Re: [MBZ] cold(er) weather starting issues?
Randy A few things. 1. Good battery. 2. Convert from the looptype glow plugs to the filement type mercedessource.com has a conversion around 100 dollars US and an easy job. Biggest thing you can do. 3. Block heater. If you do not have one get one and put it in lower radiator hose. KAT makes them or replace on in you block if not working 4. Battery warmer. When it gets real cold 10 F or less I use a 110volt heating pad (which does not have auto shutoff) and I wrap the battery and putt a blanket or something to insulate the thing 5 Get a 110 volt timer to feed an extention cord with multiply plugs. Hope this helps/Tom Scordato 1979 240D - Original Message - From: R A Bennell [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mercedes Discussion List mercedes@okiebenz.com Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 4:14 PM Subject: [MBZ] cold(er) weather starting issues? My old 115 300D was not happy about starting last evening. It is near 0 C here so about 32 F. It has been raining, blowing, and sometimes snowing a little here for the past week or more - a miserable October compared to last year when it was quite nice. We are way below normal temperatures. In any event, I had not run the car for a few days and it was sitting on the street in front of my house. I tried to start it last night and it would not go. It fired on a couple of cylinders but would not catch and run. The battery is obviously good as I cranked and cranked but it just did not want to catch. I stopped and tried again several times and on each of the subsequent tries the glow plug light only stayed on for a few seconds as opposed to the usual time. I ultimately pulled out the block heater cord and plugged it in for an hour and it then started like it was summer time. So, my question to those of you more experienced with these sorts of things, is, do I have some bad glow plugs or??? I got most of a set ( a long story) of new glow plugs from Rusty but have not changed any at this time. It seemed odd to me that it sounded like only a couple of cylinders were trying to catch. I am no expert on diesels but I would say the car ran fine all summer and it did not seem to lack in power etc once I got it running last night. I also wondered about valve adjustment etc. I have been negligent in the sense that I have gathered the stuff to do the valves (tools and gasket) but have yet to actually get to it. What else would cause it to be unhappy about starting? I should think one could count on it to start in colder weather than that. I don't drive it in the winter so I never tried to start it in cold weather last year. Randy ___ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
Re: [MBZ] cold(er) weather starting issues?
On Fri, 20 Oct 2006 15:43:15 -0400 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: 2. Convert from the looptype glow plugs to the filement type mercedessource.com has a conversion around 100 dollars US and an easy job. Biggest thing you can do. Talk to our list sponsor (Rusty) at (800) 741-5252 about this. Yes, it helps a lot. 3. Block heater. If you do not have one get one and put it in lower radiator hose. KAT makes them or replace on in you block if not working Rusty also sells them. Adjust the valves, too. Craig
Re: [MBZ] cold(er) weather starting issues?
Hello Tom Not really worried about cold weather starting in the long term. I don't drive the car through the winter. I will park it in the garage on Halloween and not drive it until probably April of 07. I just have it on the street now as I have another project sitting in its garage spot temporarily and it has turned a bit cold here. It did not want to start the other night after sitting for a few days. The battery appears strong and it will start fine if I plug in the block heater for an hour - maybe less but I have not tried that. I just wondered if it indicated a glow plug issue as it tried to start but not on all cylinders. It has also been suggested that I need to check the valve adjustment as it could be that a couple are too tight and I am losing compression when it is cold. Randy -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, October 20, 2006 2:43 PM To: Mercedes Discussion List Subject: Re: [MBZ] cold(er) weather starting issues? Randy A few things. 1. Good battery. 2. Convert from the looptype glow plugs to the filement type mercedessource.com has a conversion around 100 dollars US and an easy job. Biggest thing you can do. 3. Block heater. If you do not have one get one and put it in lower radiator hose. KAT makes them or replace on in you block if not working 4. Battery warmer. When it gets real cold 10 F or less I use a 110volt heating pad (which does not have auto shutoff) and I wrap the battery and putt a blanket or something to insulate the thing 5 Get a 110 volt timer to feed an extention cord with multiply plugs. Hope this helps/Tom Scordato 1979 240D
Re: [MBZ] cold(er) weather starting issues?
I also wondered about valve adjustment etc. Absolutely check the valves. When they're too tight, once the temperature drops to a certain point it's like a light switch gets flipped off. That point is where a valve start to hang open even just a little bit. That kills the compression, just when you need it the most. The glow plug system is also fairly critical. -- Jim
Re: [MBZ] cold(er) weather starting issues?
Plugging in the block heater to make the engine start points to two possible problems. The heating of the engine by the block heater is enough to cause the fuel to vaporize faster, makes the fuel warmer, taking a major burden off the glow plugs to start the engine I would remove the glow plugs and the ones with a black tip indicate duds . The short time the glow plug light is on, after trying several times to start the engine, might indicate a glow plug relay is not operating as designed... Wait a couple of hours and then turn the ignition key to start, after awhile the light will go out and then wait for a clicking sound,around 20 seconds, this sound tell you the relay is open and interrupts current flow to the glow plugsTip in cold weather, Do the above three times or more in cold weather to start the diesel. Started my 300 TD at -5F without a block heater Another tip: use a hair dryer blowing over the injectors and fuel line to start in cold weather takes about 20 minutes to work Bill 1981 300 TD Curt Raymond wrote: Randy, My first thought was gelled fuel but if it started with a warm block thats probably not it. My 240D would start at pretty much any temp down to freezing even without glowplugs, it wasn't happy about it, it'd need to crank for longer than I liked and it'd belch black smoke when it started but it did start... So yeah, maybe its time to replace glowplugs and adjust the valves. Give it a shot of isopropyl alcohol to sequester any water in the tank and maybe a shot of anti-gel just in case. Probably also a good time for new fuel filters and at least check the airfilter too... -Curt - All-new Yahoo! Mail - Fire up a more powerful email and get things done faster. ___ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
Re: [MBZ] cold(er) weather starting issues?
Before replacing the glow plugs have the valves adjusted, particularly if you don't have any records for the car prior to your ownership that indicate when they were last adjusted. This needs to be done once a year, regardless, and it will make a HUGE difference in ease of starting. On 10/18/06, Bill Gallagher [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Plugging in the block heater to make the engine start points to two possible problems. The heating of the engine by the block heater is enough to cause the fuel to vaporize faster, makes the fuel warmer, taking a major burden off the glow plugs to start the engine I would remove the glow plugs and the ones with a black tip indicate duds . The short time the glow plug light is on, after trying several times to start the engine, might indicate a glow plug relay is not operating as designed... Wait a couple of hours and then turn the ignition key to start, after awhile the light will go out and then wait for a clicking sound,around 20 seconds, this sound tell you the relay is open and interrupts current flow to the glow plugsTip in cold weather, Do the above three times or more in cold weather to start the diesel. Started my 300 TD at -5F without a block heater Another tip: use a hair dryer blowing over the injectors and fuel line to start in cold weather takes about 20 minutes to work Bill 1981 300 TD Curt Raymond wrote: Randy, My first thought was gelled fuel but if it started with a warm block thats probably not it. My 240D would start at pretty much any temp down to freezing even without glowplugs, it wasn't happy about it, it'd need to crank for longer than I liked and it'd belch black smoke when it started but it did start... So yeah, maybe its time to replace glowplugs and adjust the valves. Give it a shot of isopropyl alcohol to sequester any water in the tank and maybe a shot of anti-gel just in case. Probably also a good time for new fuel filters and at least check the airfilter too... -Curt - All-new Yahoo! Mail - Fire up a more powerful email and get things done faster. ___ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com ___ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
Re: [MBZ] cold(er) weather starting issues?
Randy, My first thought was gelled fuel but if it started with a warm block thats probably not it. My 240D would start at pretty much any temp down to freezing even without glowplugs, it wasn't happy about it, it'd need to crank for longer than I liked and it'd belch black smoke when it started but it did start... So yeah, maybe its time to replace glowplugs and adjust the valves. Give it a shot of isopropyl alcohol to sequester any water in the tank and maybe a shot of anti-gel just in case. Probably also a good time for new fuel filters and at least check the airfilter too... -Curt - All-new Yahoo! Mail - Fire up a more powerful email and get things done faster. From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Wed Oct 18 21:53:52 2006 Received: from rwcrmhc15.comcast.net ([216.148.227.155]) by server8.arterytc8.net with esmtp (Exim 4.52) id 1GaJMG-0007a6-8x for mercedes@okiebenz.com; Wed, 18 Oct 2006 21:53:52 + Received: from aceraspire (c-68-57-181-125.hsd1.va.comcast.net[68.57.181.125]) by comcast.net (rwcrmhc15) with SMTP id 20061018215336m15009h8a4e; Wed, 18 Oct 2006 21:53:37 + Message-ID: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: LarryT [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mercedes Discussion List mercedes@okiebenz.com References: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2006 17:53:34 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=iso-8859-1; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2869 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2962 X-Antivirus-Scanner: Clean mail though you should still use an Antivirus Subject: Re: [MBZ] Heat AC Failure monovalve X-BeenThere: mercedes@okiebenz.com X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.9.cp1 Precedence: list Reply-To: Mercedes Discussion List mercedes@okiebenz.com List-Id: Mercedes Discussion List mercedes_okiebenz.com.okiebenz.com List-Unsubscribe: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com, mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] List-Archive: /pipermail/mercedes_okiebenz.com List-Post: mailto:mercedes@okiebenz.com List-Help: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] List-Subscribe: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com, mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2006 21:53:52 - That's called a loss leader - something cheaper than anyone else (because no one else wants to lose money) but will pull new customers in and while they;re there they will buy stuff with a normal markup. It's usually a common replacement part but not too expensive. Grocery stores are famous for doing that. Lose money on one item that's popular and make it up on the other stuff bought - Larry T (67 MGB, 74 911, 78 240D, 91 300D) www.youroil.net for Oil Analysis and Weber Parts Test Results http://members.rennlist.com/oil PORSCHE POSTERS! youroil.net Weber Carb Info http://members.rennlist.com/webercarbs Porsche Road Test http://members.rennlist.com/roadtest/ . - Original Message - From: Rick Knoble [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mercedes Discussion List mercedes@okiebenz.com Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 12:56 PM Subject: Re: [MBZ] Heat AC Failure monovalve Nope. AutohausAZ, the Bosch whores of America, have them for $35.91 which is exactly $7.60 below my cost. These guys are idiots. How can they stay in business losing money? Perhaps they are in the money laundering business with parts as a sideline.? Rick Knoble '85 300 CD '87 190 DT ___ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.408 / Virus Database: 268.13.5/482 - Release Date: 10/18/2006
Re: [MBZ] cold(er) weather starting issues?
Thanks for input. The air filter is new. The fuel filter should be changed out. I bought some but have not put one in yet. Randy -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Curt Raymond Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 4:01 PM To: mercedes@okiebenz.com Subject: Re: [MBZ] cold(er) weather starting issues? Randy, My first thought was gelled fuel but if it started with a warm block thats probably not it. My 240D would start at pretty much any temp down to freezing even without glowplugs, it wasn't happy about it, it'd need to crank for longer than I liked and it'd belch black smoke when it started but it did start... So yeah, maybe its time to replace glowplugs and adjust the valves. Give it a shot of isopropyl alcohol to sequester any water in the tank and maybe a shot of anti-gel just in case. Probably also a good time for new fuel filters and at least check the airfilter too... -Curt
