"Ether", use and abuse. *Flame suit on*
"Ether", use and abuse. *Flame suit on*

Cold weather starting links
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/137674-cold-weather-starting-links.html#post1018529

Point well taken.....

__________________
Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

Of course. You could just jump the two Phillips screws with a set of pliers.

But, if you do this, you run the risk of melting the entire wiring harness from the relay to the suspect glow plug at the moment you turn the key.

As you've been told...

Either or both are very,very risky!

Ether CAN burn out your glow plugs.

Trying to bridge a gap that calls for an 80 Amp fuse...
IS asking for very expensive and dangerous trouble!

The wire connection on the glow plug (8mm nut) is very close to the engine block. I would visually check (if you don't have an ohmmeter) to see if any are touching. That would be your short that caused the fuse to blow. When I replaced my glow plugs last winter I ohmmed them out before starting the car and found one wire was a direct short touching the engine block.

__________________
1985 300D Turbo
"Evolution is God's way of giving upgrades" Francis Collins

Very good info everyone. I tried to bridge the gap before reading anything....and the metal bridge started to smoke so I took it off immediately, very warm. Monday I'll take off the intake manifold and redo everything. Test the GPs (<1 ohms) with the Multi Meter, correctly tighten the nuts with little effort so they're not touching eachother or the block, then put in a new fuse. It'll be daunting and take long, but worth it.

Update: I bought a ohm meter and tested the glow plugs. All were either .9 or 1.0. The nuts were put back on very loose and I paid attention to the wires touching. The 30 amp fuse is still blowing.

I plan to test the relay unplugged from the GPs as soon as more fuses come in. If it doesn't blow then I'll test each individual glow plug.

When you mention the 30 amp fuse is still blowing you are talking about the strip fuse in the glow plug relay? I thought they were more robust than 30 amps. If only thirty amps the fuse cannot sustain the draw. I consider your 30 amp quote as a typo though but just checking.
Since all your plugs readings indicated there was no short in any of them. Can you unplug your glow wire feed harness at the relay and check all the lines for an individual short? Could be a wire harness with poor insulation shorting out somehow for example.
Also what model car do you have? I remember some complaint of a glow plug harness wire rubbing on something or other a short time ago. This resulted in a blown fuse needless to say. Car was not a 616/617.

Car: 1984' 190D - 101,000 miles

No, it's really only 30. I removed the larger of the two connectors on the GP relay today. The 1st cylinder or the one up front was the problem. After a careful inspection, the problem turned out to be the nut. I didn't twist it tight enough and the reading was not showing ~1 because of it. What the original problem was before removing the GP's and testing them I have no idea. So now I wait, hopefully not until Monday, to get 5 more fuses.

Shouldn't that be an 80a fuse...?

__________________
1989 300E 144K

300D is an 80 amp fuse. 190D is a 30amp. Or at least that's what *********************** is specifying...