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  #1  
Old 08-26-2003, 10:52 PM
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Location: Baton Rouge, LA.
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Glow Plug Question 96 E300

Anyone have any ideas why the glowplug light would come on at around 40MPH? It came on for about 30 to 40 seconds. No other problems or difference in running.

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Keith Schuster
2006 E350 98K miles
2013 Ford Explorer 15K miles
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Old 08-26-2003, 11:17 PM
bisric
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I know you are not going to like my post, but I had a 1996 E300D and loved the car. At approximately 40k miles the glow plug light would come on when I was driving. It would happen once or twice every 1,000 miles or so.

Mercedes worked on the car and could not solve the problem. It eventually started to come on once or twice a week. Every third or fourth time, it would start to trigger the check engine - check electronics light/display.

Mercedes worked on the car for 3+ years and 55k miles. At 95k miles they compensated me with enough cash so that I could end my lease prematurely.

They did the following work:
- EDC replacement
- 2 Engine wiring harnesses
- 3 sets of glow plugs
- 4 glow plug relays
- wired a test lamp from the glow plug to interior for testing
- replaced the ignition switch
- replaced the entire instrument cluster
- countless engine adjustments
- cleaned intake manifold, etc.
- countless other works - just shooting in the wind
- months and months in the shop and being driven by techs for weeks

I couldn't even pass emissions anymore because having the check engine light or codes stored is an automatic failure in this state.

Hopefully, yours is behaving like a normal diesel and indicating that there is problem with the glow plug relay or a glow plug. These glow plugs include an afterglow function so that they remain heated for a couple minutes after the engine is started.

With MB's approval, the dealer sold the car to a customer in Southern Colorado - with a binder of legal waivers. She doesn't have emissions to pass and has a very solid car - with just one exception. The difference is that she paid less than 10k for the car while I paid 40k.

If I was her, I would think I had a great car for the money. I had all the options and miss the car - just not the problem. I now have a 2002 CLK 320 Cabriolet.

I may tempt fate with a new 2004/5 E320 CDI diesel. Who knows...
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Old 08-27-2003, 09:13 AM
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Thanks for the reply. I bought the car from Benzmac and he told me it would set a glow plug related DTC from time to time, I am ok with that as I can go in a clear the code when it shows. I was just a little concerned because this was just the glow plug light only. I will run a diagnostic and see if it set a DTC but they usually do not if the CEL does not come on. I know these cars have glowplug issues but as long as it will not hamper my driving I can live with it. I also need to be able to tell my wife it is ok as she is the primary driver of the car. I under stand your inspection sticker issues, I too live in a state that will fail a vehicle for emmisions related codes in a vehicles computer. Your right these cars are wonderful to drive and at 278K miles I doubt this will cause any long term problems. I too got a great price for the quality of car this is. Other than the glow plug issue I have a car that is nearly cosmetic and mechanically perfect. I also hope to one day move up to the newer CDI diesel EClass. Again thanks for the reply.
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2006 E350 98K miles
2013 Ford Explorer 15K miles
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Old 08-27-2003, 09:52 AM
bisric
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The glow plug light coming on alone is the normal "warning" behavior. Most times my problem did not cause the CEL light to come on in mine. Originally, I had to fight the dealer because they said "No Code = No Problem".

I had to read the manual to describe the behavior of the glow plug light and how problems with the glow plug system were indicated through the light coming on.

Sounds like more than one E300 had the problem... Outside of that it was a great running car...
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Old 05-18-2005, 09:14 PM
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Location: Seattle
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bisric
The glow plug light coming on alone is the normal "warning" behavior. Most times my problem did not cause the CEL light to come on in mine. Originally, I had to fight the dealer because they said "No Code = No Problem".

I had to read the manual to describe the behavior of the glow plug light and how problems with the glow plug system were indicated through the light coming on.

Sounds like more than one E300 had the problem... Outside of that it was a great running car...
I have a 97 that is doing the same thing. Glow plug light comes on sometimes and now Check Engine and Engine Electronics.
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  #6  
Old 05-19-2005, 07:36 AM
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My advice is to hook your car up to a computer while the lite is on and go from there. There must be an explanation for this and I'm sure someone out there has it. I love my E300D 1996 too and just got the new spring perches installed this week.
Steve
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  #7  
Old 05-21-2005, 06:49 PM
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The same thing just happened to me in my 95 E300, I just put new glowplugs in about 10k miles ago (4 months). If it happens to do it again I hope it is the glow plug relay. I don't think the W124's with the 606 engines have as many electronic systems as the W210, but I may be wrong.
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  #8  
Old 05-22-2005, 10:07 AM
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Wow this is a post from the past. What actually repaired my glow plug related CEL was teh replacement of the glw plugs. Even though they OHMed out to be good apparantly the computer did not like what it was seeing from them. I replaced them because I had no other direction to go and the constant CEL was driving me crazy. That was about 30K miles ago and all has been fine since.

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