In comparing my MB's, all engines spin alike (manually during a valve adjustment) EXCEPT one. One of my '84's spins about twice as hard:

1. Its almost impossible to spin it with a wrench
2. It spins noticably slower on start up even though the battery specs out as ok.

What could be the issue?

We froze it out yesterday at school and it wouldn't start (10 degrees and 15 below with wind chill). We couldn't jump it because of the hard spin issue. Dual cables with F-350 diesel.

Don

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DAILY DRIVERS:
'84 300DT 298k (Aubrey's)
'99.5 Jetta TDI IV 251k (Julie's)
'97 Jetta TDI 127k (Amber's)
'97 Jetta TDI 186k (Matt's)
'96 Passat TDI 237k (Don's
'84 300D 211k Mint (Arne- Undergoing Greasecar Conversion)

SOLD:
'82 240D 229k (Matt's - Converted-300DT w/ 4 speed

If I remember correctly, I was once reading on a VW diesel forum that some people upgraded their battery cables with welding (0 gauge?) cables to give more oomph to the starter. Perhaps this may help in your case.

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95 E320 Cabriolet, 159K

The bigger the battery cable, the happier everything is. However, I don't think that'll truly help with this issue, since it sounds like it affects baring the engine over by hand as well.

Does the engine sound normal when it's running? Is operating oil pressure happy?

Since you said it spins with greater resisitance with a wrench in addition to with the normal cranking, I wonder if it's a manual tranny and the extra friction could cause it to hang up a bit. Dioes it spin hard when in neutral as well? Also, maybe try jacking the rear wheels up off the ground and spinning it as well. Is the fuel mileage normal?
Maybe it just has such good compression... wouldn't that be nice!
Adam

The engine runs well and runs out well. The compression seems good. It uses only trace amounts of oil per 3k miles????

Strange

Don

__________________
DAILY DRIVERS:
'84 300DT 298k (Aubrey's)
'99.5 Jetta TDI IV 251k (Julie's)
'97 Jetta TDI 127k (Amber's)
'97 Jetta TDI 186k (Matt's)
'96 Passat TDI 237k (Don's
'84 300D 211k Mint (Arne- Undergoing Greasecar Conversion)

SOLD:
'82 240D 229k (Matt's - Converted-300DT w/ 4 speed

Adam:

Auto tranny, normal mpg.

Thanks

__________________
DAILY DRIVERS:
'84 300DT 298k (Aubrey's)
'99.5 Jetta TDI IV 251k (Julie's)
'97 Jetta TDI 127k (Amber's)
'97 Jetta TDI 186k (Matt's)
'96 Passat TDI 237k (Don's
'84 300D 211k Mint (Arne- Undergoing Greasecar Conversion)

SOLD:
'82 240D 229k (Matt's - Converted-300DT w/ 4 speed

Maybe you're getting less torque converter slippage on this one? If so, it might be worthwhile to try putting the transmission in Neutral and turning the engine by hand and see if anything changes. If not, I'd assume it's something in the engine...

Just a thought...good luck!