Yesterday was 2nd coldest day of the year I think so far here, about freezing maybe a little above, and car whined like a little girl when I tried to start her up in the morning, but she did start and drove fine. Today got up, lots of ice and slush/snow around and temp about freezing maybe a bit below all night, car WILL NOT start no matter what I do. Battery cranks fine (5 minutes plus on it trying to start so far and its still cranking ok), but engine doesnt catch. Pumping the gas does NOTHING, its like I didnt press the pedal at all.

Fuel gelled? I admit Im a newbie to driving diesels in cold weather.

Tony

Anthony, does your car have a block heater in it? I have known people who had them but did not know it because all that shows is up under the front right wheel where the little cord hangs down (at least on mine). If not,,, and I know there are not many of these days down here... have you been reading the block heater add on thread ? There are plenty of tractor supply type stores near you that will have one you can splice into your cooling water.... and it really makes a difference... also.. wait about a minute past when your glowplug light goes out... they continue to get hotter and that may help... Greg

Before PEH mentions it ... I want to say you should be pumping diesel instead of gas...

It ain't *that* cold here. I left my '87 diesel on the street last night. This morning it fired immediately and ran smoothly after perhaps 10 seconds of preglow.

Diesel fuel doesn't begin to gel until the temperature falls into the teens. At about freezing that is definately not your problem.

Your best bet to get it going is to give it an extra-long preglow. The glowplugs continue to heat for 1-2 minutes after the dash light is turned off. Count to 60 after the light goes out, put the accelerator to the floor and hold it, then start cranking. Don't be afraid to crank it for 30 seconds before giving up - the starters on a diesel are designed to take the additional abuse. Give the starter about a minute to cool between attempts.

The poor man's test of the glowplugs is to leave the door open and watch the dome light while preglowing. The light will noticably dim when the glow plugs are heating. When they shut off after a minute or two, the light will brighten. If this isn't happening, then you almost certainly have a problem in the preglow system.

There are a bunch of possible reasons why your car is hard to start. I'll permit some other folks to dig into them here.

Jcyuhn is on target.

Make sure your glowplugs are working. Your dash indicator light should come on then switch off after 5-10 sec. Not sure what diesel you drive, but my 85 300 glows for about 25 secs. I then hear an audible click of the relay which is on the front driver inner fender. On REALLY cold days, I do one or two glow cycles before cranking the starter. Turn key to glow, wait for loud click, turn back to lock, then back to glow, wait for click, then engage starter.

I have heard some folks do this three times. I have only had to do this with temps in the teens or really bad wind chill first thing in the am, twice usually does it.

Use the dome light trick or listen for the relay to click off. If you count to 60, and your relay has already shut down, your glowplugs are cooling, and you defeat your purpose. I understand that different models have longer and shorter cycles, but make sure you hit the right spot in the cycle. Mine only goes about 20-30 secs.

None of this matter with bad glowplugs; if they are old, change them, preferably to Bosch.

I would also use synthetic oil, or a 5-xx oil, helps the crank speed (I use Mobil 1).

Oh, an anti-gel additive is a good idea in the winter. I use Power Service multi-purpose, but there are a bunch that get good reviews.

Hope that helps.

Peter
1985 300TD

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Peter
1985 300TD 4-speed 212K
1992 400E 343K
2001 E320 72K

Guys, glowplugs appear to work fine. I've tried every method mentioned on the forum, including multiple pre-glows of 1 minute each and even other odd variations. Engine comes CLOSE to starting once in a long while but will not start.

I do have a block heater, its plugged in right now, but i dont know if it will help. 2 hours right?

Tony

Tony,

tell us the year and model of your car; it might help.

A couple hours should resolve your starting problems if they are glow related or gelling fuel related. If it doesn't start after that, you have something else, and I am not sure I could tell you where to begin.

I have heard all kinds of glow failure tests. There is only one way to be absolutely sure and that is to check resistance on each one individually and see whether they all read close. I'll see if I can find the numbers; or you could use the search feature for glow plug resistance. One or two bad plugs don't always reveal themselves via the dash light; I know this from personal experience. If you can't vouch for the newness of them, replace em, $10 each, a bit of a pain on the 300TD, don't know about yours.

If the car starts after using the block heater, add some additive and change your glow plugs. Make sure your valve cover feels warmer than ambient temperature, so you are sure that the block heater works.

If your starter is sluggish, that could be the problem. If it seems to be spinning the engine robustly, then you may have a fuel delivery problem. SOmeone who knows your car may be of help.

Best of luck

Peter
1985 300TD

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Peter
1985 300TD 4-speed 212K
1992 400E 343K
2001 E320 72K

Sorry thought I mentioned it, I usually do. 1980 300TD

PeterH, I am glad I am not the only one that thinks changing the glowplugs on the TD is a pain...
I have read that their are two strengths of starter available for this car.. is that true ?,, if he decides he needs a new starter does anyone know the # to look for to get the stronger one ? Thanks, Greg

I just got back from trying to start the car, block heater (if it even works at all) was plugged in for about 90 minutes and car acted the exact same way trying to start it after that it did before.

Its like it is not getting any fuel, could the fuel lines have frozen up or something overnight? (Freezing temperatures for about 35 hours straight with lots of wind and ice)

I doubt it but... ack.

Tony

You can check for fuel flow by disconnecting the return line at the big filter and pumping the priming pump---you should get fuel flow. Could be you need valve adjustment or you compresson is low.
Ken

__________________
K. Weimer
300SD (1)
300D (5) [Plus 1 parts]
300SEL 4.5 (2)
280SE (4)
280 (2)
250 (1)
250SE (1)
240D (7) [Plus 1 parts]
220D (11) [Plus 3 parts]
200D (2) [Plus 1 parts]
180c (with sunroof)

1995 Nissan UD1800 rollback
"If I can't fix it, it don't get fixed"

You can check for fuel flow by disconnecting the return line at the big filter and pumping the priming pump---you should get fuel flow. Could be you need valve adjustment or you compresson is low.
Ken

__________________
K. Weimer
300SD (1)
300D (5) [Plus 1 parts]
300SEL 4.5 (2)
280SE (4)
280 (2)
250 (1)
250SE (1)
240D (7) [Plus 1 parts]
220D (11) [Plus 3 parts]
200D (2) [Plus 1 parts]
180c (with sunroof)

1995 Nissan UD1800 rollback
"If I can't fix it, it don't get fixed"

Tony,

Was there no trouble AT ALL starting before this? Does it sound like your starter is cranking fast enough?

I'd change fuel filters, and test for fuel flow, as has been said.
I would still change your glowplugs. Cheap way to start isolating other causes.

Dunno, but valves seem like they would have given more warning. I'm guessin fuel, maybe something's clogged, never happened to me with temps in the teens and lots of wind.

I'm reaching now, need one of the forum MBologists to chime in!

Greg:

I have small to average hands for a 5'9" guy, and only two were painless for me. The only trick I found was a 1/4" socket set, and working from the opposite side of the engine. That made it a bit easier, but not much. My mechanic agreed, no brilliant ideas either!

Peter
1985 300TD

__________________
Peter
1985 300TD 4-speed 212K
1992 400E 343K
2001 E320 72K

I live in the same general area as you Anthony, and I left my car sitting outside the whole time it was "snowing" until this afternoon (around 4). I brushed off all the snow, being very careful around the star, and started trying to get the car started.

I glowed 2x and when I went to crank it, it cought, but not for very long (a couple turns at most). On my 3rd try I gave it some gas right as it cought and kept the idle at 1200 for 30 seconds.



Anyways, I attributed it to the fact my car has been sitting out since Saturday, I'm not use to this cold weather stuff, and the most probable - my car doesn't like it cold either.

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2005 Audi A4 1.8T CVT -Silver/Black "Siegfried"

1982 300D - Silver/Blue "Ralph" -For Sale:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?p=852260

1989 VW Diesel Jetta Blue/Blue "Bodo" RIP

Dude, you're having problems starting your diesel in the cold weather of *Texas*? Talk about living up to all of the bad stories people tell about diesels! ("They don't start in the cold")

Something's wrong with your glow plugs or you have REALLY bad compression from bad valve adjustement or bad rings. Non-synthetic oil will not help matters either.

My 85 300TD has been starting flawlessly all winter up here in Wisconsin (down to 10F). I haven't done anything unusual with the fuel and I haven't even looked for the block heater. I'm using Mobil 1, 15W-50.

Just because the light on the dash is working doesn't mean the glow plugs are good...

I don't mean to sound un-sympathetic, but you probably just have marginal glow plugs. A friend of mine just changed the glow plugs on his Rabbit and it's been like night and day how well it starts now!