95 e300d block heater isn't working. been cold here in Northern VA. I used my multimeter and got a beep for continuity between blades on the plug. I checked resistance. Set multimeter to 2ohms. (When I touch the prongs I get .002 ohms.) When I touch the probes to the blades on the plug that comes from the block heater, I get .345 or so.

What does this mean?

My outlet works.

Got 2 bad glow plugs and the block heater was making the start up a lot easier.

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2009 E320 Bluetec 117,000
1995 E300D 306,000 Sold
1996 Ford Taurus LX 130,000 Sold
1985 300TD Still 225,000 Sold
2016 Ford Fusion 24,900

From your numbers it appears your block heater coil has a resistance of .343 ohms.

No idea what the heater is supposed to read though.

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1985 300D 198K sold
1982 300D 202K
1989 300E 125K
1992 940T

"If you dont have time to do it safely, you dont have time to do it"

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

I believe the heater is about 400W, which means it should be about 36 ohms.

Probably very low resistance when cold. Resistance would increase as it heats up.

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Palangi

2004 C240 Wagon 203.261 Baby Benz
2008 ML320 CDI Highway Cruiser
2006 Toyota Prius, Saving the Planet @ 48 mpg
2000 F-150, Destroying the Planet @ 20 mpg



TRUMP .......... WHITEHOUSE
HILLARY .........JAILHOUSE
BERNIE .......... NUTHOUSE
0BAMA .......... OUTHOUSE

That .3 ohms is almost dead short. That's less than glow plug resistance.

Something isn't right here.

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Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

Like cryogenics?

0.35 ohms is 41,000 watts! When pluuged in you should hear a popping sound and the circuit breaker will blow. 35 ohms is more like it. That's 410 watts, what the block heater is.

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

I set my craftsman ohm meter dial to 2 ohms. Without doing anything the digital display reads .008

When I cross the probes it reads .001

When I put the probes on the plug blades that go to the block heater it reads .033 and dips down to .027

What do you think?

__________________
2009 E320 Bluetec 117,000
1995 E300D 306,000 Sold
1996 Ford Taurus LX 130,000 Sold
1985 300TD Still 225,000 Sold
2016 Ford Fusion 24,900

Something's not adding up.
What happens when you plug it in?

__________________
85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

The correct reading would be in to 30-40 ohm range, so start by setting you meter to an appropriate range. If the actual reading is close to zero, you probably have a short in the heater. Does it pop your circuit breaker when you plug it in?

I'm stumped too. The only ohm setting on my meter is 2 ohms.
Nothing happens when I plug in the block heater. It doesn't get warm, no tiny sparks at the wall outlet when I push it in and pull the cord out. No circuit breakers pop. Wall outlet gets juice. I checked with my trouble light. I tried several of my good extension cords too. No difference.

However. I did notice the coolant level in the expansion tank is at the level of the low level float. It seems a bit low, but not that much.

__________________
2009 E320 Bluetec 117,000
1995 E300D 306,000 Sold
1996 Ford Taurus LX 130,000 Sold
1985 300TD Still 225,000 Sold
2016 Ford Fusion 24,900

That's kind of the acid test.

Resistance checks are not the greatest way to check a resistive heating element, about the only thing you can really determine from such a check is that if your meter indicates an open - then you have a problem.

A better test is a current draw test under load, most elements initially draw lots of current and as the heating element gets hot the resistance changes to a steady-state value.

For example glow plugs will test "OK" at approximately .7 ohm and they initially draw 20-25 amps... but only for a half second or so, then the current draw drops down to about 7-9 amps twenty seconds after they are activated.

Same deal with block heaters.

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98 Dodge-Cummins pickup (123k)
13 GLK250 (135k)
06 E320CDI (323K)
16 C300 (62K)
82 300GD Gelaendewagen (54K)

I just checked the blades on the block heater cord with my cheapo analog meter. Ohm setting was at x10. When I touched the blades with the probe - no movement on the needle whatsoever.

I feel like a dumbass for posting this. Sorry.

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2009 E320 Bluetec 117,000
1995 E300D 306,000 Sold
1996 Ford Taurus LX 130,000 Sold
1985 300TD Still 225,000 Sold
2016 Ford Fusion 24,900

Another failure to understand a digital meter. I swear that the damn things put more folks in trouble than actually assisting them.

Digital meters should be avoided by most members of the forum. Only when the technician can see an obvious display error should they be purchased and utilized.

FWIW, I own two analog meters. One Radio Shack cheapie that does 90% of my work and a more costly and larger meter when I need very small resistances or when I need to read amperage up to 10A.

I have an old Simpson that I think was made in the early 60's (back when we actually made things in this country) that I use quite a bit it will do almost everything I need/want.

On the other hand a modern DMM (I have a Fluke 87, but any of them are fine) has some very useful features like duty cycle measurements, auto-ranging and min/max/average functions that will monitor a circuit over time.

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98 Dodge-Cummins pickup (123k)
13 GLK250 (135k)
06 E320CDI (323K)
16 C300 (62K)
82 300GD Gelaendewagen (54K)

Clearly, you would be in the latter category that I referenced, above. Many of those stated functions are not even comprehensible to most.