Always a 1 crank morning starter, in the the past few months, my 81 has gotten progressively harder to start.
I began to suspect a glow plug, but did nothing other than letting it crank more times until it caught, which it always has.
Time passed and then just this week, it would start after 6 or so cranks,
and idle more lumpily than normal with no power for a minute before I could drive off.
A little history. I think my tank vent is plugged and have done nothing about that other than vent the fuel cap now and then. But it has stopped me more than once on the road where I had to vent the tank and prime it to restart. I know, very lazy
2 nights ago, in rain and fog, I drove to my daughters soccer game about 50 miles away.the
It is a very hilly and curvy route, quite a pleasureable ride on a sunny fall day. As I rolled into Manchester I decided to get a creemee before the game. As I turned into a lot to get back to the store, the engine quit.
I hopped out, vented the tank and restarted lumpily but then it ran ok so I just went straight to game.
After the game , which we lost 4-3, it restarted lumpily but got me back home...whew.
Last night another game, this one close by.
Started the Benz lumpily, began to drive off but it slowly lost all power in about a minute and then quit on my steep driveway.
I backed down, refired it but it would not power up or idle. I tried a tank revent and got it to run barely so I parked it.
We went to game in the TDI and won that 3 zip.
This morning, the coldest yet about 32* , I had been reading glowplug threads and decided to take some advice from them.
I went out switched on and let the GP's cycle fully. Turned the key and it fired in 2 cranks and idled up within a minute!
So, methinks my glows are working but I will pull and test them all to be sure how well they actually work.
Also both fuel filters will get changed since it has been about 6 months and 4k miles since last change.
And lastly, the tank vent will be checked and cleared if need be.
I guess this rant is simply a reminder of how little things can sneak up on us if we don't listen to our car and check it out now.
And the full GP cycling for easier starting
I will post results.

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1981 240D 143k 4 spd manual -SOLD

2004 VW Jetta TDI 5 speed 300k -still driven daily