Hello. My 300D is enjoying (I think) its new life in East Tennessee after a long tenure in Tampa, FL. Since I bought the car in Feb Ive had cold start problems, even when it 90 deg. I got on the list here and have tried all these things to no avail:

1) Replaced glow plugs with Bosch
2) Replaced fuel filter
3) Verified the ignition timing
4) Checked the return fitting housing pressurizing bolt (diesel guy in town did this)
5) Hand primed before starting
6) Adjusted the idle up very slightly

So now as its getting colder a new problem is happening though only sometimes: I'll loose my idle with a hot engine often when backing up, but sometimes sitting still leaving the grocery or something. There's a diesel specialist here in town who works mostly on big rigs and tractors and he's stumped (probably not surprisingly given that its a MB). So Im trying again for any feedback anyone might have. Im OK to live with it, but it sure would be nice not to crap out at the first stop sign down the street each time I leave home.

Any ideas and I'd be real grateful.

Thanks
Roy Andrade

Does the hand primer leak fuel when pumped? if so replace it with updated style.

Have you checked you glowpug relay...pay close atention to the fuse...make sur e there is no hairline cracks..and have you confirmed its sending juice to the plags with a DVM.

__________________
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)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"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

My first post on this board was for a similar problem - my 240D would start OK (not excellently) in the morning and similarly when warm - but often after a stop, it would stall and would be difficult to get running again. I suspected a fuel leak but never found anything. Air was definitely getting into the system and manually priming helped get things going.

I had replaced (in this order): Battery & cables, oil (Mobil 1 5w-40), valve adjustment, both fuel filters, fuel supply & return lines (except under car, to tank), starter, primer pump (now has new style), and it only got worse.

After tearing my hair out over this, last week, I had my shop pressure test the fuel system- the shop found the leak and replaced the line. Now Katja starts in literally one second, everytime! I'm glad I did all the other work, though.

I don't know if you have the manual idle knob on the dash (only the older 300D's did) but with mine, I always turn it up to max on a cold start - it needs that - and bring it down slowly as the car warms up after I've been driving for a minute or two. Kind of like what an automatic fast idle module does.

-AC

Is your rack dampner bolt adjusted all the way in? This will cause warm running issues.

__________________
Adam Lumsden
(83) 300D
Vice-President of the MBCA International Stars Section