1984 300d turbo 4 speed, starter won't turn over, can't push start
 

Hi, I have an 84 300d Turbodiesel and I'm in a bind right now. After work last night my car wouldn't start. It's been an issue for a few weeks, I had to push start a few times last week, then it started working but I'd have to turn the key a few times to get it to turn over.

But now I'm stuck in the parking lot at work, she won't turn over, she won't push start, and I'm getting a buzzing noise from my glow plug relay.

i'm not sure if that's the issue or if it's something with my battery but I don't have a multimeter and the funds are really tight right now.

I have an 85 euro 300d NA that I could pull a relay off of, but getting to it involves a 30mi drive so I wanna make sure before anything. Any ideas?

Where are you?

Sounds like a bad GP. What does the GP light do?

1st thing first ,check your grounds and the battery terminals .Ive had old battery wires before look in OK condition just to find latter they had corrosion inside the wire sheathing.Clean the neg battery ground to body.Is this a recently purchased car? If so ask the previous owner if he or she has had a similiar issue with an easy solution?

Answer
 

Even if this procedure works correctly, expect sparks and arcing when making/breaking contact...

Warning/Danger:
As a last resort emergency option; You can use a screwdriver to short across the two large 17 MM starter solenoid studs.

The tool can get hot enough to burn you.


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I'm in Orlando, Fl, I checked my battery terminals and they're good, I may pull the battery and take it to autozone to have it tested but it's fairly new, it's never been run empty, I bought it for my old 300d back in November.

As far as the previous owner all I know is it's some kid from Valdosta GA, who swapped the stock airbox for a hot air intake, took out the headliner, and had zip tied the ignition switch to underneath the dash.
i crashed my car and bought this car as a replacement, I'm not ruling out any possibilities with this car.

When I turn the car on the gp light turns on and turns off after a few secs like it's supposed to, but after doing it a few times I'll get a buzzing sound from the gp relay that sounds like the freakin thing is dying.

I noticed that sound when I tried jumping the starter with the 1st and 3rd wire in that small box on the pass fenderwell, I'd hear a click and then that buzz.

i'm waiting for my mechanic to call me back to see what he thinks.

Id investigate the ignition switch if thats the case.If zip ties are used holding the ignition in place as you turn the key it could come loose , unplugged or grounding on something.

What would I inspect? The wires and the 2 vac lines were secure when I put it back in the stock location. The only thing I noticed with it was after starting the car I would have to turn the key a hair to the left for the a/c and foglights to work.

This was referring to when my car was able to start, I still haven't started it yet.

The motor is not turning ,right.Its electrical then ,or a long shot the thing is in gear and your clutch rod has fallen off the shifter,hows the shifter feel?If its in gear you wont be able to get the car to fire off ,will the car move if pushed in neutral? Not move in first gear.It could be a related item with the 4spd.Not sure if a 4spd car has a neutral safety switch ,this would explain an automatic cars problem to a tee.

The shift rod bushings need to be replaced, the shifter has a lot of play in it but I can get into gear no problem, when it's in N it rolls, and 1st gear will stop the car from rolling. I've push started the car before no problem. There is no neutral safety switch though, and u can even start the car w/o the clutch.

I'm waitin on a ride to autozone, I'm going to take my batter there to be tested and pick up a multimeter to test the glowplugs.

I want to spend time on things like doing a valve adjustment, adjusting the ip, the wastegate, and the ALDA but all this little **** keeps eating my time.

Benz there done that.. keep the faith. It is a great car once you sort all of the small issues.

The fact that you can't get the starter to turn and you can't push start it is a strong clue to me. looking at battery or switch connections. Regardless of whatever kind of sounds it's making or lights are flashing you should be able to feel a little heat from the GPs of you just touch around the head near the GPs. These cars are pretty sensitive to GP failure i've, depending on the overall health of the engine, i'v seen one GP failed and 4 working and NOT been able to start and 4 GPs failed and one working and HAVE been able to start.

Looks like its 87 degrees in Orlando today. Glow plugs or not
chances are that you could actually successfully "push start" the car if you can get up and keep up enough speed. Probably not a a good long hill around in Orlando.

Do you have a friend that could tow rope you?? I've tow started my automatic this way.

I don't need a lot of speed with the manual, I've successfully push started the car by myself just pushing the car about 10ft. I just tried 2 more times and the car just won't fire up. This is so frustrating.

With working glow plugs...

Yeah I guess the Florida heat isn't enough to compensate for that.

I do think that a longer or faster push start would compensate for that.