I am having a problem starting my 83 sd. I noticed last week it was getting more difficult because of the cold. I have started using the block heater. Some mornings it has been down to 25F. The glow plug light is on. With the heater on for 2-3 hrs it starts easily. I checked the glow plugs for resistance and they all looked fine. They are Bosch and about a year old. Today it is warmer 32-34F and I was able to start w/o the heater but with some difficulty. I just went out at lunch time ( now 43F) and had a hard time to start it. The glow plug light is out now. I stopped and checked. Now all the glow plugs are showing high resistance. I checked the glow plug fuse and it is OK. It seems odd that all the glow plugs would fail at once. I am going to remove them and replace them tonight. I will also test them once they are out. Should I check anything else? Maybe they were marginal last week and they just finally died.
I am also due to do a valve adjustment. It has been 15-18K. I am sure this would help starting as well.

I highly doubt that they all went bad. was the engine at all warm or hot. Hot glow plugs will show alot of resistance. if you had them glowing for awhile then checked them then they would all show high levels of resistance. Does the car have any problems trying to crank over like a slow starter. using synthetic oil can help alot in colder environments.

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1981 300d

It's a little odd but not impossible that all five plugs would fail at once. I could see it happening when the weather turns cold and five plugs that have been slowly going bad suddenly get worked harder and give up as a result. Valve adjustment is a good idea and helped my cold starting.

One other thing to look at is your engine oil. I'm running 5W40 in my 300 and 15W40 in my 240, and there is a noticable difference in cranking speed on cold mornings. Couple that with the difference in glow plug styles (loop vs pencil), and I get a 300 that starts on the first (ok first or second) try with a slightly longer than normal glow at 20 deg F, and a 240 that takes a 2-minute glow followed by a couple long cranking events to get going.

Before anybody says it, yes I know that 15W40 is only reccommended down to 23 degrees. I didn't think about that when it was in the 40's and I was doing my last set of oil changes.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.

If the GP system is good, adjust the valves. If you used ether (starting fluid), that can cause the GP tips to burn off.

Also, do not run WVO/SVO at initial start up, if you are going the VO route.

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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

Paul,

Im around tonight if you need the wrenches.

I forget where you left it last time, but the rack dampener screwed in too far can cause for harder starting. Do you still have the oscillating idle? Taking my rack bolt out, resetting the rubber seal, and screwing it back in fixed it on Tex.

Have you filled with fresh diesel in the last couple months since its been cold? Maybe you still have summer diesel in there and making it that much harder to start? Probably doesn't make a difference but just a thought.

dd

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'85 300D, 'Lance',250k, ... winter beater (100k on franken-Frybrid 3 Valve Kit)
'82 300D, 'Tex', 228k body / 170k engine ... summer car
'83 300TD Cali Wagon 210k, wife's car

DD,

I checked the GPs again when cold only 3&5 were bad. I was able to find some last night and replaced them so all was well. I did not hook up the block heater this morning and it started easily. However I stopped onthe way to work and when i went to restart the GP light was out again. I checked and it looks like #1 GP is dead. I will replace it tonight. I would like to adjust the valves on Sat. Maybe I can borrow your wrenches.