I assume this is my glow plug relay.....
 

I drove to work this morning without a hitch. At 3pm when I was leaving, crank, no start. WTF ?!?! I crank again. Nada. Third time I finally notice that there's no glow plug light. I go under the hood and trace the wires to a big black box on the drivers wheel well. I pop the cap off it and find this:
http://images23.fotki.com/v876/photo...ugrelay-vi.jpg
Looks to be a bi-metal strip that disintegrated. I laid a key across the terminals and I had the glow plug light for it's usual 3 seconds and she fired right up. Is that strip replaceable or am I looking at replacing the box/relay ?

Its just a fuse ;)

So my foreign parts source should have that ? :confused:
I've never seens a fuse that was just a screwed-down piece of bi-metal.. :book:

It must handle 80A.........so, it's a bit unconventional. They might have it in stock. The fuse gets brittle with age and finally fractures. If yours is burnt, then you might have another issue.

Looks to be original. I'll see if I can find it and replace just the fuse.
and see what happens.

At about a buck apiece, buy two and always carry one as a spare.

Take a look at motorcycles and atv's, Honda has used those since the 60's on their main power fuses. I imagine the other makers do the same. Now I'm curious, I wonder if they're the same rating as the one on my Goldwing...lol never thought about it...:rolleyes:

That's all a fuse is anyway. A piece of metal that's carefully calibrated to burn itself in two and break a circuit if it gets to a certain temperature. The thinner the piece of metal, the faster it burns at a lower temperature. It's just a normal fuse without the plastic wrapper, look at your fusebox fuses, same thing.

I bought one from Phil. Some of his stuff originates from New Jersey I believe. If you can't get it quickly locally you might want to check with him.

Got 2 this morning from Foreign Auto in Pompton Lakes. Jim, one of the owners is a nice guy and knowledgeable when it comes to old Benz'. Two cost me $1.50 - parts store to parts store price. All is ONE with the universe. :cool:

While I was at it, I did a "Fuse Box Service". :)

I'm very close to Morristown, so thanks for the info on the guy in Pompton Lakes.