Last night we had the SD in New York City, crawling around mid-town Manhattan traffic for at least an hour, with the AC on. I finally found a free parking spot and parked, shut off the car, and about 5 minutes later decided to move the car a bit closer to the curb.

When I tried to restart the car, the temperature guage was close to 115 deg C, and the starter didn't crank at all. No click, no cranking whatsoever. I did hear the aux fan running. I had 12 VDC without the glowplugs on, and the alternator does seem to be charging. After jiggling the trans selector a few times, and letting the fan blow for maybe 15-20 seconds, the starter kicked right over and the car started fine.

My question is, is there some sort of "thermal overload protection" that wouldn't let the starter solenoid engage, or could I have a problem with something else? I figure the whole starting system electrically anyway, consists solely of the battery, transmission safety switch, ignition switch, starter solenoid, and starter.

After getting home, I tried to restart the car, and it fired right over no problem. Should I be worrried about getting stranded or is this a fairly common MB glitch? Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks,

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Bob Roe
Lehigh Valley PA USA
1973 Olds 88, 1972 MB 280SE, 1978 Datsun 280Z, 1971 Ford T-Bird, 1972 Olds 88, 1983 Nissan Sentra, 1985 Sentra, 1973 230.6, 1990 Acura Integra, 1991 Volvo 940GLE wagon, 1983 300SD, 1984 300SD, 1995 Subaru Legacy L wagon, 2002 Mountaineer, 1991 300TE wagon, 2008 Murano, 2007 R320CDI 4Matic 52K, some Hyundai, 2008 BMW 535xi wagon, all gone... currently
2007 Honda Odyssey Touring, 2014 E350 4matic