my glowplug light has been fine since i have owned the car. however today as i was driving the light turned on suddenly. and then went off, however it turned on for a few seconds then off again. it repeated this a few times. and now i'm wondering what the cause of this could have been as the car has never done this before. and there has been no glowplug work lately.

__________________
1982 300D Turbo 203K silver
Need to fix these leaks badly

Probably a bad glow plug or relay. Test the plugs with an ohm meter. Good ones will read 0.6 ohms cold. Very quick and easy test. Pop the cover off of the relay box and probe each terminal going to the plugs.

Len

Stephen,

U have to remove the GP cable connector from the GP relay to remove parallel resistances readings when U are resistance testing the GP.

You can plug one lead of the ohmeter into the female GP cable connector hole using a bananna plug and the other lead of the ohmeter goes to a good ground, preferably using an alligator clip. Do this for all GP and any bad one should be obvious.

P E H

While testing the plugs is in order before you change anything, the relay is probably bad. If you find any bad plugs, consider getting a kit containing both the plugs (replace them all if you find any bad) and the relay. It's a bit cheaper that way.

thanks i'll get to testing them later today before i have to work.

__________________
1982 300D Turbo 203K silver
Need to fix these leaks badly

check the glow plug fuse, located on the drivers side wheel well hump in the engine compartment

TheDon,

The GP fuse is also located inside the GP relay.

P E H

Steven,

Replacing all the GP in a 617 engine because one was bad is like replacing all the lightbulbs in your house is because one of then burned out.

Its just extra cost and extra work. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".

P E H

i have another question how long do glowplugs usually last for you guys? out of curiousity.

__________________
1982 300D Turbo 203K silver
Need to fix these leaks badly

Steven,

Its hard for me to keep track of the life of GP as I move them from car to car. But I would guess the life is about 10 years or 100,000 miles. I never throw out a GP before its time.

I did have an anomally last week: 4 of 6 GP in my 603 engine were open. They just seem to go bad over the winter storage. I have no explanation for this but most of the failed GP from the engine were Monarch, I think because they had no brand name on them but did have a king type crown stamped on the GP.

I have heard reports that GP life in newer MB Diesels is much less, possibly because these GP are still energized for a while after the engine is started and running.

P E H