I have a 1991 300d 2.5 diesel with 165k on it. I am the second owner and the previous owner gave me a huge 3 ring binder of every single reciept (in plastic sleeves) for the car. Since this car was the dealership owner's personal car, they have great documentation, beyond being anal retentive. I have every reciept for oil changes, service, tires being checked and each time the car was filled for fuel!!!!!
I was going through the records to see what was done and I noticed that on a couple of reciepts it says "remove and replace fuse 80 amp strip $1.45" What the heck does this mean?? There is a section for problems, but it never had anything listed as a probelm, it was just in for scheduled service. Is this something that should be checked and how often???

Inside thhe glow relay there is the fuse that is mentioned. It handles the heavy load of the glow system. This load is many times greater than any other load except for the starter.

The load causes the fuse to heat and expand. The expansion and contraction causes the fuse eventually to crack and fail. A simple maintenance consideration probably more important in colder climates. The car won't start well cold with the fuse and glow system down.

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Steve Brotherton
Owner 24 bay BSC
Bosch Master, ASE master L1
26 years MB technician

That sounds logical, by looking at the service records, it is being replaced every 12,000 miles on the nose. Is this a normal service required by MBZ,think that they were just being extra careful since it was the owner of the dealership's personal car?
Is this just a fuse that I can replace, any special recautions to consider, disconnecting battery etc?

Ari,

Don't think of this fuse as a preventive maintenance item. Replace it if you're having trouble with the glow plug system. I'm surprised that you didn't find the pattern to be that it was replaced at the beginning of winter.

Good luck,

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Larry Bible
'84 Euro 240D, 516K miles
'88 300E 5 Speed
'81 300D Daughter's Car
Over 800,000 miles in
Mercedes automobiles

When you mean "having trouble', what syptoms would the car exhibit or would the car not turn over at all? Would the glow plug lights flash?
Thanks for your help!