so, I was out of town over the weekend.

It was around zero*F on Saturday morning when I went to start the benz up. cranked her over, she almost started, then no go.
re-glo, try again, nothing.
wore the battery down trying to start her up, hooked up some jumpers to another car and let it charge a while. when I tried again, I didn't get any glo light.
now, I've tested the GP's w/ a multitester in January, they all tested OK.
never had any indications of a bad gloplug.
been starting fine in subzero weather.

So i got out a jumper wire from the batt., touching each GP one at a time- the harness unplugged from the relay. I did not get a single spark

so off with the injector lines, out come the plugs. jump each one with my little jumper box. nothing. not one lit up. so i used the jumper cables off the battery. nada. zilch. zip.

so I borrowed a car and ran down to the autozone. they had 75 GP's in stock so i got 5 bosch gloplugs for $9.95 each, and a little single serve of antiseize. put them in, hooked up the injector lines, bled it all out, and finally, with jumping from another car AND my little jumper box, got the old girl to fire up.

well, I just cant fathom all 5 GP's burning out at the same time. could there be a hidden cause of all this? I suppose I could have had a bad one already, but what about the other 4?

FWIW, the car started at 1AM, cold, but would not start at 9AM, after a 2 1/2 mile drive.

ohh yeah- she fires right up again now.

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1984 123.193 372,xxx miles, room for Seven.

1999 Dodge Durango Cummins 4BTAA 47RE 5k lb 4x4 getting 25+mpgs, room for Seven.

wow....jumping a glow plug with cables from a battery is very dangerous!

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
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'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

My SD did the same thing. GP's get weak over time it seems, regardless of what the meter says.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

My 85 300 D was starting good all fall. I do keep it in an unheated, uninsulated garage. Just before christmas we had a real cold snap, down to about 5 degree F for 3 nights in a row. The first morning, the start was a little rough, but it was running with one glo plus a short second one. The second morning it never fired at all. I put it on the charger and even hooked onto the block heater, and tried it the next morning, total nothing. I couldn't believe it! I checked them with a meter and one or two checked like they should have worked. But on pulling them out of the head and checking them across the battery, not one of them developed any heat. With my new plugs it has been starting very good in the garage without the block heater, but I left it outside for 15 hours Saturday and when I tried to start it at 5 degrees, it took a lot of glowing and cranking. It finally fired up, but I really had been thinking that I was going to have to take a school bus home.

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Junqueyardjim
Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important. C.S. Lewis



1983 Mercedes W123 240D 4 Speed 285,000 on the road with a 617 turbo, beautiful butter yellow, license plate # 83 240D INDIANA

2003 Jaguar Type X, AWD. beautiful, good mileage,
Mom's car, but I won't let her drive it!

Are the GP's in the 84 wired in series? If so, then touching each glowplug probably fried them, since you were applying 12V to something that was only designed to handle about 2.5 volts.

And if they're wired in parallel on the 84, then they would have been fine, and you can ignore me

I agree that "jumping" the GP's like that is dangerous. Why? If your positive cable accidentally comes in contact with anything metal on the way down to the GP, you'll get a direct short to ground. Kinda the same rule as always connecting the positive terminal first on the battery. If you do the negative first, then everything metal is negative. If you hit something with your wrench while tightening the positive terminal, you'll have a wrench welded to some part of your car. There are probably other reasons too.

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Dale

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...MG_2277sig.jpg

1990 300D 2.5 Turbo -155k
2000 E430 - 103k
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Ecodiesel 4x4 - 11k
2014 VW Passat TDI SE - 7k Bro's Diesel
2006 E320 CDI - 128k Pop's Benz

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I've had to jump the glowblugs several times before. I was stranded in my 76 300d and the #1 glowplug was dead. If you connect the jumper to the glowplug first then the battery its not so bad.

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"spreading a trail of obnoxious where ever we go"
1981 300sd w/ 341,500 miles

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I dont think jumping a GP is dangerous- sure, you have to pay attention to what your doing, but come on, if you cant handle that you should think about limiting your underhood time to checking fluids.

I am pretty sure they did away with the loop plugs in the seventies.

__________________
1984 123.193 372,xxx miles, room for Seven.

1999 Dodge Durango Cummins 4BTAA 47RE 5k lb 4x4 getting 25+mpgs, room for Seven.

Yes like when your hands are a touch sweaty, and you're leaning over the vehicle making a very nice large contact patch between your gut and the fender with your sweaty shirt. "But it's only 12 volts!" I hear you cry...
Believe me, 12 volts is enough to really tingle under the right circumstances
-nB

__________________
'83 300D Turbo
Current: ???K mi - 19.2mpg -> 17.4mpg -> 22.9mpg ---> ODO Died
bought at: 233.8K mi - 10MPG For $1.00
3.5 cylinders work: 320 320 100 340 280
Got insurance? FarmersReallySucks.Com

Very early on, I did the same thing. Problem was that it wasn't on my MB, it was on a Freightliner. 4x 1000cca batteries + 3/8 ratchet + frame = 1/4" diameter arc of metal melted off my ratchet.