I had a situation with my 84 190D this weekend that seemed to fit a bad glow plugs scenario exactly. It very suddenly wouldn't fire until I ran several full preglow cycles and cranked a lot. It worked fine when we went to church, but two hours later it acted like this.

I didn't have a tester with me, but I followed standard recommendations to start it yesterday evening to get home (plugged in the block heater, ran through several preglow cycles, got a jump for extra cranking power) and it finally started and then ran like a top.

This morning I got my tester and ran through Diesel Giant's diagnosis list. Everything checks out perfectly. And so I tried to start it for the first time after sitting cold all night. It started perfectly. What the hell?!?

Here's the twist: My wife went out to the car after church before I did, and tried to start the car. She came back in and said, "The car won't start." That's happened before because she does dumb things like forget to put it in park. So I went out, ran it through the preglow, and cranked it over. And I already explained what happened. But, I didn't tell you that after cranking a bit and then popping the hood and looking things over, I discovered that the throttle was stuck wide open. My wife had stomped on the accelerator pedal while trying to start it before I came out, trying to choke it I guess...

So for about a minute, the glow plugs were on and then the engine was cranked over, with the throttle fully open. Is this what caused all the trouble yesterday, and was it just a temporary issue that's now gone? Everything seems fine now, but I'd like to know what happened and if anything was potentially damaged.

Thanks for any thoughts,
Jason

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1984 190D 2.2