Howdy i am a greenhorn to the whole forum gig, so bear with me. TO start out with i have an 81' 300sd with a OM617 engine and a w126 body . Now when i go out in the morning to start her i let the glowplugs cycle then if i crank her right after the light goes out it cranks for i would say about 5-10 seconds before fireing, if i wait for about 10 seconds after the glowplug lights go out it seems to fire right up most of the time, also when she starts i don't get much smoke. When i stop and say run into the store to grap something real fast i can come back and it will fire right up. My freind who lives a little bit away who know diesels says it might be algae in the tank and that may be so i still have to change the fuel filters and disect. Any other opinions would be greatefully accepted. She has almost 250000 miles on her with matenince logs till about 180000, and since i have gotten her i have logged all the matenince and fuel information. Also if anyone else could tell me what they adverage with thier cars would be appreciated too because the only two others that have diesels that are 300d's w123 bodies, one turboed (US Market) one nat asperated with a 4 speed (grey market to US).Now both of thier cars fire up with barely one full stroke. Thanks to all and i hope to learn more with being affiliated with this site, Thanks Trevor

Trevor,
Welcome to the Forum.
It soulds like you may have a dead glow plug. Easy to check, easy to replace on the OM617.
Beg,borrow or buy a digital multimeter and pull the conector from the GP relay, behind LH headlight. Test resistance to ground from each connector. Resistance around 1 ohm is good, 0 ohms or >2 ohms indicates problem.
A 10mm ring spanner can be used to loosen the GPs, but be careful of the nut which holds the electrical cable on. It is easy to lose.

You may wish to check for air in the fuel prefilter. It is normal for there to be a bubble of air in there, but it should not be more than 1" wide. Any more than this would indoicate an air leak into the fuel system. I don't think this is your issue, but worth checking anyway.

have fun,
Tony
The Wizard of Oz

__________________
Tony from West Oz.
Fatmobile 3 84 300D 295kkm Silver grey/Blue int. 2 tank WVO - Recipient of TurboDesel engine.
Josephine '82 300D 390kkm White/Palamino int.
Elizabeth '81 280E, sporting a '79 300D engine.
Lucille '87 W124 300D non-turbo 6 cylinder OM603, Pearl Grey with light grey interior


Various parts cars including 280E, 230C & 300D in various states of disassembly.

When I checked mine on the last long trip, it was around 25 MPG. When I drive just in town, it seems to drop to around 20. I can't really tell what my mileage is now because I don't accurately measure how much WVO I put in.


www.benzbonz.biz

Marty

Thanks for the advice i don't think its the GP's i have some people who think it could be my car needs a valve adjustment but i will check it out one afternoon when i am not busy. Thanks again Trevor p.s. an unrelated issue is my hood release eis not working its like the handle has broken off and there is nothing to pull the wire i can eventually get it to realase if i play with it.