I have a manual transmission 72 220D with an OM616 swapped in place of the OM615.

Yesterday I noticed that when pulling out the gorilla switch the starter would not engage and turn the engine. After about 6 tried it finally cranked and started the motor. The motor was hot after a long drive so no need to glow it.

This morning i noticed that the salt shaker glow indicator was not illuminating when holding the pull start knob in the first position. The motor cranked as soon as I pulled the knob out but since it didn't glow it required a good bit of cranking to finally start.

I noticed throughout the day the the pre glow indicator stopped working and therefore glow plugs were not heating

I have no issue replacing the plugs as normal maintenance but my question is, due to the sporadic no start yesterday could this be something else?

I'm assuming since its one issue with both engaging the starter and glow plugs it might be a bad gorilla knob ?