Hi Folks,

I am still making slow but steady progress restoring my new '84 300D. It seems she will not catch idle on first start. Things improve a bit if I step on the gas pedal at least once. But still will not catch idle on first try. Any suggestions what to look for?

Once it runs there's no problem. And will catch on first try if attempted sometimes later that day.

Peter,

Possibility of air leakage in fuel system like at crush washers? Fuel filter? Sounds like may be back draining a little overnight since will start easily a few hours after first use.. Another thought although my knowledge is very limited. Cold idle is too low? The devil itself to start one of mine with idle adjuster turned down on dash. in fact my 77 300d will not start without pedal at all if idle not turned up. Yes know you do not have one but there must be some other compensating device when dash adjust discontinued. Really dislike starting by feeding pedal in to get running revs as oil pressure is not up yet and I tend to overshoot. A simple test I always used was to pull a vaccum on the fuel line at tank end and see if it was maintained. Return valve on pump reacts to pressure only so should also apply to this model. A good tight system should maintain the vaccum for hours. If not go looking for problem. cannot see the validity of test being any different than all the gas cars we did.

Is your warm idle set high enough? Assuming ALL of your glow plugs are good...

Hmm, I think you are both onto something. I don't recall my car exhibiting the higher cold idle rpm. It idles cold at the same speed as hot. So I have to figure out where the adjustment for the cold idle set at.

Thanks,
Peter

BTW: Jim, it looks like I am going to have to get behind the dash gauge to tighten up the grounds. But so far I have not seen any electcrical gremlins return.