The glow plug relay is dead again in my 87 300sdl. I popped the cover and replaced the 80 amp strip fuse, which looked pretty new and as suspected, it didn't help and it was dead. I took it into the dealer today and they alerted me that it need replacing again. The first 4.5 years I owned the car, and it could have had the original one, but now this is the 3rd replaced by the dealer in the last 3.5 years, all of them stopped working at least 13 months apart so they aren't covered.

The dealer thought the glow plugs were pulling too much reistance and recommended having them changed but they were all replaced 2 years ago, have less than 20k on them. I said no. Doesn't this seem out of the ordinary? Is there something else that could be going on or are the replacements known duds.

thanks a lot guys

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Jeff Weyer
'87 300SDL 228k

Perversely, the relay's don't age well sitting the shelf (they last longer when in regular use). You may be getting bad relays.

I'd press the dealer to cut you some slack on the warranty for the current failure, if it has only been 13 months and because you've been a good customer, purchasing 3 in a row from him..

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Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC

I replaced my original glow plug relay for my 1986 300sdl in June 2006. I purchased a new one from Performance Products and it was made in Hungary, not Germany and it was not an original MB part. It lasted about one year and then started flaking out on me. I replaced the "new" one with a unit I found on E-Bay. This replacement was a MB part. It was about 4 years old and it works great.
I have had the same kind of problems with Hungarian made OVP relays on my 85 380 se. When I finally bought an original MB part, no more problems. By the way the OVP relay made in Hungary was purchased from a MB dealer.

Check and see if the Glow plug relay was made in Germany and has an original MB part number on it. I was shocked that the dealer was using an aftermarket part.

John

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John
1986 300sdl
1985 380se

thanks brandlj and Maxbumpo. I'll check the orgin of the part. I got to watch Performance Products too, I use to a lot of get parts from them in the distant past and I heard the same.

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Jeff Weyer
'87 300SDL 228k