phew
 

Sorry for the title but I could not help it. I just got my 1983 300Sd out of the shop about a week ago after not having it for the past month. It got a valve adjustment and a new starter. The car starts and runs fine after the work. I just drove back to school today after being away for a few days for spring break. I have a subwoofer in my trunk. It was unhooked during the winter because before the new starter, I needed all the battery i could get. All i did was connect the positive lead from my speaker amp to the positive lead on the battery. There is an inline fuse from the battery to the amp and another fuse on the amp itself. I turned the key to the glow position and waited as normal before starting. The subwoofers came on. I turned the key to the start position and everything went dead!! no glow no dome light, nothing. I checked all of the fuses of the car itself and the amp wiring etc. I unhooked the positive lead for the amp and tried again, nothing happened. I then unhooked the positive lead of the whole battery tried again and the car had power, dome light glow plugs etc. I tried to start again and the whole thing died again, each time after it ties, if i so much as wiggle the positive lead on the battery i get power but the same thing happens each time it starts. I am desperate here and this is the only place I know to turn. thank you

Sounds like they did not properly tighten up the leads to the battery. Loosen up each lead, wire brush the battery post and inside of the lead and reattach firmly (don't just press it on...tighten up the nut with a wrench) I bet this will fix it. My old VW van would do the same thing if I did not have the battery leads tightened down.

faulty ground? try looking at the quality of your ground cable to start..

ooops
 

Thanks for advice bgkast. I thought I had tightened everything up bt I obviously hadn't. It's all good to go now. thanks a lot. Sorry about the panicked post

That's f@&%$#:*&!!!!

You said a mouth full tangofox007