It has happened every winter since I bought my '77 240D. Today it happened again. I jumped into the car at work to make a grocery run for a planned supper (Mexican Lasagna, by the way), pre-glowed, pre-glow light no longer illuminated, turned the key, and heard a slow -- painfully slow -- crank of the engine then silence. How could this happen? I'd taken five quick one-mile trips in the car today in single digit temps [that is a giant hint?].
Anyway, when I walked back into the office, our admin assistant said, "That was a quick trip." I admitted that once again my diesel wouldn't start. She asked me the penultimate question: "If it is this much a pain in the ass, why do you INSIST (she is married, so has the language and tone down pat) on driving a diesel?" I had several answers for her: 1. I am stupid, I knew a month ago that I needed to add water to the battery but didn't. 2. A little birdie told me to put the Benz onto the battery charger last night, but I blew it off. 3. I am an idiot. 4. Why do YOU drive a minivan? Fortunately, our operations manager was standing there (he is a typical Iowa farmer about my age, a former 'Nam Green Beret who is able to take off one of his legs at will to shine it up after being introduced to Mister Landmine) and gave a better reply than I could muster in my moment of frustration. Nick said: "Maybe because it will last forever -- 500,000 miles easy." Denise (admin assistant) asked me, "Tell me again, what year is your car?" I told her it was a 1977 model. She swallowed then said, "Gosh, it is the same age I am." I rest my case! I told Denise that I am hoping this is the last car I have to buy for ME. I am 52 and I expect that, with good maintenance and my current pace of low annual miles and perhaps a sacrifice to the rust Gods, this diesel will still be on the road when the state tells me I am too old to drive any longer. I threw out a figure of 25 years, and Denise said, "Gawd, I will be about YOUR age then!" Oh -- I just put about 2 cups of water into the Interstate MegaMother battery and hooked up the battery charger. I'm sure the alternator is working fine, because after about 15 minutes if driving and letting it idle while I was in the store getting supper, it cranked right up. Only drawing 7 amps on the charger, so I think the drive helped with the resurrection. By the way, I when I couldn't get my jumper cables to work on my wife's car (damn'd side battery terminals buried under the windshield washer reservoir) I walked across the street and borrowed a "hot pack" from the car repair place. Slapped that on and the old Benz fired right up. I will need to search eBay for a good deal one of those ES5000 [I forget the rest of the name]. Don -- 1977 240D 1972 Honda CB-500K motorcycle http://www.airamericaradio.com/listen
