When you do get your car started, make sure that you have cleaned out the tank vent first.
If you haven't collapsed your fuel tank yet you probably will w/o doing so.
I'm not familiar with the SD so someone else will have to tell you where it is.
It would probably be a good idea as well to do a visual inspection of the tank to check its condition.

__________________
Pure Vermont Maple Syrup
http://www.squaredealfarm.org

1982 300D Turbo
1983 300D Turbo

Okay, finally was able to get to where my car was parked with a multimeter.

Here is what I found.

-Power to relay was good. (12+v)

-Both sides of strip fuse was good (12+V)

-Relay was kind of weird. I don't know if I was testing it right. With key in position I (not turned on) each prong tested 10.8ish v. Then turned key to position II. After a few seconds I heard a click and they all tested 12+ v.

-Then I tested the circuit on each glow plug. All 5 tested open (1).


My best guess is I was trying to start it too cold on Saturday night and burned out all my glow plugs.

I'm going to call Autozone to see if the have Bosch in stock so I don't have to wait for shipping otherwise I will order online.

Does the relay sound okay? I've never tested it before so I don't know if I was doing everything correctly.

Hopefully when I get new glow plugs in there it will solve the problem.

Thanks for everyones' help!
-Ryan

Put the + probe of the voltmeter right on the tip of a glow plug (on the nut). Put the - probe on the battery negative terminal.

Turn the key to the #2 position. Observe the meter. It should immediately jump to approx. 11V and stay there for about 35 seconds. If it functions in this manner, the relay is fine.

The resistance on each plug should read less than one ohm. Usually about .8 ohms I think.
I'm a little confused by what you wrote. If the circuit was open between the glow plug and ground, the resistance should be infinite I think.

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

I guess I misspoke. I meant infinite, not open. The 1 was what was shown on my multimeter to represent infinite.

Brian,
I definitely had the probes in the correct place(s). It seemed like there was a delay. Should there be voltage to the prongs when the key is off? That is what I was getting.

Whoops, just went and reread what you wrote Brian. You said on the plug itself. I have them on the prongs in the glow plug box as described in dieselgiants write up.

I'll test them at the nut next.

I can't recall another instance on this forum when all 5 glowplugs failed at the same time. This makes me suspect something is wrong with the test. If indeed they all have infinite resistance, then they are all bad and need to be replaced.

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

autozoo no longer carries gloplugs of any sort up here.

You can get bosch from napa, for similar $$ as here. also checker and oreilly usually have autolites in stock for $10.

I lost all 5 GP's last january, of course when I was away from home overnite. had to change them out outside in -7*F temps plus wind. I used autozoo bosch plugs. I have replaced 4 of them since then.

I test GPs a different way, too- you do not need a meter. I use a test lite, but a length of wire works as well.(the test lite eliminates using a wild hot wire, as the bulb will lite up if inadvertently grounded)
unhook the GP's from the relay. run a hot lead to them. if they throw sparks, they are good. no spark- bad. this test will not show if you have a GP shorted out. but it has always worked for me.

__________________
1984 123.193 372,xxx miles, room for Seven.

1999 Dodge Durango Cummins 4BTAA 47RE 5k lb 4x4 getting 25+mpgs, room for Seven.

That does sound fishy, but maybe a few were bad before Saturday night and then I burnt the others trying to start it for so long in the extreme cold (it got down to -14F when I was trying).

I think I was doing the test correctly. Here is what I did. I unplugged the connector. I put the positive lead on the multimeter in each hole. I put the negative on the negative batter cable. I set the multimeter to Ohms (I believe the setting was 200?). I moved through each plug.

Since I am having such a hard time starting it I would assume most or all are bad. I am getting absolutely no firing of the engine.

I just called around and the St Paul Arcade street has 9 Bosch plugs in stock. I'm picking some up this afternoon.

I'll call NAPA for fun as I generally like them better and perhaps they will be in stock closer to my house. Less driving.


Did you get the NAPA Bosch plugs the second time around?

I am getting 5 Bosch from NAPA. They cost a buck and a half more but the store is 1/2 mile from my place rather than 20 miles out of the way. Picking them up this afternoon.

I don't know if I will be able to get them in until tomorrow as my car is not parked at my place. Luckily it is indoors (heated).

I'll test again as Brian described. I like your method though Mo, but I already have the meter!

testing at the neg battery terminal is only OK, once you have tested between the ground cable and the block near the Glow plugs... you may have a faulty ground conductor.... you should get a dead short 0 ohms between block and neg term.

Not quite sure what you mean. You're saying I may have a bad ground at the relay box or the GPs themselves? How would I check that? I got voltage flow through the box, so I guess I'm assuming you mean the plugs themselves.

I just read another thread on GPs here-
GP Weirdness

This sounds like what has happened to my car. Saturday night the GP light was working then it stopped working. Sunday morning the light came back. It seems the light works when all or none of the plugs are working. Sounds to me like all were working. Burnt some out Saturday night (thus the light didn't work). Burnt the rest out and the light came back Sunday morning.

Well shes back running.

I worked on her for about 3 hours this morning. I did pick up 5 Bosch Glow Plugs from NAPA yesterday at 11.69 a plug.

I started by trying to take them out without removing anything. That didn't get me too far. I removed the injector lines. Not too big of a hassle. Then I started loosening the plugs. The nut that held the wires on was overtightened and was a real b*tch to get off. I ended up cutting the #1 and #5 wires because I couldn't get the wire off the back of the plug.

I also ended up accidentally tearing apart the #1GP because the nut would not come off even after removal from the engine. Of course I had no WD40 on hand, only elbow grease. I stripped the wire leads on #1 and #5 and put new wire clips on (I don't know the name off hand). Got all 5 GPs in with wires on. Turned the key to make sure they were getting power and put the multimeter on each and each GP read around 10Vs.

Then I started putting the injector lines back on. Ran into a problem. The #4 line coming off the IP would not go on. I looked closer and saw I must have hit the threads on the IP with a wrench or something. I ended up pulling the threaded part out of the IP and finally got it to thread in the line and the put the whole unit back in and all the rest went back on without too much of a hitch.

Tried to start it and the battery was drained. Looked for my battery charger. Some SOB stole it. It was sitting under the car (in the underground parking). I'm guessing it was the maintainence man. He came by the other day and told me I was parked in 'some guys' spot. I said this is my girlfriend's spot. I gave him her name and unit number. He said 'Well I've gotten multiple complaints from this guy'. And I said that would be hard since this IS MY GIRLFRIENDS SPOT. Notice girl, not guy. He went away. Then when I was finishing up this morning as he was going to the stairs he told me 'No car maintainence in the garage, it is against firecode.' I really wanted to smack him, but I simply said, 'OK, I'll close up'. as I was almost done. I thought this was really funny because I was working on the car the other day when he came by and he said nothing about it that time. I think he is just one of those people that thinks he is the king of everything. Glad I don't have to work on anything down there anymore!

I jumped it with my brother's car (that I was borrowing). Took me 3 of 4 times before she finally fired. I was worried that it wouldn't start.

I drove it around for 15 minutes to warm it up. Then I shut it off and started it again. Fired right up! I parked it back in the spot. My brother is coming with me this afternoon and I'll pick my car up and then he gets his car back.

Thanks everyone for the help!
-Ryan

PS- I didn't have time to check the GP that I took out. I will test them later to see if all of them were actually out, well the 4 that are still together! I did run the same test again when I got there and they all tested infinite again.