Hi,

Newbie question. I am looking at a car that is being offered in a lien sale. They have no keys! Is there and easy way to jump start the car and see if it turns over? Thanks in advance to anyone for helping a dummy do stupid things.

Bill

BTW it is a 1983 300dt

In front of the battery is a rectangular black box about 2" long with 3 or 4 wires going into it.

Open that, jump a wire from one of the larger left terminals to the smaller right one to engage the starter. It will be hard to start without the glowplugs.

It also will not start without removing the vacuum line to the fuel shut-off valve.

not wanting to run it yet just see if everything turns .

Just go park it in south Dallas and the locals will do it for you

Regards

Run-Em

__________________
1983 300SD - SPARKY THE DIESEL
2004 Audi TT 3.2 Quattro Roadster
1999 SLK - aka - LIL RED
1956 Chevy Nomad - aka - REAL MAD
1940 Ford dbl dr. Deluxe - aka - ORANGE U GLAD
1998 Kawasaki Nomad bike --

Lets be sure and post instructions on how to steal our cars........

__________________
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

Other than the steering lock, I think my kids could figure it out.

Anyone can figure out the starter in a less than 60 seconds. Its the glowplugs and steering lock they will have problems with. The steering wheel is designed to break before the lock.

Try to break the lock on a junkyard car.

Bring title to dealer and get a key cut, takes like two days.

I have moved them without a key, however we just winched it up onto a flat bed and when we got it to the shop pushed it with the Bobcat.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

At my dealer it's something like $18.

I'm having you buy me keys from now on Craig, they want about $50 around here.

__________________
1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

All the dealers get them from the same place. There is no reason one should cost $50, especially since the new keys are such low quality.

Hot wiring the series glowplugs is quite simple--jump to the plug at the firewall end of the engine. Parallel plugs a little more difficult but a spider of 5 wires stuck into the glow plug harness and twisted together with a jumper to the battery should work.

__________________
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

Actually, my indy told me $18 and he gets them from the dealer. Maybe he was offering to sell them near wholesale. He ended up selling me a new tumbler (including one new key) for less than $100, but $50 for a old style key is silly.

Thanks again for all the help guys!