Hi Guys,

I've been poking around and searching the forum to see what more I can learn about my symptoms:

Just this morning, I started the car, the glow light came on and about 10 seconds later I turned the key and all was well - the car started in about 1 crank (like always).

Now, just about 20 minutes ago I went to start it and: no glow light. I figured I'd wait the usual amount of time and give it ago, but it was extremely rough cranking for about 20 seconds and then it caught.

I had a look at the strip fuse (that's the one on the driver's side, yes? in the black box a ways behind the headlight?) and it "looks" okay to me. I haven't got a multimeter handy right now though, so I haven't got much to go on. All the fuses I can see seem fine throughout the car, so I am thinking:

1) one or more dead plugs
2) dead relay(s)
3) ???

The car is my transport to/from work. That said, it's not /crucial/ to drive it. I do want to get it resolved as soon as I can though, so:

1) How terribly bad is it for me to be starting it with no glow? I figure I can get away with it the one time I tried it, but I really don't want to be this hard on the starter

2) How easy is it for me to fix this and diagnose myself?

3) Anyone in the Vancouver area want to give me a hand?

I'd rather not take it to the dealer if I can avoid it!

Thanks in advance!

__________________
1984 300D Turbo, 326000 Km, Thistle Green Metallic

OK - a bit more research and this seems quite simple. I'm going to check out the system according to the FSM procedures and see what I find. If it's the relay it looks like I can get one very easily, not too far from home even!

__________________
1984 300D Turbo, 326000 Km, Thistle Green Metallic

Okay - update! I just fixed it (I think). In the interests of expediency I just decided to take out the relay and open it and visually inspect the guts. I mean, it's just a relay, how hard could it be?

I should mention that prior to taking the relay out I just checked the operation of the glow - I wanted to see if the light was reliably not coming on, or if the system was just 'flaky'. It turns out that the two previous occasions I tried to start without the light seem to have been just fluke happenings. I tried glowing again 5 times in relatively quick succession, and got the light each time.

This led to my thinking "maybe the relay is just a bit dirty from arcing". The relay looked to be the original one (so about 24 years old) and on opening it, I was right. The power contacts were dirty (but not excessively so) but the mfg. date on the relay says it was made in 07/83.

A bit of fine sandpaper on the contacts, and a quick reinstallation, and I got 5 good glows in a row (and successful easy starts like I expect). So so far, I've either fixed it, or not made it any worse. I may have just saved myself the cost of a new relay!

__________________
1984 300D Turbo, 326000 Km, Thistle Green Metallic