thank you guys, that's helpful. i did finally get it started after lots of cranking, running the battery down... plus half a dozen cycles of cranking then recharging the battery for 5-10 minutes. i think my error was not to hit the accelerator, which i read above and then spaced until the engine was already firing on four cylinders.

it works again, so, awesome!

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'77 240D, 504H, OM617.952, etc.