I have a 80 240 d this morning the battery was dead. Nothing was left on.
Latley the glow plug light has been staying on indefinatly until i try to start the car and sometimes after the light flickers. It does seem that it has been strting kind of rough and noisy. it looks like 3 plugs have been changed recently (i just got the car 2 months ago)
Is this what caused my battery drain? alt is charging.

where do I get a glow plug controller?

Thanks!

Glow plug light probably means some plugs are burned out, but others can advise you better.

Dead battery.. standard triage:
1) clean battery terminal posts and the inside of the cable clamps where they contact the posts. If there's corrision around the terminals and cables, this could be your problem. Even if not, it is just a general good thing to do as soon as you get a car and eliminates a rash of other apparent charging system problems.
2) top up the fluid in the cells of the battery with distilled water. Low cells will be weak.
3) If you ###cna charge the battery### (make that "start and run the car above idle for a while") and car immediately restarts, but then battery is dead after sitting for a while, check to make sure something isn't staying on and draining the battery. With the engine off, connect a 12V bulb (like a dome light bulb -- one from any car will do) in series with the battery, it shouldn't light up. If it does, start searching for a current draw.

None of these may fix or give you any clue what the problem is, but they are always the first things to try as they are usually quick and cheap and are sometimes the source of the problem.

Hope that helps.

__________________
'83 300DTurbo http://badges.fuelly.com/images/smallsig-us/318559.png

Broadband: more lies faster.

GP light staying lit, or flickering, sounds like a potential grounding problem. I don't know exactly what a GP controller is, but I think all things related are in the relay. But First, check the GP's for resistance at the relay plug end with an ohm meter, low readings are good. When one of mine went out, the dash light did not come on at all.

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83 SD

84 CD

charging system is working fine. I tested the plugs and the first 3 wear .8 and the forth was completly burned out 0 resistance. Will have a new plug tomorrow and see if that fixes it

When plugs burn out do they form shorts? 0 resistance sounds like a really good current path... or a short. Infinite resistance is "burned out completely" in my mind... when these plugs go, do they short themselves together or just lose contact like a light bulb filament or a fuse? Might be related...

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~Michael S.~
Past cars:

1986 300SDL
1987 300SDL
1982 240D
1982 300SD


Current:

1987 300SDL

Glow plug fixed the problem.


bustedbenz,

stick an ohm meter on a wire you will get a reading now cut the wire and you get no reading or try a light bulb filiment burns you will not get a reading There is no path for the electricity to follow and you get no reading. get the idea?

That's exactly right. But "no reading" and "zero" aren't the same thing. On a gauge style meter, "zero" resistance actually moves the gauge all the way to the other end of the scale. Perfect connection. Touch the leads of the ohm meter together, it jumps all the way over. No resistance = "0".

Digital meters show this as 0.0 - which is in fact a reading.

Now... take the disconnected ones. Don't connect it to anything, or connect it to the "cut wire". Now, there's no path at all. So that no reading, in turn, means "this resistance is so high it's not even registering as a reduction" - so analog meters don't even move the pointer "no reading = really REALLY high resistance b/c there's no path" and digital meters (mine anyway) read O.L. - overload... this resistance is so great, since the circuit doesn't exist, that I don't know a number that high for it.

__________________


~Michael S.~
Past cars:

1986 300SDL
1987 300SDL
1982 240D
1982 300SD


Current:

1987 300SDL