Hey all,
I had a real tough time starting this morning. Took a couple bouts of glowing and three runs of ~30 seconds cranking before my baby would start.
I know that #4 has a bad glow plug, but would that alone account for the brutal start? Or should I be thinking about testing the compression and such as a test?
Haven't had it done yet, but my local indy will pop test/spray pattern test the injectors and do a compression test for about $250.
I have two months off coming up, so I won't need the car too much, and was planning on working on it anyway, just wanted some input about likely suspects.

Cheers all,
-nB

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'83 300D Turbo
Current: ???K mi - 19.2mpg -> 17.4mpg -> 22.9mpg ---> ODO Died
bought at: 233.8K mi - 10MPG For $1.00
3.5 cylinders work: 320 320 100 340 280
Got insurance? FarmersReallySucks.Com

One bad plug on mine will just make it stumble at that temp for about five seconds. I see you have your mpg posted in your sig. Have you checked things like pump timing, cam timing, and chain stretch? Those could be tied to both your hard starting and lower than average mileage. Valves could too and injectors wouldn't hurt if they're original.

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Seth

1984 300D 225K
1985 300D Donor body
1985 300D Turbo 165K. Totaled. Donor Engine. It runs!!!
1980 300SD 311K My New Baby.
1979 BMW 633csi 62K+++? Dead odo

A lot posted in the archives about this area. One glow plug out will have some effect of course. Some engines tollerate one glow plug out differently than another. If you have the time and car is off road. Get a compression checker for diesels. Either good used from ebay or a chain store for less then 20.00. Two fifty is too much just to spray and pop test the injectors and do a compression check in my opinion. Use your savings to upgrade anything that does need it instead. Hunter posted that with all things being good these will start at -34.4 cecius degrees with one glow cycle. I really do not want to do the conversion to american measure but it is cold. You where trying to start yours in a heat wave by comparison. If battery is not really strong you will also have problems. Replacing the glow plug will help somewhat. As the last poster mentioned. A good tunep should be done pretty soon after one of these cars are aquired..If everything is okay thats great. Unfortunatly a lot of these have not had things properly checked out for endless years. . You might catch something on the verge of failure as well. I personally never trust the odometers in general. Unless the records are with the car when purchased from day one and there are no unacountable gaps in them. No externsive records with the car is a sign to check them out. Appearances can be very decieving.

I experience pretty had starting in my 300TD with one bad glow plug. Like you I would glow twice and I would still have to crank and crank to get her to start. Replaced the plug and she fired right up. Might also think about a block heater. That will make it start much easier when temps drop.

I would replace your bad GP and see if that solves your problem. It's a lot cheaper too.

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Maybe its related to your poor fuel mileage, hows your timing?

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

How much does fuel type factor into low-temperature starting? I am running about 20% biodiesel & the rest Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel #2. At about 25 degrees F this morning, 30 second pre-glow and mine fired up in about two seconds (but always runs a little rough for a few seconds after starting). That's on a 1976 240D with who-knows-how-old series glow plugs, quite a bit of blowby, and over 250K miles. On the good side the battery is only a year old, valves have been adjusted and I use 15w-50 Mobil synthetic oil. Tonight it's supposed to get down to 18F, if I weren't curious to see how well it starts I'd definitely plug in at those temperatures.

I've heard at some point in the single digits straight #2 diesel fuel will gel so you mix it with kerosene or RUG if no #1 is available....but is the ULSD any different? What if you run 99% biodiesel or a mix? What if there's a bit of SVO mixed in the tank?

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1976 240D "Katja"

I was under the impression that #1 was the thick stuff, and #2 was the winterized stuff...
John

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Inspection and valve adjustment when I acquired the car, same indy that the car has been to for the last 10 years or so. He did the valve adjustment, and checked the chain stretch, said the chain was fine, but the valves were a bit tight, that alone bought about 4 MPG.
I have not checked pump timing, that is on my to-do list for my break.
Edit: forgot, JJ said he replaced the chain, and ancillary parts at about 200K Mi, so it's essentially new.
Been reading the archives, I was thinking that 250 may be a bit much (not as bad as the $400+ I've seen other people quoted though), but then again, I'm not taking the risk of them being seized (230K miles and I'm fairly certain they've never been out of the block). If they get broken off in the block I don't have to worry about extraction. Battery is new (well, two weeks old). Car came with every service record all the way back to bill of sale. Most are blank as the carbonless paper has faded to the point of being unreadable. about an inch and a half stack of service records, so the feel-good factor is there.

unknown. That and the front end rubber are my two major projects this winter.
-nB

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'83 300D Turbo
Current: ???K mi - 19.2mpg -> 17.4mpg -> 22.9mpg ---> ODO Died
bought at: 233.8K mi - 10MPG For $1.00
3.5 cylinders work: 320 320 100 340 280
Got insurance? FarmersReallySucks.Com

number 1 is real diesel number 2 is home heating oil

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commercial fisherman diesel in my blood in my boats trucks and Dear old Dad has had me drivin them since i got my first license in 1968
1986 300 SDL 427654
1999 Chevy Crew Cab Dually 225423
1986 300 SDL 287000 Dad's
1987 190 Turbo 158000 Mom's (my inheritance)

I had similar symptoms with one of my W123's. Could not, would not turn over. My first glow plug was out. Lucky me. I changed it and va va vhoom. Bleutus started on the first try. I would try to rule out the least expensive fixes first before commiting to a compression test for $250. Do you seriously get 10mpg?

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1980 300SD (Mr. Sparkles), 1976 450SEL, 1982 300D turbo, 1989 VW Cabriolet morphing into a td cabriolet , 1997 TDI Passat, 1996 piece of Jeep,1993 F150, 1990 F250 7.3L...i think that's it, for now.

Currently gets 19.change per gallon.
Getting up from 10 when I acquired it.

I'll make that more clear in my sig
-nB

__________________
'83 300D Turbo
Current: ???K mi - 19.2mpg -> 17.4mpg -> 22.9mpg ---> ODO Died
bought at: 233.8K mi - 10MPG For $1.00
3.5 cylinders work: 320 320 100 340 280
Got insurance? FarmersReallySucks.Com

Are you sure your odometer is reading correctly?

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

The other way around, "normal" diesel fuel is #2 (higher density), in the winter, some amount of #1 can be blended in to reduce gelling, resulting in "winterized" fuel.

No, #2 diesel is "normal" diesel and home heating oil is #2 fuel oil. They have similar density and heating values, but different additives, #1 diesel is lower density than #2 (basically the same as kerosine).

checked it against my 02 camry and my 94 truck, all three were within 3% (.3mi) at 10 miles, truck read lower than the other two, merc and toy were less than 0.05mi off.

Also, found partial records indication speedo work (unknown what as the paper got wet at some point) at about 150K mi
-nB

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'83 300D Turbo
Current: ???K mi - 19.2mpg -> 17.4mpg -> 22.9mpg ---> ODO Died
bought at: 233.8K mi - 10MPG For $1.00
3.5 cylinders work: 320 320 100 340 280
Got insurance? FarmersReallySucks.Com

G'mornin',

I just returned from my Thanksgiving trip to N'awlins......total trip 2250 miles....mileage over all was/is 24.94 mpg

Earlier this month I replaced all 5 of my "glow plugs"....began a thread here, commenting upon the marked improvement in starting...even tho I was not complaining about starting to begin with....just rough idle after start!!!

SB

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Diesels:
'85 300D, "Max, Blue Benz", 155K, 27.0 MPG
'84 190D 2.2, "Eva, Brown Benz", 142K, 40.2 MPG
'77 240D (parts car)
'67 Eicher ES 202 Tractor "Otto" (2cyl, Air Cooled, 30HP)
Gassers:
'94 Ford F-150, "Henry", 170K (300 Six) 17.5 MPG
'85 190E 2.3, 148K....Parts Car
'58 Dodge W300M Powerwagon (Flat Fenders) Less than 10 MPG