I recently purhased a 1981 300D. The car had started easily everytime until yesterday. I noticed that when the key was turned to the NO II position that the glow light was not coming on. This morning I tried to turn the engine numerous times but it would not turn over although the exhaust did emit quite a bit of smoke. Finally I ended up taking my wife's car to work. Any suggestions? I've read other threads regarding glow plugs and it sounds like the same issue.

Thanks

Check your 80 amp strip fuse. Mine popped during a start also. Then check your GP's.

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RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

99 W210 E300 Turbo Diesel, chipped, DPF/Converter Delete. Still needs EGR Delete, 232K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

Gone and still missed...1982 w123 300D, 1991 w124 300D

Try reading up on this page. It will really help you get an understanding of what is going on and how to fix it.

http://www.dieselgiant.com/glowplugrepair.htm

-Jim

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1995 S350D, Green with black leather interior.
Bought January 2008 w/ 233,xxx miles.
I did 22,000 miles during the first year of ownership.

There really should be a sticky about gp's with a link to that page this time of year.

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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

I live in San Diego and it was about 65 degrees at 9 am. Are th glow plugs only meant for cold weather starts or just starts in general?

Starts in general.

Restarting the engine at operating temp will usually not need the glow plugs, below that they do to a verying degree. When shut down for 15min or less in the summer my cars usually only get a couple of seconds of glow light.

At 65F ambient, I would expect the car to start a little rough without glow plugs, but start. I haven't had a pre 60X diesel though so I can't say for sure.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff