive had it 5 yrs now and before this year, first cold snap menat no start. To remedy this I have 5 GP, new strip fuse(it melted last year) new battery(month old), switched to synthetic rotella T and most important I filled up the fuel tank at the local truckstop. Do not use smaller service stations unless they do a high volume of business during winter.

On another note, my Uncle has a '79 L116 MB with a 5cyl diesel that has NO GP. It can be fitted for ether assist. It has 90K mi and it will start every freaking time. NO GLOW PLUGS!! Could someone explain this to me?

not me....it takes more than a couple working glow plugs to fire mine off in less than 5 minutes in temps below 50 degrees farenheit. And mine has only 117,000 miles.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Ive about decided that the light not coming on all the time is in the ignition switch. If I turn the key back and forth a few time it will usually come on.

but seriously, your car wont start below 50?

Let's fire up the torpedo heater with that and see what happens .

__________________
85 300CD
83 300TD
78 240D (daughter)

Well I was sorting a fuel issue out, waiting for the last part to show up......STILL..........

car always started fairly easy till the IP was swapped.......Turnes out that I had a couple glow plugs fail at some point and the temps dipped to 50 all at that time causing the start problem....replaced the glow plugs and it starts real easy again................now the highway power loss , when my filter bracket gets here we shall see if that was the problem.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

The 4-cylinder Perkins diesel on my boat has no glow plugs and starts down to about 40 with no problems. There is an electric heater on the air cleaner that is supposed to heat the incoming air enough to assist in starting, but it's long gone.

__________________
1984 300Sd 210k

Former cars:
1984 300D 445k (!!) (Strider) Original (and not rebuilt) engine and transmission. Currently running on V80 ( 80% vegetable oil, 20% petroleum products). Actually not, taking a WVO break.
1993 300d 2.5 275k. Current 120/day commuter
1981 300SD 188k (Hans) Killed by a deer

Hey,
Replaced #1,2 and 3 plugs this morning. Fired right up with the temp at 10deg C.
And the light even came on for a couple of seconds.

WooHoo! I don't have to freeze my butt off on my motorcycle!

Thanks to everyone once again for all your help.

Danny

Excellent!

__________________
'83 240D with 617.952 and 2.88
'01 VW Beetle TDI
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD
'89 Toyota 4x4, needs 2L-T
'78 280Z with L28ET - 12.86@110
Oil Burner Kartel #35

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b1...oD/bioclip.jpg

with new plugs. it fired up yesterday in 16 degree temp with no heater assist. fingers crossed.

__________________
currently
[1981 300 td tdidi 165500 dark brown/palamino-Brownie-mine-3k miles of ownership
1983 240d 162+++ Anthricite grey w/ henna red interior and hella lights-wifes car-Red

the above two cars are for sale
and can be seen on the cars for sale thread here. pix also available.


240d-144+ Manilla Yellow w/ palmino interior-greasecar kit-Blondie-the college kids car

23" gt 21 speed still on original tires-still got the nubs
21" khs tandem

Hey...I hear you there....I twice had to run my harley all winter due to broke down cars and shortage of money to fix them.......Only way I get on a bike in winter is as a last act of desperation.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Folks,

We had our first 20* night around here this past week. It co-incided with a work get-together. The outing ( with alcohol for me) kept me out until after 12 midnight. Back up and around at 6 am. The car sat 6 fewer hours in the cold due to the alcohol. 8) It started right up with 1 regular glow cycle.

Happy holidays to all and please be careful.

Chuck