The 300D cranked right over this morning. Checked the thermometer, it was 12 below! I just installed a block heater in the lower radiator hose, and adjusted the valves over the weekend, sure enough she fired right up! But on the downside, she just informed me that I need to replace the starter soon (lots of clicking of the gears), perfect winter job LOL. Any tips?

No tips. Sorry. But that is awesome. My 81 300D in 30F takes 30 minutes of cranking to start. The glow plug resistance test passes. The relay is giving voltage to all glowplugs. After the car is run initially, it wil start right up the rest of the day, even after 3 or 4 hours of sitting. Also my starter is doing the same thing. It sounds like it is slipping. What year and mileage is your car? Mine is 81 300D with 99,000 miles.

I have some clattery valves and was wondering if that may affect cold starting. Also, i will check the fuel start of delivery as the Haynes manual says that is a cause for trouble starting in the cold. Any after that i guess I will check that the glow plugs are really heating up.



thanks,

I fried the 4ga battery cable to the starter trying to start mine at 10* on #2? (summer oil)... 76 300d, 120k miles. Didnt click the starter, but did have issues with the cables (cheapest man who spends the most )

Glad urs started
~Nate

__________________
95 Honda Shadow ACE 1100.
1999 Plymouth Neon Expresso. 2.4 swap, 10.5 to 1 comp, big cams. Autocross time attack vehicle!
2012 Escape, 'hunter" (5 sp 4cyl)

Good Gravy! I couldn't even walk out to my car if it was 12 below, so it wouldn't matter if it started or not!!

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

it was -8 this morning with the wind chill, and I bike to school... Allbiet only a 5 min ride, but BURRR... And of course my shifters frozen, so the rides done in 3rd gear

~Nate

__________________
95 Honda Shadow ACE 1100.
1999 Plymouth Neon Expresso. 2.4 swap, 10.5 to 1 comp, big cams. Autocross time attack vehicle!
2012 Escape, 'hunter" (5 sp 4cyl)

It's only 0deg F outside here tonight. Glowed for 30 sec starter cranked for a good 30 sec, no sign of life. Took the Subaru to work. It's supposed to be -6 in the morning when I go home. I did not have the block heater plugged in, I can't plug it in at work, so I needed to see if it would start without the heater. It's going to be a cold night working outside tonight.

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Kevin
82 300D

After reading more on this forum, I found that indeed the valve adjustment does make cold starting harder. Also glow plugs can pass resistance tests and have voltage to them and yet not heat up.
New ones will get red hot fast while old ones will just get warm. I think I will be ordering a new set of plugs at any rate.

I hope you are running 0W40 synthetic engine oil for Sub zero temperatures, it will raise cranking speed, and put less stress/wear on your starter.

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1985 300SD
1983 300D
1984 190D
2003 Volvo V70
2002 Honda Civic

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I guess I wont complain about the 29 degree yesterday morning. I always plug my clock heater in, when the car is at the house. At school I just let the glow plugs do the work.

__________________
1981 300D 147k
1998 VW Jetta Tdi 320k
2001 Dodge Ram 2500 141k
1979 300D 234k (sold)
1984 300D "Astor" 262k(sold)
Mercedes How-To and Repair Pictorials
I love the smell of diesel smoke in my hair

Where can I get a clock heater??? ROFL

Funny Roy, I was just thinking the same thing!

__________________
Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

Perhaps a new option?
Are you still up at the locks enjoying the arctic chill?

I have found that once the car is warmed up in the morning that even setting for 9 hours at work is no big deal. I think there is still some residual heat in the oil although at minus 12 that may not be the case. But I never have a problem after work but then I have only tested down to about 10 degrees farenheit so far this year.
Strong battery and 50 dollars worth of glow plug insurance every fall really helps.
Anyone try mounting a group 24 on the drivers fender for additional cranking power? Looks like it could fit and that extra power could really come in handy at times. The oither idea I am curious about is mounting an oil pan heater JC Whitney) with an inverter hooked to a group 24 deep cycle. Wonder if you could get enough juice out of that battery to heat the pan up a bit to help the cold starts? Other option would be the 12 volt RV tank heaters. It is just a pad design you could probably hang to the pan without too much work.

__________________
'99 S420 - Mommies
'72 280SE 4.5 - looking to breathe life into it
'84 300SD Grey - Sold
'85 300SD Silver - Sold
'78 Ski Nautique

Yepper, still at the Soo. The office is 2 blocks from the locks, not too much longer before they're froze over though. This mornings temp was a balmy 3F, soon it'll be jacket weather .

__________________
Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I installed a manual switch for the glow plugs. I usually let the plugs heat for about 15 to 20 seconds before I crank her over in this type of weather. Thanks for mentioning the 0w-40 oil, I didn't know such an oil exsisted.