Hello everyone! I'm hoping someone on here can help me out. Here's my story:

I bought a '78 240D about three years ago. It ran great for about a year, and then it had a small electrical fire under the dash somewhere. We had to have the instrument cluster replaced, and the mechanic said the cause was related to a faulty fuel cutoff switch or something, which also got replaced. Sometime shortly thereafter, the car decided it wouldn't start. I replaced the starter myself, and it ran great again for about seven months, at which point it wouldn't start again.

Well, the symptoms were exactly the same as before, so I got a replacement starter for free since the other was under its one year warranty, and replaced it again. This time it only ran for about three days before the engine completely seized up and the battery exploded. *sigh*

I got it towed to a shop, where they removed the starter, and instead of simply having worn down teeth, like the other times, this time the teeth were all mangled and twisted. Not good. The mechanic also said that the flywheel was messed up and needed to be replaced.

I want to fix this poor old thing, but would like to know what the root cause of all of this is. Is it electrical and somehow related to the fire way back when? I think it might be since the battery got fried. Is the flywheel the problem? Personally, I don't see anything wrong with the flywheel, but I have attached a photo of it so that maybe somebody here can tell me what they think of it.

Anyhow, I'll elaborate more if you all have questions, which I assume there will be many.

Thanks!

flywheel

Li'l green 240

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'78 240D

Try posting on the diesel forum. You'll probably get more answers there.
The teeth on the flywheel look worn down to me. I think it will probably need a new/used flywheel. The teeth should look crisp with no edges worn down. I think you may also run into some balance problems. I believe at one time, MB balanced the whole engine with flywheel attached. I don't know if it feasible to replace just the flywheel without balancing everything. Someone on the diesel forum will know.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

just guessing:

your battery blew up because it was very cold.

cant see your flywheel picture but would guess that
the starter was not compleatly engaging because the
grease in the solonoid was frozen or the starter was
not bolted tight.

the ring gear is seperate from the flywheel, about $100.
if the flywheel isnt badly damaged, it can be resurfaced.

don

If your voltage regulator is bad, it would overcharge the battery and it could explode in a worst-case scenario. You might also get excessive voltage to the starter causing failure. But this is REALLY a stretch trying to connect the dots.

What does the ground strap from the frame to the starter, and its connections look like? It can cause all sorts of problems if it or the connections are corroded.

Need more info about the flywheel problem. Is it warped or excessively worn?

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Chuck Taylor
Falls Church VA
'66 200, '66 230SL, '96 SL500. Sold: '81 380SL, '86 300E, '72 250C, '95 C220, 3 '84 280SL's '90 420SEL, '72 280SE, '73 280C, '78 280SE, '70 280SL, '77 450SL, '85 380SL, '87 560SL, '85 380SL, '72 350SL, '96 S500 Coupe

What happened when the engine siezed - did it stall, or just stop immediatley as if it had no oil and someone put a huge brake on it?

It sounds like a more serious problem than the flywheel if the engine is seized up...

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Current:
2021 Charger Scat Pack Widebody "Sinabee"
2018 Durango R/T

Previous:
1972 280SE 4.5
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited "Hefe", 1992 Jeep Cherokee Laredo "Jeepy", 2006 Charger R/T "Hemi"
1999 Chrysler 300M - RIP @ 221k

"seized up" is the incorrect term I guess. The engine stopped, but not due to pistons getting stuck or anything like that. I think the starter bendix gear got jammed in the ring gear, maybe due to an ignition problem, really. I don't know though.

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'78 240D

Get the ring gear replaced and get a BOSCH rebuilt starter, not any other -- must have the armature replaced along with the over-running clutch.

What happened is that you had a poor quality rebuilt starter installed, and it ate the starter gear. It's possible that the ring gear was badly worn when you changed the starter the first time, too.

Eventually, the starter gear locked up on the bad ring gear, and overheated the battery, which boiled and popped.

If you have a manual tranny, this isn't too painful. With an automatic, you should pull the engine and transmission together, then separate, it saves considerable work going back in.

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

psfred, I like that except for one thing: all of the starters I went through were Bosch. Are there some Bosch rebuilds that are better than others?

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'78 240D