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  #1  
Old 10-24-2015, 07:48 PM
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Location: Manchester,NH
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1996 Mercedes E300D not starting

Hey Guys,

I am hoping that someone can help me here. I am having a problem with my 96 E300D not starting. It started up one morning in the cold weather and shut off when i came to the end of my driveway. I have not been able to start it since. I changed the fuel filters, bleed the air out of the system etc.

I do have a 1 year old K40 relay so that should not be the problem hopefully. I have not checked it yet, but will do so tomorrow.

The one interesting thing is that the glow plug light is not coming on when I want to start the car. I am not sure if this has anything to do with it. The glow plugs are also new, so they should not be the problem.

Do you guys have any more ideas?

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  #2  
Old 10-24-2015, 10:12 PM
Jeremy5848's Avatar
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Location: Sonoma Wine Country
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We need a better description than "won't start."
Does it
—Crank but not start?
—Cranks but very slowly and sounds like a weak battery?
—Doesn't crank at all but makes clicking noises?
—Doesn't crank or make any other noises?

Can you turn on the headlights? Do they work at normal brightness, dimly, or not at all?

If the glow plug light is not coming on, you may have a bad preglow relay. Depending on the age of the car, overall condition, etc., your car may not be able to start, especially in "cold weather" (how cold? in degrees F or C, please).

Tell us more and we'll try to help you!

Jeremy
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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970
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  #3  
Old 10-25-2015, 09:07 AM
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Location: Manchester,NH
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The car does crank and the battery is good. I have drained it a few times trying to start it. I do have a battery charger and charge it over night to make sure that it is strong.

The engine also turns as usual so that also should not be the problem.

As far as I know the glow plug relay is the k40 relay and that also gives power to the pump. That was replaced this year, so I am not looked at this. I am going to try right now. I have checked all fuses in all fuse boxes and also on the relay.

I have the old K40 that was intermittent and will see if that starts the car. But I am not sure what else I could look at.
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  #4  
Old 10-25-2015, 09:33 AM
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Location: Calgary Alberta Canada
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Since your glow plug light is not coming on I would start with checking everything related to the glow plug circuit first.
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01 e320
05 cdi
85 chev c10
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  #5  
Old 10-25-2015, 10:03 AM
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Location: Columbia, SC
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Your engine needs fuel and a little heat to get it going.

Fuel in this engine is delivered by the injection pump. On the year/model you have (W210 with an OM606 engine) the fuel supply to the injection pump is electrically controlled by a shut off valve. Also the fuel quantity is determined by the computer. A pedal sensor measures how much you push and the computer tells the injection pump how much fuel to deliver. These all depend on the K40 relay to deliver conditioned power to the electronics. There are, as you have experienced, issues with the K40, mostly related to cold solder joints.

A Diesel engine also needs a little heat on a cold start, to get the air hot enough to cause ignition of the fuel. This is provided by the glow plugs. The glow plugs are regulated by the glow plug relay. It is nearly impossible to get a cold Diesel engine to fire without that initial heat from the glow plugs.

In the older models, the relay was a rather simple arrangement that took a signal from the key switch to start a timer to apply power to the plugs. The dash light was set up to provide a prompt for the operator when to go ahead and crank and also advise if one or more plugs have failed.

In your W210 they started putting all the electronics on CAN bus. Think of it like a network in your car that ties all the various devices together. The glow plug relay in the W210, instead of having a direct connection to the switch, sits on the CAN bus.

The connector that puts the glow plug relay on the CAN bus can be problematic. I believe our fellow member tjts1 has had this problem, he has the same car as yours.
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The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech
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  #6  
Old 10-25-2015, 11:43 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kolnerspieler View Post
The car does crank and the battery is good.

The pre-glow relay is mounted on the inner fender, driver's side. It it the part that controls the electrical energy to the glow plugs—it makes them "glow." If the pre-glow relay does not work the glow plugs will not get hot and the engine may not start, especially when it is cold, as jay_bob has written. Since the glow light in the instrument cluster is no longer working, you should check the relay to see if it has failed.

Earlier pre-glow relays used a large (80A) strip fuse but yours, like mine, has an internal circuit breaker. If the pre-glow relay does not work correctly, it should set a code. (The "Check Engine" light would stay on if the car starts but failing to start means that system will not work as it should; the "Check Engine" and all other warning lights stay on in "Test" mode until the engine starts.) If you connect a code reader to the connection below the dash, driver's side, you will be able to read the code number. Many guides to interpret the codes are available on-line.

Even simpler, you can remove the cover to the pre-glow relay and pull the large 6-pin plug out. Then use a voltmeter to see if each of the 6 pins gets 12 Volts when the ignition switch is put in the #2 position (before starting, where the glow cycle usually occurs). If you don't find 12 Volts at each pin then the glow plugs are not being heated. That would be why the engine does not start.

The CAN bus was new in 1996. Some very early copies of the '96 E300D lack a complete working CAN bus; mine is one of them—serial number ~5000.

Jeremy
__________________

"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970
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  #7  
Old 10-25-2015, 03:26 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: ohio
Posts: 297
My 1995 did the same thing. It turned out to be the Oring on the small primary filter was bad and letting air into the fuel system. Replaced it and car started right up.
Usually, you can see air bubbles or fuel at the filter top.
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  #8  
Old 10-25-2015, 04:17 PM
Jeremy5848's Avatar
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Location: Sonoma Wine Country
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Good suggestion!

Quote:
Originally Posted by ohiomike View Post
My 1995 did the same thing. It turned out to be the Oring on the small primary filter was bad and letting air into the fuel system. Replaced it and car started right up.
Usually, you can see air bubbles or fuel at the filter top.
Many of us have also made the mistake of changing the primary filter and not noticing that the new filter didn't have an o-ring.
__________________

"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970
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  #9  
Old 10-25-2015, 07:45 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeremy5848 View Post
Many of us have also made the mistake of changing the primary filter and not noticing that the new filter didn't have an o-ring.
This includes myself. Creates a bad diesel leak when engine is switched off.
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1995 E300 Diesel
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  #10  
Old 11-04-2015, 06:19 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Manchester,NH
Posts: 392
I did find a few smaller leaks in the plastic hoses and replaced these. I tried and tried to get it started. I checked all the fuses and they all looked good. I also checked the fuse specifically for the pre glow circuit and the fuel pump and it looked good, but after running out of ideas I decided to put a new fuse in and it started up right away and the glow plug light came on.

I do not know why this happens. When I measured the resitance on the fuse that did not work it was very low indicating that the fuse had not burned, but it was not working. Maybe the contacts where not good or something, but a new fuse did it and there have been no problems.

I had a similar issue with on an 85 300D where i went crazy looking and looking and changing the fuse which looked good solved the problem.
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  #11  
Old 11-04-2015, 10:30 PM
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Location: Sonoma Wine Country
Posts: 8,402
Corrosion can build up on the fuse ends and, even if you cannot see it, may be enough to prevent the circuit from operating normally. We try to remind folks to not just look at fuses or test them with a meter, but to remove them and clean/polish both the fuse ends and the contacts in the fuse box.

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