Hi All, Starting about 2 weeks ago the Gremlins decided to infest my car. It started out as a headlight problem. The lights haven't been very good on this car, but since I rarely drive at night I let it slip until about 2 weeks ago the left high beam died. While removing the trim from the sealed beam unit the front of the light fell off the rest of the unit. It looks like it was just glued on and the glue failed. I found that the right sealed beam unit had a tiny hole that let in the heat and humidity and all the silvering had fell of the back of the unit causing no light to be reflected out the front. So with both sealed beams replaced I aligned the beams against a grocery shop wall latter that night. Now I can see great. But then the next morning the Gremlins were back. I tried to start my girl and her motor just spun and spun. The glow plug light hadn't come on. Turned her off and back on now the glow plug light came on for a few seconds and the motor spun and she tried to start, but I had to hold the key in starter position for 20-30 seconds until she got going. This went on till Saturday when I went through the good writeup on DG. I found 12V on the GP relay pins. The GP's resistances were 0.5, 0.5, 3.4M, 0.5, 0.5, while I may not be a mechanical genius I thought the 3.4 Meg Ohms was suspicious, so I ordered Bosch replacements. But the next day, and for the rest of the week, she started on the first compression stroke even though it was even colder outside. The GP light was coming on for 20 Sec or so. Funny thing, I hadn't fixed anything yet. Then this morning no GP light, and she didn't even try to start. The Gremlins were back. I grabbed the hood opener latch and pulled it to check the GP relay, and it broke off in my hand. Oh, it could have been worse.... No it couldn't, it was raining. So my question to you good folks is, How do I get my hood open? I have the on-line manual and I can't find anything about the hood release lever. It must be there but I can't find it. Thanks

__________________
Will W - 1984 300SD federal

The hood release pull is a straight piece and short, so shouldn't be hard to hook the lever with a stiff rod to release it. I replaced one with a few wraps of stainless wire, until I found I could get a new one cheap (~$7). The real problem is when the release cable from the cabin breaks.

I think in your year, it requires 3 glow plugs to be open before the light will not come on at all. That is a user warning. The "open" could be either in the glow plugs themselves or in the connector, wiring, or relay. Since you have removed and re-installed the connector, it probably isn't a loose connector (first guess). Unlikely 3 of the individual wires from the relay to glow plugs could be erratic together. My guess is the relay is bad. You used to have to pay $$$ for a used one, but I grabbed one for $5 at PickNPull the last year or two. Grab the heater resistor too (passenger inner fender).

BTW, before trying to replace a glow plug, it is nice to have a set of ratcheting box wrenches (Craftsman and others). It makes it real easy. That is my go-to tool now.

I had a failed hood opener on my SD too.

The bracket fell apart.

I pulled on the cable with pliers, the hood popped up as it should.

I installed a new bracket, you see where it was made, had to file out some of that flash so the cable would fit through.

I also am thinking a loose connection, check the ohms again.

Yes, I also use a ratcheting box end, 8mm for the connection and a 12mm socket for the plugs themselves.

Don't know about the three bad plugs for a no light situation.

Attached Thumbnails

     

__________________
83 SD

84 CD

Thanks for the advice! I pulled a GP relay from the junk yard last summer so I have a spare :-) The pictures were very helpful since I can't find anything in the manual about the release lever. I pulled a muscle in my back and bending over and looking is a real pain, no joke. In the pictures I can see 2 fasteners holding the lever in. Were these screws or some type of rivet? The "honey'do" list was long today so it's going to be tomorrow before I start on this. Thanks again for the help.

__________________
Will W - 1984 300SD federal

Hard to tell from the pic, but screws hold the bracket to the footwell.

__________________
83 SD

84 CD