Mine is melted on the side and there is a noticeable bulge where the plastic is melted thru. My guess is some major damage happened in there, most likely after I replaced my plugs. They were pretty dirty before and may have drawn less current. The ebay link above is the part I need, but $300 seems a bit steep.

I appreciate the offer for a new one, but personally I want something I can control especially because it gets cold in Colorado and I run SVO. I may want to leave the plugs on a bit longer.

I am pretty handy and already have an Arduino microprocessor on board. I was planning to wire in to the factory glow plug temp sensor and use a low level signal to drive the appropriate electronics to control the solenoid and heat it up.

My only question is how much does it matter what solenoid I use? My guess is any automotive one rated for 80A will work fine since 60-70A is drawn during normal use (per the Mercedes Manual). I would also add an 80A fuse. Any advice here is much appreciated.

-matto-