Before starting my 300D in the mornings, I sometimes re-glow the glow plugs two or three times before trying to start it. I wait until I hear the loud thunk from the relay when I do this and not at the time when only the GP light goes out. Is there a maximum amount of successive re-glows of the plugs that I can do without harming them? Its just that that's about the only way I can get the car to start well enough that it won't stall out when I pull out the driveway. It won't idle on its own and it misses horribly until it is warmed up enough. I've run diesel purge, checked valve clearances and even changed the GP's without any improvement.

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

After about 3 full glows, the battery will start to lose a bit of juice.

Have you done a compression test? How much blowby is there?

I haven't done a compression check recently but the PO did one a few years ago and the numbers were within normal limits. I can't tell how much would be too much blow by, but when I remove the oil cap there is some blow by. I'd like to do another compression check myself but I don't have a diesel gauge.
I've got an excellent battery. I've left one of those l/r parking lights on by mistake overnight and it cranked over fine the next morning.

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

Are you sure all the GPs are glowing?

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

MapleLeaf, I wish I knew. My tach doesn't work because of some short in CA emissions system. I've tried fiddling with the idle screw (rack damper?) with no improvement.

Stevo, I would think that they all do since they're fairly new and they all get current.

When I first start it, it really sputters and misses bad for a few minutes. When I restart it later in the day, it seems to run OK except with an occaisional minor miss for the first minute. It's as if the fuel leaked out somewhere overnight or it got air in the system somehow. I this were a gasser, the problem would be a leaky float bowl and I would know how to fix that. What could be a similar problem in a diesel?

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

"It's as if the fuel leaked out somewhere overnight or it got air in the system somehow."

If there are leaks in the return lines or the hand primer pump, air can get into the system and cause some of the problems you are seeing. These leaks do not always show diesel drips or wetness in their early stages.

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1961 190Db retired
1968 220D/8 325,000
1983 300D 164,150

lietvuiai,

I just noticed your new avatar. Is that one of your cars that appears totalled?

Nah, It's one of many photos I have from a M-B wrecking yard. That one I had up until recently was of an unfortunate late model SLK.

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012