I have an 87 300 td wagon, I just went down stairs this morning and she will not crank at all, the glow plugs work, battery is good, just when i turn kew the starter does not crank.......i waited 3 hours and went down and tried again and it turned right over fine, now my question is, what could this be? I want to get it fixed now while its running and i am home, because i dont want to get stuck some where

I think either the keyswitch or a sticky solinoid can give this type intermittant symptom....

When the car wouldn't crank, was there a loud click coming form under the hood or was there nothing to be heard? If there was a click you could almost bet that it's the starter solenoid or even more simply, just the battery connections need cleaning and tightening or even a weak battery. If there was nothing as I had one morning, then it could be your keyswitch. Is your car outdoors or in a garage?

__________________
DJ


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

kobeck,
My dad recently had some difficulty with his 1989 MB 300E: He was complaining of the "nothing" syndrom...ie:turn the key and NOTHING.........othertimes worked well.....after replacing the brush pack "regulator" the problem continued.
It turned out to be an ERRATIC NEUTRAL SAFETY SWITCH ...
Try shifting the gearchange in your car through the gears and into neutral and give it a shot.............then back into park...etc...
The switch on your car may be out of adjustment, the shift mechanism may be out of adjustment, and or your switch may need replacing.
Please get back to us with the remedy.
Best wishes always,
spo out

The idea of an erratic neutral safety switch is a good idea. I forgot about that one. I used to have a car with a misadjusted N/S switch. Same problem, nothing when you turned the key. I used to hold the shifter in park to start it.

__________________
DJ


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