My 1983 300SD turbo diesel is HARD starting when cold. The glow plug dash light doesn't light at all. The car starts after A LOT of cranking when cold. When hot the car starts great, as expected. what should i look for and where. Any help would be great before i goto the dealer.

noah

My '77 300D has a separate fuse box located on the firewall for the glow plugs with a 50 amp fuse strip. Or, perhaps your glow plug fuse is in the same fuse box with the other fuses. If not, look at your glow plugs and follow the wire attached to the last glow plug to the fuse box. This fuse went out once, the dash light did not come one, and I nearly did not get it started. Slim chance that say the first or second glow plug from the fuse box has gone completely bad and thus preventing the other glow plugs from getting power.

I'm sure others will have some knowledge about your problem.

Hope this helps.

Tom

__________________
America: Land of the Free!

1977 300D: 300,000+ miles

American Honda: Factory Trained Technician & Honor Grad.
Formerly:
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Noah,

For 1983 300D, it is very likely that the 80A fuse (p/n 000-545-03-34) is bad or power line disconnected. Other possible cause is that you have 3 or 4 bad glow plugs. If you have just one or two bad plugs, you should still able to start the engine and the glow indicatior will not be on. If you have 5 bad plugs, you glow indicator light will act normal as if there is no problem.

David

Noah,


It is a diesel. They are hard to start. You need good fresh glow plugs and a new fuse. Change that stuff it easy. remove the fuel lines and change out the glow plugs, it is as hard as changing spark plugs. Also glow plug the car for ten seconds before starting it. (turn the key to the pre glow position and count to ten...the glow plugs glow longer than the interior light indicates) It makes a big difference and saves the life of the starter which is not easy to change and is expensive. The glow plugs are 7 bucks each, the fuse is 2 bucks, get new fuel filters if you havent this year as you will be priming the fuel system after removing the fuel lines and wahla you have winterized you heavy beast.


Good luck,


I may be crazy but I might change my plugs every year in October to prepare for the cold winters in chicago. 250000 on the monster I want to give it the best chance to start at 10 below that I can. I also run Delvac one 5w40.

Good luck.

Fix this problem soon and replace all the plugs

bob

On your pin type glow plug system, the number one plug is used as the temperature measurement sensor. By monitoring the current in the number ONE plug, the glow plug relay determines when to shut off the light on the dash.

The other suggestions you received were right on. The strip fuse for yours is 80Amps and is located in the glow plug relay unit on the left front fenderwell.

With the pin type glow plug system, replacing all five glow plugs will get you back in business almost every time. Checking them with a meter is almost wasted time. They can check good but still not be doing a very good job.

Good luck and God bless America,

Noah,

I just changed my glow plugs on '85 300CD. Go to diesel forum and look for that thread. Job was tedious because of location of plugs but not complex. You will definately need to remove the fuel lines, do that first and put them (good Larry Bible suggestion) in a plastic bag to keep very clean.

There is a little (8mm) nut that holds the wire to the plug that is easy to drop and the replacement plugs (available from FastLand overnight) do not have additional nuts! Put a cloth under the plug to catch the nuts that you will drop for sure. Use 10 W 40 to lubricate them before starting and you can use fingers (barely) to do most of removal work.

Just be patient and give yourself enough time to do the job.

Good luck,

Nic