Start Up Problem for a 1979 300SD?

When were the engine's valves last adjusted? Adjustment is due every
24,000 kms.

And your starting technique: At 0 degrees C. M-B wants the accelerator
depressed and held there while the motor is being cranked, let off the
accelerator when the motor fires. At -20 degrees C. M-B wants the
accelerator pumped three times before cranking the motor, then the above
procedure.
--

© 2008 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written
permission.
 >> Stay informed about: Start Up Problem for a 1979 300SD? 

I agree with valve adjustment... also check your glow plug system.
 >> Stay informed about: Start Up Problem for a 1979 300SD? 

A question: How quickly does the motor shut down after the key is turned
to OFF?

Almost instantly?
Or does it trail to a stop - over two or three seconds?

Should stop almost instantly, otherwise could affect starting.

I don't want to go further without knowing a bit more.
--

© 2008 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written
permission.
 >> Stay informed about: Start Up Problem for a 1979 300SD? 

On Feb 18, 6:19 pm, "-->> T.G. Lambach <<--" <"T.G. Lambach at
NoHamorSpamcomcast.net"> wrote:
> A question: How quickly does the motor shut down after the key is turned
> to OFF?
>
> Almost instantly?
> Or does it trail to a stop - over two or three seconds?
>
> Should stop almost instantly, otherwise could affect starting.
>
> I don't want to go further without knowing a bit more.
> --
>
> © 2008 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written
> permission.

Thanks to evryone for your responses.

I've had someone come and listen to the car as I start it.

First, the car does stop immediately when the ignition is turned off.
When I had the second heavy duty 12" battery installed, the car
started like a dream.

What else has been happening is after a day of driving, the car is
parked overnight with the block heater plugged in.
On some mornings when I go to start there is very little power as if
something is draining the battery power. A suggestion is that
1 the wire from the battery to the starter be checked
2 battery to ground
3 starter to ground

Is there anything else I might need to check.

When I get the car to the mechanics I will check the valves and glow
plugs. The car only has 188km on her.
 >> Stay informed about: Start Up Problem for a 1979 300SD? 

On Feb 19, 11:45 am, "Tiger" <tiger0....DeleteThis@hotmail.com> wrote:
> You are probably on the right track about the grounding strap... the battery
> negative ground cable is the first thing to check and the ground strap...
> which is by the starter if I am not mistaken... needs to be replaced.


Thanks Tiger,
Would these wires cause the battery to be drained in the morning?
Judy
 >> Stay informed about: Start Up Problem for a 1979 300SD? 

On Feb 19, 12:06 pm, classicone <JudyDavids....TakeThisOut@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Feb 19, 11:45 am, "Tiger" <tiger0....TakeThisOut@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > You are probably on the right track about the grounding strap... the battery
> > negative ground cable is the first thing to check and the ground strap....
> > which is by the starter if I am not mistaken... needs to be replaced.
>
> Thanks Tiger,
> Would these wires cause the battery to be drained in the morning?
> Judy

No, a bad cable just won't be able to deliver as much current which is
critical when cranking. If you leave the car until it's reached a
final cold temperature, say 8 hours and it starts OK, but won't crank
about the same after sitting for say 24 hours or 48 hours at the same
temp, that suggests you have a small load that is not turning off and
draining the battery.

You can disconnect one of the battery leads and insert an amp meter.
With everything off, the current should only be 10ma or so, which
would be the clock, etc. If it's substantially more, something is
drawing current and you need to track it down.
 >> Stay informed about: Start Up Problem for a 1979 300SD? 

You are probably on the right track about the grounding strap... the battery
negative ground cable is the first thing to check and the ground strap...
which is by the starter if I am not mistaken... needs to be replaced.
 >> Stay informed about: Start Up Problem for a 1979 300SD? 

On Feb 19, 1:58 pm, "trad...@optonline.net" <trad....DeleteThis@optonline.net>
wrote:
> On Feb 19, 12:06 pm, classicone <JudyDavids....DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On Feb 19, 11:45 am, "Tiger" <tiger0....DeleteThis@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > You are probably on the right track about the grounding strap... the battery
> > > negative ground cable is the first thing to check and the ground strap....
> > > which is by the starter if I am not mistaken... needs to be replaced.
>
> > Thanks Tiger,
> > Would these wires cause the battery to be drained in the morning?
> > Judy
>
> No, a bad cable just won't be able to deliver as much current which is
> critical when cranking.   If you leave the car until it's reached a
> final cold temperature, say 8 hours and it starts OK, but won't crank
> about the same after sitting for say 24 hours or 48 hours at the same
> temp, that suggests you have a small load that is not turning off and
> draining the battery.
>
> You can disconnect one of the battery leads and insert an amp meter.
> With everything off, the current should only be 10ma or so, which
> would be the clock, etc.   If it's substantially more, something is
> drawing current and you need to track it down.

Thank you. This problem has been going on for 4 weeks. Now I can
hopefully figure it out.
 >> Stay informed about: Start Up Problem for a 1979 300SD? 

If the battery has been drained overnight there are some suspects on
your model:

The cursed climate control "servo" is reported to drain a battery.
The car's power antenna is known to drain a battery.
A stuck power window switch can drain the battery.

If you need to replace the servo I'd suggest you check out a digital
retrofit system from www.unwiredtools.com. I installed it on my '80
300SD and it works well.
--

© 2008 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written
permission.
 >> Stay informed about: Start Up Problem for a 1979 300SD? 

On Feb 19, 7:08 pm, "-->> T.G. Lambach <<--" <"T.G. Lambach at
NoHamorSpamcomcast.net"> wrote:
> If the battery has been drained overnight there are some suspects on
> your model:
>
> The cursed climate control "servo" is reported to drain a battery.
> The car's power antenna is known to drain a battery.
> A stuck power window switch can drain the battery.
>
> If you need to replace the servo I'd suggest you check out a digital
> retrofit system fromwww.unwiredtools.com. I installed it on my '80
> 300SD and it works well.
> --
>
> © 2008 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written
> permission.


Thanks to everyone for your assistance. I really appreciate it.
Judy
 >> Stay informed about: Start Up Problem for a 1979 300SD? 

On Feb 20, 8:00 am, classicone <JudyDavids... DeleteThis @gmail.com> wrote:
> On Feb 19, 7:08 pm, "-->> T.G. Lambach <<--" <"T.G. Lambach at
>
> NoHamorSpamcomcast.net"> wrote:
> > If the battery has been drained overnight there are some suspects on
> > your model:
>
> > The cursed climate control "servo" is reported to drain a battery.
> > The car's power antenna is known to drain a battery.
> > A stuck power window switch can drain the battery.
>
> > If you need to replace the servo I'd suggest you check out a digital
> > retrofit system fromwww.unwiredtools.com. I installed it on my '80
> > 300SD and it works well.
> > --
>
> > © 2008 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written
> > permission.
>
> Thanks to everyone for your assistance. I really appreciate it.
> Judy


My mechanic looked after the car for the previous owner. He checked
out everything and in the shop it starts every time.
Valves were done by him, the glow plugs fine. He's baffled!
He said I may have to take it into Mercedes to have them run
diagonstics on it.
Is there anything else before I take it to them?
 >> Stay informed about: Start Up Problem for a 1979 300SD? 

On Feb 21, 8:16 am, "me" <some....RemoveThis@microsoft.com> wrote:
> "classicone" <JudyDavids....RemoveThis@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:ef26ebb3-4ade-4f89-bf14-d1c0693781cd@u72g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> On Feb 20, 8:00 am, classicone <JudyDavids....RemoveThis@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Feb 19, 7:08 pm, "-->> T.G. Lambach <<--" <"T.G. Lambach at
>
> > NoHamorSpamcomcast.net"> wrote:
> > > If the battery has been drained overnight there are some suspects on
> > > your model:
>
> > > The cursed climate control "servo" is reported to drain a battery.
> > > The car's power antenna is known to drain a battery.
> > > A stuck power window switch can drain the battery.
>
> > > If you need to replace the servo I'd suggest you check out a digital
> > > retrofit system fromwww.unwiredtools.com. I installed it on my '80
> > > 300SD and it works well.
> > > --
>
> > > © 2008 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written
> > > permission.
>
> > Thanks to everyone for your assistance. I really appreciate it.
> > Judy
>
> My mechanic looked after the car for the previous owner. He checked
> out everything and in the shop it starts every time.
> Valves were done by him, the glow plugs fine. He's baffled!
> He said I may have to take it into Mercedes to have them run
> diagonstics on it.
> Is there anything else before I take it to them?
>
> If you are talking about the starting problem it is either fuel (pump,
> filters, algae etc), electrical (battery, relay, glow plugs, block heater
> etc.) or mechanical(vacuum, valves, worn rings etc.) . Based on the report
> of a battery drain problem I would certainly fix the problem or replace the
> battery before I took it to the stealership.
>
> If you want to troubleshoot the battery drain problem try here:http://www.wikihow.com/Find-a-Parasitic-Battery-Drain- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

In this entire discussion there isn't a good description of exactly
how it behaves when it won't start. If it barely turns over, and
won't crank for more than a min, that is a very different thing than
if it turns over normally, with plenty of cranking ability, but won't
fire at all, etc. Does it always have this starting problem, or does
it depend on temperature? Does it start perfectly when warm?

Did the mechanic leave it out over night in the cold at similar temps
to when the problem occurs? BTW, I wouldn't have much faith in any
mechanic who said you have to take it to MB for them run "diagnostics"
on the car. There isn't any special diagnostic that MB has for a 30
year old car. It's just basic problem solving and elimination that
any decent diesel mechanic should be capable of doing.
 >> Stay informed about: Start Up Problem for a 1979 300SD? 

"classicone" <JudyDavidson2.DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:ef26ebb3-4ade-4f89-bf14-d1c0693781cd@u72g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
On Feb 20, 8:00 am, classicone <JudyDavids....DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Feb 19, 7:08 pm, "-->> T.G. Lambach <<--" <"T.G. Lambach at
>
> NoHamorSpamcomcast.net"> wrote:
> > If the battery has been drained overnight there are some suspects on
> > your model:
>
> > The cursed climate control "servo" is reported to drain a battery.
> > The car's power antenna is known to drain a battery.
> > A stuck power window switch can drain the battery.
>
> > If you need to replace the servo I'd suggest you check out a digital
> > retrofit system fromwww.unwiredtools.com. I installed it on my '80
> > 300SD and it works well.
> > --
>
> > © 2008 T.G.Lambach. Publication in any form requires prior written
> > permission.
>
> Thanks to everyone for your assistance. I really appreciate it.
> Judy


My mechanic looked after the car for the previous owner. He checked
out everything and in the shop it starts every time.
Valves were done by him, the glow plugs fine. He's baffled!
He said I may have to take it into Mercedes to have them run
diagonstics on it.
Is there anything else before I take it to them?

If you are talking about the starting problem it is either fuel (pump,
filters, algae etc), electrical (battery, relay, glow plugs, block heater
etc.) or mechanical(vacuum, valves, worn rings etc.) . Based on the report
of a battery drain problem I would certainly fix the problem or replace the
battery before I took it to the stealership.

If you want to troubleshoot the battery drain problem try here:
http://www.wikihow.com/Find-a-Parasitic-Battery-Drain
 >> Stay informed about: Start Up Problem for a 1979 300SD?