The starter won't crank when the car is hot and rarely when it's cold. Just hear a click. I've been dealing with this problem for a while now. I just jump the wires in the small black box by the inner fender and it cranks every time. Now I'm garaging the car. The attendant needs to move it every now and then to make room for other cars. He complained to me a couple times that the car has issues starting.

What should I look for first? The battery is less than a year old.

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1984 300td euro turbo

recently my 1983 300SD had the same problem.

A rebuilt replacement starter made all my problems go away.
The car had like 375,000 miles on it and is started 4 times a day, 4 days a week. Every week of the year.

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80 300D 340K Owned 30 yrs
83 300SD 440K Owned 9 yrs - Daily Driver 150mi/day
02 Z71 Suburban 117,000
15 Toyota Prius 2600 miles
00 Harley Sportster 24k
09 Yamaha R6
03 Ninja 250

Thanks. If it's a starter problem, it would still fire right up if you jumped the wires in the junction box?

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1984 300td euro turbo

This is not indicative of a bad starter. Clean all your grounds and connections first, then we'll move into things such as the NSS and the ignition switch.

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2004 F150 4.6L -My Daily
2007 Volvo XC70 -Wife's Daily
1998 Ford F150 -Rear ended
1989 J-spec 420SEL -passed onto its new keeper
1982 BMW 733i -fixed and traded for the 420SEL
2003 Volvo V70 5 Speed -scrapped
1997 E290 Turbo Diesel Wagon -traded for above
1992 BMW 525i -traded in
1990 Silver 300TE -hated the M103
1985 Grey 380SE Diesel Conversion, 2.47 rear end, ABS -Sold, really should have kept this one
1979 Silver 300D "The Silver Slug" -Sold

I'll clean all the contacts tomorrow and report back.

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1984 300td euro turbo

Sounds like the starter, had this issue on my old dodge....some reason jumping at the solenoid gets more power to the starter to kick it over...

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Define what is hot for you. Does it overheat at all? I am going through this issue right now. I figured out that I was overheating, and a sensor would not let the car start until it cooled down. Never had this issue in sub-80 weather.

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1982 300TDT
1991 190D
2022 Metris

90c is usually when I shut the car off. What sensor prevents the car from turning on, first I'm hearing of this.

The car also has issues starting when cold. It really rarely RARELY happens but I guess that's something to take into account.

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1984 300td euro turbo

sounds like a bad ignition switch or bad NSS that is failing to bridge properly - that starter solenoid takes some amps to pull in. I would usually test it with a halogen (headlamp) bulb.

Makes sure you are getting full juice to the starter.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

Ok guys. Guess what happened to me about an hour ago? I tried starting her and she did refuse to. She was dead cold. Been sitting for about 14 hours. Just heard a click. I then tried jumping from junction box and no luck. First time that has ever happened! So I was about to give up but then I decided to try to jump the battery with a battery jumper pack and it took a sec but then she started right up.

So what gives? Could it be my alternator maybe? The car had power so I dunno if that would have been the issue.

I have a phone charger I keep plugged into the cigarette lighter overnight. Could that be draining power just enough that the starter wont engage but all the lights seem normal?

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1984 300td euro turbo

I would take the battery in and have it charged and tested....but I'm 99% sure its the starter....

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One last symptom... Last night, I tried getting the car out of the garage, it wouldn't crank. Just a lonely click. I didn't have my battery pack with me so I couldn't try jumping it. The attendant was nice enough to try and jump it with his ford truck.. At first the car would just turn over slowly as if there wasn't enough power. It kept just turning over slowly so we left it for about 5 mins with the ford connected and running and tried it again and it started.

Probably my the starter? Battery not holding power from alternator charge?

Another clue (maybe) is that when the car did start, when I shut both front power windows at the same time, the headlights dimmed a lot and the radio would stop working. Could it be as simple as the battery????

Gonna go get the battery tested.

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1984 300td euro turbo

Yes, could be as simple as the battery or it could be a combination of problems--weak battery and bad connections.

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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

Try to avoid slow turning starter situations as that overheats the starter windings causing shorts and then you'll need a new starter also.

Sounds like it could be a number of items.

weak battery

weak alternator

loose alt belt

bad connections

You have a volt meter? What are the readings?

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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

Ok took some readings.

11.88 volts car off no load
10.1 volts when cranking (it actually started 3 times just fine right now)
12.68 volts when idling. (this is low no?)

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1984 300td euro turbo