As Fisherman said.. you now have a problem due to not having run the car for a while.... charge the battery, check all the wires for good connections.... you have to turn a diesel over at a certain rate before any of them will start from compression heat..
Then back to the original deal.... if it really was that long since the last valve adjustment you may have burned your exhaust valves...
But a leak down test is what you are needing now...to distinguish between valves and rings as the source of the low compression...
If it is the valves then you can just have a head job done...

Hello Everyone
Are any of you close enough to give 83MB240D some hands on help?
If you would be willing, send a PM to 83MB240D.
Please protect your privacy on the internet.
Thank you and have a great day.

83MB240D'
Where in the Bay Area is the car? Maybe one of us locals can help out.

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LRG
1987 300D Turbo 175K
2006 Toyota Prius, efficent but no soul
1985 300 TDT(130K miles of trouble free motoring)now sold

Hi everyone,

Great advice...I disconnected the battery when the car had starting problems, and then reconnected the battery again on Sunday night, but the car has sat there since with the battery connected (about 4 days now). The battery was also tested this past Saturday prior to reconnection at the local auto parts and it was good. However, it is possible that the battery (especially since it's 4 years old) could drain enough in 4 days to cause it not to start. I will recharge it and try again tonight/tomorrow morning.

Thanks for the many offers to help, and like whunter said, please protect your privacy. My car is in the East Bay (somewhere near the Castro Valley viccinity), but if you are nearby or can help, send me a PM or email and I can give a more exact location. For now, I will check the battery and other minor things, but if I still need help after that, maybe I will just ask again tomorrow. For now, let me try some basic things and hope it works.

Thanks to all again.

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83 240D (256K miles)

If you really like the car and want to keep it put a new motor in it and do not waste money on your current engine. I have a 77 240d, had it for 22 years, two years ago I put a new motor in it after 300K miles of city driving. I bought the new motor from Houston MB dealer, long block complete with everything, 36K warranty, the price of the moter was $3600 plus installation. these MB engines come from Europe, I believe that they are assembled in Denmark for MB, and are as good as the new engines that come with the car originally.
I strongly recommend not to rebuild your existing engine locally, it will certainly be more expensive & definitely not as good as the ones MB dealers carry.

Cal

I hope you concider replacing the motor, but if you decide to donate I'm reasonably sure someone on this web would be interested in reviving it. I just picked up a 240 myself and I believe the engine may also be gone. I do nearly all of my own work so I know my results first hand. I hear all kinds of romores about 4 & 5K miles from the 240D but I also see several if not most that go down with 210,000 to 260,000 miles. I hope to get hold of a compressionm tester in the near future ( if someone would answer my other post) as soon as I can locate one for a reasonable price.

For the others out there why not Either?

Sonora that's GOLD COUNTRY not wine country

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1984 280SEL, 62,000 miles
Euro model in the USA
1983 300D (Totaled out 10/2004)
New Factory Mint Green paint
Palomino int
1982 240D (Steak dinner for two)

If you are that attached to your 240D, then I wouldn't quibble about getting the necessary shop work done to find out the problem. Perhaps you will need a new engine, although that seems doubtful. I have an '82 240D with 381,000 miles on it, and I replaced the engine last year @ 375,000 on the original engine (I bought it from my brother in law @ 300,000 miles driven all that time in California over 13 years ago). the engine finally died and refused to start. My new engine (rebuilt from MB and shipped from Berlin) runs great with a 4 yr. or 50,000 mile warranty, and I spent far more than the car is worth, but I love it. So you should consider how devoted you are to the car, rather than agonizing over the particulars.

__________________
DHB

......

__________________
Jim

'49 170?(donated to church in Darmstadt '58)
'58 220S(crusher, after '73 fire[San Antonio])
'72 280SE 4.5
'77 240D
'81 300SD
'83 240D parts car