My 1983 300SD appears to have some electrical hiccup in the starter system.

Last Friday I turned the key an got nothing. About every third try I would hear the Solenoid click (At least I think it was the solenoid and not the GP relay.) After fiddling around a while I disconnected the neutral switch, inserted a jumper wire into the connector, and she started without a hitch. Problem solved I thought. Ordered a new switch from Fastlane, installed it... no start. Crap.
Cleaned the ground strap and all easily accesable connections... no start.
Asked loving wife to turn the key while I measured things with the voltmeter. She holds it down a couple seconds extra and it starts.
I drive the car to my regular mechanic and of course it starts EVERY time he trys to start it. He tests the starter "under load" and finds no problem. I come back and can't get it to start until the third turn of the key. Uggh. We both figure it is the evil, impossible to reproduce electrical gremlin.

The key switch was replaced two years ago. Alternator and battery are about six months old. The night before it refused to start I ran over a BIG (4' x 8') piece of cardboard. Hit hard enough to rip off the front license plate holder, that's why I first looked at the neutral switch. Part of the connector plug came off in my hand where the wires enter the plug, but no bare wires are exposed.

Sunday I plan to clean up the ground behind the instrument cluster and the key switch connections. If that doesn't work I might have to rig up a push button starter to the solenoid. Any other suggestions?

I still want to rule out the cracked NSS connector. Where can I bypass the neutral switch in the engine compartment? Other posts mention a three wire terminal block on the passenger fender well, but I have a four post block where two of the posts appear to share one common copper plate. Do I connect the other two posts to bypass the NSS?

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Greg Schwall

1983 300SD - 465,000 miles