hey everyone...
i just had my timing chain replaced about 3 months ago and the sucker started up pretty easily. Now since winter is approaching and it gets really cold up here in Denver, Colorado, its getting really hard to start it up...it just snow a little bit but the temperatures went only down to 30F. I tried starting it..it would crank but it wont fire up!!! I talked to my mechanic and he's said that all of my injectors were leaking and that i needed to replace all of them since the leaked injectors destroyed my glow plugs. what do you guys think? should i go out and gunho a new set of injectors and shield rings or should i just stick with the cold weather and use the heater block... your responses are appreciated

What year car is this and how many miles?

A heater block would be a good thing to have in the first place. It'll help the car start up easier, have the heater working from the get go and helps save wear and tear on the engine.

Heck even here in Texas it's a good thing.

I say get the injectors AND the heater block.

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2005 Audi A4 1.8T CVT -Silver/Black "Siegfried"

1982 300D - Silver/Blue "Ralph" -For Sale:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-benz-cars-sale/119226-1982-300d-sale.html#post852260

1989 VW Diesel Jetta Blue/Blue "Bodo" RIP

i have a 78 300D with about 280,000 miles on it

hey folks,

IF you are are a fairly adapt at mechanical work the job you intend on doing is fairly easy. If you can change spark plugs you can change glow plugs and diesel injectors.

You can save alot on labor.

My recommendations are to change out the injectors with bosch rebuilds with new MB fuel lines (rubber)
While there change out your glow plugs as you already have the metalic fuel lines off access is alot easier
And while you got the fuel system apart change out the two fuel filters

Also change out the fuseable link for the glow plugs which should be a 80 amp metal strip located in the glow plug relay area which is foward of the wheel well the drivers side on the car in a black box.

Also the glow plugs glow longer than the amount of time that the light in the dash indicates. What I do is do a ten every time I start it and vavoom it purrs like a kitten from the start. I used to short glow plug it thinking the the plugs turned off after the light went off and my car would smoke like crazy for two minutes.... now it does not.

I bought my benz with 240k I changed the glow plugs, diesel injectors, battery, shocks, brakes, removed and pressure washed the radiator, change tranny fluid and rear end and repared the climate control system.

If you need help with stuff like get in touch with me.


good luck


bob

280,000 miles, probably the injectors are bad. They can spray a solid stream of fuel instead of a nice conical spray of "fog", causing hard starts and the resultant blowtorch flame can fry the glowplugs. FastLane has them for about the cost of new nozzles, so you can just "trade" them.

If any of the glowplugs are bad, none of them will work, these are series plugs. They are cheap, so I'd replace them along with the injectors.

Put synthetic oil in, replace the fuel filters, and check the charging system -- takes a full charge in the battery to start these things when they get old. Have the current draw on the starter checked too -- they get "tired" and won't spin the engine fast enough to start -- it must rotate at at least 100 rpm or it will not start. Much faster than a gasoline engine.

A block heater (or tank heater, either one) will make a huge difference, but good low viscocity oil (15W50 synthetic or 5W30 for cold operation) will help.

The altitude in Denver isn't helping you at all, either!

You also should have the valve clearance checked, too, if the valves are tight it isn't going to start.

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

Agreed with above:

Replace all injectors....its a good idea to have new ones ...only use Bosch OE. Buy a 27mm deep throat socket for this, and make sure you replace the little metal gaskets/heat shields and torque each properly.

Replace glow plugs....as these things get old, they will still operate but poorly. When one finally fails, they all dont work due to wiring pattern. Dont replace one or two, do them all.

Put in a new battery....("Interstate" brand is one of the best)..you want to heat up glow plugs real hot and crank starter real fast!!

Adjust valve clearances....very tight valves will prevent them from seating tightly and thus prevent good compression. It is likely that all valves are tight and have not been adjusted for a long time. It is recommended that you set the gap on the open side of spec. range, or a tiny bit wider than spec.
(I think specs are .1-.15 mm for intake, and .35-.45 exhaust (cold), but check)
I would probably set them at .2 and .5 then check again a thousand miles later, and set at .15 and .45. This will help them "bang themselves back in". this actually works...I had a cylinder that had low compression (260 psi compare to the other four which were between 315 and 330 psi). I set the valve clearance for this cylinder at .25(in) and .55(ex), checked compression one month later (2,000 miles) and compression on this cylinder came up to 320!!!

Once you get the car in good starting/running shape, the best thing you can do to ensure good cold weather starts is replace battery and glow plugs every three years, and run synthetic oil