These might be 2 unrelated issues. The car had no problems this morning when my girlfriend took the car to work. She said when she got back, that the car locks weren't locking. So she tried to turn on the car and it wouldn't turn on. I came out and the car was just clicking. Wasn't the battery. The car had electrical power. I looked in the hood to see if the battery terminals came loose and they were fine. I tried the car again and it started. The car still doesn't hold vacuum though. I had to manually shut off the engine. Could these 2 issues be related? Loss of vacuum and car not starting? Does the starter show signs of "clicking" before failing? Time for a new starter maybe?

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1984 300td euro turbo

Probably unrelated. 'Clicking' is a common problem on these cars. When it happends jump terminals 1 and 3 in the junction box on the right front inner fender in front of the battery to get the starter to work.

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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

Ok next time I'll try that. Is there a particular wire gauge I should be using? This is new to me. Thank you!

I'm going to take a look at the vacuum issue tomorrow. So weird that it happened. Usually it's because I bumped something in the engine bay. This time it happened after driving. Very odd.

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1984 300td euro turbo

How do you know?

The vehicle can have electrical power but fail to start. Maintaining 11V is easy when you power lights and radio. Maintaining 11V to start is a completely different scenario. That requires a very good battery.

Put a voltmeter on the battery when trying to start. During crank, have another person read the voltmeter. The voltage drop will tell the tale on the battery............good..........or bad.