A month ago, I had a no-start. No power to the starter, or glow plugs. Nothing happening when the ignition switch was turned. this was 5 minutes after driving it 20 minutes to town for mail and errands. Roll started the car, drove it home, and swapped out the ignition switch..

The Original ignition switch was covered in oil, and I suspected the fuel shutoff has been leaking oil for a while and that was what killed the contacts in the ignition switch...

NOPE!

Now I am getting a faint Alternator idiot light glowing when driving at night. Not instantly at start-up, but it develops within a minute or two. It starts out faint, and the headlights seem to make it worse. Have checked the battery voltage at this point and it is typically charging at 14.35 volts...

Sometimes when I use the brakes the charge indicator light goes to full bright.. and the gauges go wacky.. (again this happens at night or when the headlights are on) I was thinking it was a short in the circuit board of the instrument cluster..

NOPE!

I have also just noticed-recognized that it will on occasion trigger the pre-glow light, and the Glow plugs will cycle on... What the heck?

at present I am starting the car and then un-plugging the glow plugs.

I want to blame the ignition switch for the glow plugs, and the no-crank start experiences..but I am now doubting that the original ignition tumbler was actually faulty.


Of course sometimes the dang thing behaves perfectly.. Although that is becoming a rarity..

Any and all suggestions are welcome, as to where to start on this

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'83 240D
'85 300D
'86 300SDL
'88 300E