Help!

My 85 300d will not start. When I turned the key to preglow I heard a terrible moaning noise from the driver's side of the engine compartment and all the dash lights went dim. The moaning noise stopped, but when I tried to start it all I got was click click click and the gauges fluttering. The same thing happened on the next several attempt.

I had just put in a new and fully charged battery the day before, and was having no problems with quick, easy starts even in the cold. Would my starter just die? What was the moaning sound I kept hearing? Any help would be very much appreciated as I'm facing a long and very expensive tow to my mechanic.

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85 300D 180k

Sounds like some kind of short circuit is draining the battery during pre-glow. The clicks you are hearing are coming from the starter solenoid, probably, and mean that there's not enough juice to turn the starter.

Before having the car towed, see if you can get someone to come give you a jumpstart (even Mercedes will do that, call 800-367-6372) and watch the engine during pre-glow to see if you can see what is causing the "terrible moaning noise."

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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

Sounds to me as if there was a dead short somewhere which caused the moaning sound and drained the battery. I'd look at all the wiring in the vicinity of the battery and the glow system. Since it happened when you turned the key to preglow, the problem could be in the glow system. Check out the strip fuse, although if the problem was downstream of the strip fuse, it would melt before the battery discharged.
It could also be a bad connection at the battery.

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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

It sounds like something is shorted and draining your battery somehow. where is the moaning coming from?

Where are you exactly? Im in Framingham during the days and I have tools, and jumper cables with me right now.

dd

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'85 300D, 'Lance',250k, ... winter beater (100k on franken-Frybrid 3 Valve Kit)
'82 300D, 'Tex', 228k body / 170k engine ... summer car
'83 300TD Cali Wagon 210k, wife's car

Electrical short makes sense as the lights went dim with the moan at preglow and then got brighter. It also had really drained the battery after 3-4 tries. The moaning sound is coming from the engine compartment immediately in front of the driver side.

Dan- thanks for the offer, but isn't that a bit of a haul for you? I had to leave the car in Charlestown where it died on me this morning.

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85 300D 180k

Shouldn't that much of a short be producing smoke, sparks, or less dramatically - HEAT somewhere?

One thing you could do would be to pull the strip fuse completely out of the glow circuit... depending on where the hypothetical "Short" is, that might cut it out of the circuit and leave enough juice to just rely on the mettle of the starter to crank the thing until you troubleshoot further.

I'm going to ask the really stupid, really obvious question here, simply because it is worth checking. I do not think you are this clueless, but I have to ask - is the battery polarity correct?

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~Michael S.~
Past cars:

1986 300SDL
1987 300SDL
1982 240D
1982 300SD


Current:

1987 300SDL

Polarity is correct. Don't worry about asking, a while ago I was tripped up on a neutral safety switch! I had already started the car several times with the new battery before it happened.

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85 300D 180k

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/237216-need-advice-stranded-kinda.html?posted=1#post2013822

Someone else has the same problem. Mimic his cure.

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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

If there was a short that drained a fully charged battery that fast, your car would be on fire, so that probably didn't happen.

Can you turn the engine by hand? It is possible it is stuck and the starter stalled when you tried to start it. That might give a goran sound depending on why the engine can't rotate, and would also drain the battery really quickly.

If you can turn the engine by hand, then charge the battery fully and give it another go or get a jump from someone with a set of heafty cables. There's a good chance all that's wrong is that the battery just isn't recharging. Eventually, there won't be enough juice to turn the starter over, and maybe not even enough to run the lights when the glow plugs turn on. It might sound like a groan if there's just enough to get things moving but then the battery drains and everything stops.

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'83 300DTurbo http://badges.fuelly.com/images/smallsig-us/318559.png

Broadband: more lies faster.

Did you look at the ground strap between the rear of the engine bolted to the frame?

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Save and enlarge for explanation of financial crisis!

http://www.mobile-phone-solutions.com Advice on cell phone signal antennas and amplifiers.

Read the thread I linked.
Your symptoms are very similar to his. His problem is a stuck glow plug relay resulting in glow plugs working all the time, drawing down the battery even when the engine is running.

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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

loose/ bad battery connection??

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1984 123.193 372,xxx miles, room for Seven.

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

Thanks very much for the thread link. It was the glow plug relay making the noise, and, I assume, causing the dash lights to go in and out at preglow. When I opened the relay up, I found water on some of the wiring. I dried everything out in there and then was just able to get it started with a jump from a truck.

I'm wondering now if the relay is bad or was just wet- there's no corrosion. Is there a way for me to test the relay? How do I know if it's acting up before it just dies?

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85 300D 180k

History as I read it:

1) Vehicle is running fine. No symptoms of any electrical problems.
2) Owner installs a "new" battery.
3) On very next cold start, vehicle is low on voltage and won't crank engine. Owner is baffled by funny noises and lights.........but, bottom line is low voltage. A $10. Radio Shack meter would have confirmed this.



So, either you must conclude that something other than the change of the battery miraculously reared its ugly head at the precise moment that the battery was changed...........or, the problem is due to the installation of the battery.

You've got two possibilities:

1) Low voltage in the battery. When was it "new"??
2) Bad connection at the battery posts due to corrosion.


The fact that the vehicle started immediately with a jump further supports this conclusion.

How does water get into the glow relay?

Sixto
87 300D