I HAVE AN 84 300 TURBO DIESEL AND HAVE HAD MULTIPLE PEOPLE TRY TO GET IT STARTED AND ITS DEFFINATELY NOT BUDGING.

NEW STARTER. NEW ALTERNATOR. NEW BATTERY. 8 NEW MASSIVE GROUNDS. RULED OUT THE NEUTRAL SAFETY SWITCH AND IGNITION. CANNOT FIGURE WHAT ELSE TO LOOK FOR.

BACKGROUND:
BOUGHT THIS CAR LESS THAN A WEEK AGO FROM MY BROTHER. RAN PERFECT. STARTED EVERY TIME THE FIRST DAY I HAD IT AND THEN I HAD TO HAVE IT TOWED HOME. HE HAD MAJOR ISSUES GETTING IT STARTED FOR THE LONGEST TIME BUT PUT ALL THE GROUNDS AND JUMPED IT AND IT RAN FINE FOR THAT DAY.

ANY IDEAS ARE EXTREMELY HELPFUL THANKS
- CAT

Change both fuel filters, clean fuel strainer, check glow plugs. Sounds like you clould have drained the battery too..Go to auto parts place and get them to test the battery and alternator for you

OH YEA welcome!!!
You should have plenty more answers soon!!

__________________

ILL LOOK INTO THOSE (AKA ASK MY BOYS HELPING ME HAHA )

I check the glow plugs first. Make sure they are all getting voltage and are good.

__________________

Good glow plugs, strong battery and starter are a must for a diesel

__________________

The engine does crank over right? You just cant get it to fire on? Or will the engine not crank at all?

If the engine does not crank at all, take a jumper wire and jumper the starter connection to the battery connection on the distribution block. Regardless of key position, this should crank the engine over. It wont start it unless you either have the key on or have the vac shutoff unplugged.

If the engine does crank, but wont fire, check glow plugs and fuel system. Perhaps your diesel fuel has gelled up. We usually put some Power Service stuff in them in the winter.

__________________
Cruise Control not working? Send me PM or email (jamesdean59@gmail.com). I might be able to help out.
Check here for compatibility, diagnostics, and availability!

(4/11/2020: Hi Everyone! I am still taking orders and replying to emails/PMs/etc, I appreciate your patience in these crazy times. Stay safe and healthy!)


82 300SD 145k
89 420SEL 210k
89 560SEL 118k
90 300SE 262k RIP 5/25/2010
90 560SEL 154k
91 300D 2.5 Turbo. 241k
93 190E 3.0 235k
93 300E 195k

You have a PM.




.

__________________
ASE Master Mechanic
asemastermechanic@juno.com

Prototype R&D/testing:
Thermal & Aerodynamic System Engineering (TASE) Senior vehicle instrumentation technician.
Noise Vibration and Harshness (NVH).
Dynamometer.
Heat exchanger durability.
HV-A/C Climate Control.
Vehicle build.
Fleet Durability
Technical Quality Auditor.
Automotive Technical Writer

1985 300SD
1983 300D
1984 190D
2003 Volvo V70
2002 Honda Civic

https://www.boldegoist.com/

I bet I can GUESS what the PM's about!!!

Welcome to the Forum!
give us a little detail about what is going on with your car.
terms: Starting = motor running properly on it's own.
TURNING OVER = starter engaging properly spinning the engine.
Cranking = starter spins and turns the engine
adding Not in front of these terms assists us knowing what's going on.
Thanks!
oh, please limit the Capital Letters to sentence starting and proper names! thanks!
CAPS = Shouting online!

__________________
John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Also, the least expensive repair strategy is to have a proper diagnosis before installing expensive parts. Most parts can be tested to determine replacement need.

__________________
85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

If you ran it out of fuel; you will need to purge the air out of the hard lines & pump up system.
Use Search for 'purging air out of fuel lines'.
WD40 can be used as a starting fluid; never use typical "starting fluid" on a diesel.
Glow plugs must be working or forget it.

__________________

"Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration...
don't Fail Us Now"

In General.
Starter not Cranking Battery and Ground wires good:
The Neutral Safety Switch no good or. (“First make sure the selector is in P or N. Cycle through all the gear positions and try in N.
In front of the battery is a small rectangular box. Use a jumper wire to jump from one of the large posts to the small post with the purple wire. If it cranks, you've got an issue with the neutral safety switch or the ignition switch.

Above the accelerator pedal is a 4-wire plug with a harness that runs down to under the accelerator pedal and to the transmission tunnel. Unplug it, jumper across the two purple wires in the female plug and try to start again. If it starts, you need a NSS.”)

Ignition Switch not working. (In front of the Battery on the Fender Well is a Terminal Block. Clip a Remote Starter Switch to the left and right sides of the Terminal Bloc, or use a Jumber wire being careful not to get burned. If you are careful you can use this to start your Engine. If the Starter Solenoid does not engage and the Starter does not crank you have an issue with the Starter.)

Not starting due to no Fuel:
If the car has sat for a long time start pumping on the Hand Primer Pump untill you hear a squishing or squeeking sound. After that pump some more to be sure. That brings Fuel Up to the Fuel Injection Pump.
Air in the system. (Loosen the Fuel Injection Line Nuts at the Injectors and crank untill you see Fuel comming out. Thighten the Nuts and attempt to start.)

After you have pumped on the hand primer and loosened the Fue Injection Line Nuts at the Injectors and Fuel is not coming from the Fuel Injection Lines. (Change both Fuel Filters. Fill the Spin-on Fuel filter with Diesel Fuel but still pump on the hand primer. Leave the Fuel Injection hard Line Nuts at the Injectors loose until you see Fuel come out. ) (You could als could remove and install a longer Fuel Inlet Hose 5/16" ID using reglar Fuel Hose and run it to a Container with clean Diesel Fuel; you are doing this to see if something is keeping Fuel from coming from the Fuel Tank.)

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Great sequence! thanks!

__________________
John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Sounds to me like it's not getting fuel. Is the tank empty?

Take the cover off the air cleaner and shoot some WD-40 down the thing while somebody else cranks it and see if it'll run off the spray.

__________________


~Michael S.~
Past cars:

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


Current:

1987 300SDL

Thank you so much for all of the helpful feedback. So, the issue is that the starter will not even attempt to turn. I went ahead and jumped the terminals and got a relay click from the driver side. Nothing from the starter.. Now, these two threads are from the previous owner.

Trouble Starting... Starter Relay?

300D Part I.D. - Problems Starting



I went ahead and added a 4g ground on the starter, cleaned the grounds and made sure they were all making contact with bare metal.

Is the starter getting the proper signal to to start? I would assume you may have a bad starter. (Not all new starters are GOOD starters).

You might look there first.

best of luck.




Very good advice.

__________________
83 300TD (need rear wiper assembly dead or alive)
84 300SD Daily driver
85 300TD almost 400k miles and driven daily.
98 E300D *sold
86 300SDL *sold and made flawless 10 hour journey to new home.