Yesterday, my wife was driving the 79SD in rush hour traffic with the boss' wife in the passenger seat. The car stopped; engine running but no pedal response. She called me on the cell and I walked her through inspecting the throttle linkage. One stem ahd come unscrewed and the main rod from the firewall had released.
In the heat and traffic, with the boss' squeeze riding shotgun, on the way to serious fancy shmancy dinner (Rod's in Madison for you northern NJ guys), she put the thing back together.
Not the first sign of panic or stress, under the gun, my wife graduated to:
DIESEL CHICK.
Very exciting day...
First she shows up at the Diesel Meet with a couple boxes of donuts and now this.
I'm a lucky, lucky man.

(First guy to PAYPAL me 50 bucks gets her sister's phone number.)

Long before I saw that last line I was thinking " does she have a single sister ? " LOL

The only woman who has driven my diesel since I've owned it has been my mother. I told her should could drive it. At the time my preheating system was acting up. She saw the preglow light was out and proceeded to start it. It stalled immediately. She tries again. Stalls immediately. She floors the accelerator and it stalls again. She comes in and says "I CANNOT GET THAT CAR TO START!" I go out and explain to her that you have to keep turning the key from off to the preglow position until the light comes on and then wait for it to go out. She never watched the light to see if it came on at all... I was so glad that she didn't flood it after that! Thank god my battery is new too!

I don't let her drive it anymore... she complains now that the parking brake is too hard and that I don't need to pull it up as high as I do... but any lower and the brake is ineffective, might as well not have it on at all! My god! So glad I don't live there!

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1984 190D 2.2 Auto 220k
2001 Jeep Cherokee Sport 70K
2004 Lexus RX-330 ??K
2005 Chrylser Crossfire LTD 6K

Play guitar? Go to www.cyberfret.com for free online lessons!

Just as a general reference note, I do not think with fuel injection that you can flood the engine by flooring the pedal.. unless it has something seriously wrong with the sensing mechanisms... it does not have an " accelerator pump " like a gas carb car would have..... one less thing to fear when someone else borrows your car.... LOL...

Bill,

That happens in my 1982 240D when I have a bad glow plug. An independent mechanic once told me that was built in to the relay to let you know something was amiss. If you have to do it more than once you have more than one plug out. I typically replace them all when I get the signal, just because it always happens when it is freezing out, and the car really doesn't like starting with glow plugs not functioning. And my daughter has it in Upstate NY now, so the cost of a few extra plugs is nothing compared to a frantic daughter looking to have a local shop do the job. Jim

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Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)

Can the sister tig weld?

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Jim

Tig Welding Diesel Chick ? That would be too much to hope for....

Tig welding, diesel chick, with looks, now that's a dream...

Oops, sorry honey. I still love your lasagne..

32 years ago my wife won the women's class in an autocross while 6 months pregnant with our first daughter -- and that was in a late '66 Weber carb Porsche 911, far from the easiest car to learn to handle at the limit. While I was restoring an old Maserati Quattroporte in the late '70s, when she would go to the supermarket, it used to be fun to see the expressions on the faces of the carry-out boys (remember them?) when this Swedish farmer's daughter type (same gene pool as that Olsson girl -- Ann-Margaret Olsson) led them across the parking lot to put the grocery bags in a trunk labelled "Maserati."

I had dead glow plugs. Got them replaced, all is fine, starts like a champ and preheats quickly... everytime, the first time.

By the way, I didn't know the engine couldn't be flooded. Sorry, I'm an idiot I guess.

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1984 190D 2.2 Auto 220k
2001 Jeep Cherokee Sport 70K
2004 Lexus RX-330 ??K
2005 Chrylser Crossfire LTD 6K

Play guitar? Go to www.cyberfret.com for free online lessons!

Don't feel like an idiot - everything that cn happen to a gas engine can on a diesel - yes a diesel can get flooded. It can also spark-knock.
It is though hard to flood a diesel but it can happen. It will not happen though by pumping the throttle Without it being rolled over.
You can set in your car and pump that throttle til the cows come home and it won't flood it. Those new cars with fuel injection - same thing!
My wife's '96 Crown Vic - the throttle pedal controls a butterfly that allows air to come into the air intake plenium. That is all it does! It is like a diesel.
Oh, incidetly, just in case you all wondered, I found out this evening something I never knew. You know that rod linkage that our throttle is all about? Well there is that one rod that goes to the Injection pump.
Did you know that you can Dis-Connect that rod and the car will still run fine?
I had accidently popped the ball out of its' socket and never knew it. I drove it, ran fine! The rod that goes to the pump was just dangling there.
I had a fuel leak and was watching and looking to see if I had it fixed or not and that is when I spotted this disconnection.

My first 240D, my wife hated it from the get go, didn't like even riding in the car, said it stunk!
Then the Crown Vic died and wrecker pulled to the fix shop - now with only one car left, my MB 240D. Guess who ended up driving it to work for 1 1/2 weeks while the Crown Vic was wating for parts and fixed? Guess who likes the car now and has a whole different opinion of a stinky diesel Mercedes Benz -

I was driving down the interstate and that happend to me. Unfotunately I was a long way from anywhere to get fixed, so I just kept the cruise control on until I could get somewhere and I figured out thats what was it, so I just replaced the whole thing because the rubber behind the bracket (throttle bracket) was broken.

This girl that I met used to change her oil in her diesel until she ran it out of oil and blew it up and sold it to me for cheap. I might fix it up here pretty soon for another car for me.

Austin

Mccan, nice to hear you got yourself a hack mechanic you know well...

mccan,

you lucky guy you now whenever you go out to tinker with the car you can ask her to help you !

Bob

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1984 300D Turbo - 231k....totalled 11/30/07 RIP

My wife helps me in the garage when I need it. She helped me roll the new timing chain into my SDL.She barred the motor over while I fed in the chain. And yes, she knows how to mig weld, I'm looking to buy a tig welder next. I'm not sure if I can convince her to go to a diesel meet though, but the boys had a good time.