Cinderella had something of a rough startup that turned out to be a weak glow plug. I never really thought it was a glow plug because it smoothed out so quickly, but it was certainly rougher than expected at the instant of the start.

One day I just decided to test the glow plugs for the heck of it since they are so easy to test with a 20-amp amp meter. They are supposed to draw a lot of current initially and then settle down to around 12 amps steady-state when hot. I had one that would only pull about 5 amps. In this particular case it could also be found bad by its resistance reading - higher than the other three.

Replaced it with another used one in the garage and it starts smoothly now. The one that came out was the original manufacturer glow plug, dated 1981, Beru, with a Mercedes Star on it!

Ken300D

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1982 300D at 351K miles
1984 300SD at 217K miles
1987 300D at 370K miles