Hello everybody,

I've got a 76' 240D with about 190,000 miles on it. I'm taking a trip across the country stopping along the way to camp, which means no plugging in the block heater.

This morning I had a little trouble getting the car started after overnight lows dropped to about 40F. After the glow indicator on the dash stayed lit for about 15s we'd try and start it. It'd crank a bit, but never actually start. We repeated this process 2 or 3 times and then pushed the car over into the sun to let it warm up. After sitting for about 15mins, we tried it two more times and got it running the second attempt.

From what I've read on the forums these cars should start without block heater assistance until the temps get down to the teens. I've read people recommend cycling the glow plugs 2 or 3 times until you try and start it. Should I be concerned about this draining my battery? The battery is fairly new, but certainly not new-off-the-shelf.

I'm always starting with the idle adjust at high, but would pressing the accelerator past that high-idle point help or hurt for starting?

A few more details about the car:
- I'm running 10-40 dino oil (not syth)
- just did valve adjustment before the trip
- remanufactured bosch starter just installed along with new flywheel (old wheel was all eaten up)

Should I switch to synthetic? Okay to begin adding it as I refill the oil along the way? Or do I need to do a full oil change? Driving across the country I'm consuming about a quart every 300m anyways...

thanks for reading!

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76' 240D