87 300TD cranks wont start glow plug
 

Our beautiful 1987 300TD will not turn over. Our 15 year old son, soon to be 16 and driving went to start the car(Titan) we name all of our cars. He forgot to let the glow plug warm up, now Titan who has been starting and running great, will not start? The glow plug light is not coming on now but its 70+ degrees outside. I tried cranking for 30 seconds, no start, let starter rests 15 minutes, cranked again for 60 seconds and still no start. I feel like this is an easy problem to fix, I just don't know what it could be?, with the hood up, you can hear the relay(I am assuming its the relay) Click when trying to start Titan. Any and all help from the community would be greatly appreciated! Thank you, Sincerely, Jerry and Dana Gates

Well the fact that the glow plug light is not turning on should give you a clue. Also don't crank your engine for 60 seconds unless you're really intent on replacing your starter. These pre-chamber engines always need the glow plug light to come on in cold start even if ambient temp is over 100f. Check your GP relay fuse and charge your battery if you haven't killed it already.

Thank you for your reply, The cranking of 30 second and 60 second crank was recommended by MBForums with a rest in between of 15 minutes, as this crank procedure did not work. I was hoping that a member here might have had a similar problem with the no starting and no glow plug light all of a sudden and know of an ingenious fix for this agitating gremlin. So here's still hoping!

I just don't understand why? Why Titan won't turn over because of not letting a glow plug warm up? Esp. when it it almost 80 degrees outside, Why? I am here for the communities expertise in informing me as to Why? So any and all expertise will be so greatly appreciated! Thank you, Sincerely Dana

Members have said their Engines start up easier if the Valves are adjusted properly.

If the Engine is cranking but not spinning fast enough it will be reluctant to start.

If the Fuel Injection Pump timing is off it will be reluctant to start.

If the Fuel Pressure Relief/overflow valve is not holding the pressure it will be reluctant to start.

Low compression means low heat of compression and decreasing the chance of burning the fuel.

If all of the above or any mix of the above is present it might not start.

The problem is NOT caused by you son. So don't blame him. The problem is burnt out GP. Car will start with 1 or 2 burnt out GP but not with more than 2. I think your car never had a complete 6 GP working but the gp light still came on to give you the impression that all was well. Now one more GP failed and hence no start. Use a meter to measure the GP resistance and replace them. There is no ingenuous fix here, do the test first.

All of that stuff in post #5 being said.

Remove the Cover on the Glow Plug Relay and take an extremely close look at the Metal Strip Fuse (I am presuming it is not burnt). The Strip Fuse can develop a hair line crack and your Glow Plug Relay won't work. Other then that you will have to go to the repair links to see how to trouble shoot the Glow Plugs.

If you have the complete setup on your Car you could also try plugging in the Block Heater to see if heating up the Coolant provides enough extra heat to start.

People are scared to use it but if you disconnect one of the Connectors on the Glow Plug Relay and have someone sit in the drivers seat to crank the engine while you carefully spray only enough starter fluid into the intake to get the engine started.

If you spray the Starter Fluid into the air intake and then run to try to start the engine a you end up with a large amount of Starting Fluid all of a sudden igniting. Not a good thing.

There is NO valve adjustment for your engine. Take the rest with a pinch of salt.

DON'T use starting fluid. Even it starts, how about next time? Fix the root cause.

I think you're conflating 2 different thing. You're saying "it won't turn over" and you're "cranking it for 60 sec". Turn over means the engine spins but wont start. Does the engine turn over or not?

And again these MB prechamber engines ALWAYS need the glow plugs on cold start even if it's 80f outside. Ambient temp is irrelevant in your case. You need working glow plugs to start it. Cranking it for 10 minutes won't fix the problem without working glow plugs.

If the GP relay fuse is fried he won't get any GP light and none of the GPs will work. Check the fuse first.

Intelligent use of starting fluid as I instructed won't cause any issues. I have seen it done many many times on all kinds of Gasoline and Diesel Engines and Gasoline Engines are weaker then Diesels are.

I have used starting fluid myself, and my Boss at the fuel injection shop used it and I have seen other Mechanics use it. I have never once seen where it damaged anything.

Consider it for emergency use only or for occasional trouble shooting.

Back in the 1970's they sold starting fluid for diesels though it was hard to find. Detroit Diesel used to have an extreme cold starting set up that used what looked like a Propane Tank but had Either in it.

It is the choice of the car owner if they want to use it or not.

While I did say to disconnect one of the Glow Plug Electrical Connectors if you are going to use starting fluid would solve the issue in the next paragraph.

While you are cranking your Glow Plug Relay is on presuming the relay is working. So you can't simply have someone not use the glow plugs and quickly turn the Key all the way and start cranking and spray in the starter fluid because the glow plugs being on during cranking is going to ignite the Starter Fluid too soon.

How about using WD-40 as starting fluid?

Good afternoon Community,
I left the battery on a trickle charge overnight and I have good strong cranking from the starter and still it wont turn over and run. I want to thank the community for all of the advice. I am taking all of your expertise and going out to work on Titan. I will let you know what I do and the results. Thank you so much, Sincerely, Dana and family

Dear tjts1
The other members in this forum are kindly trying help me solve this problem. I would appreciate it if you did not reply to anymore of my posts. Your replies are condescending.
The forums are for helping people, kind people are taking time out of their lives to try and help me. You are not, I feel like you are taking time out of your life to try and make yourself feel superior and act like you are better than others, you are not. So please do not respond to my posts. Thank you and remember "Practice awesome acts of kindness"