Keep us posted.

 

Valve adjustment done. Happy with results, will check next year to make sure everything is holding. It had been 16K miles, not sure in elapsed time, that they had been last checked. I have only had the car about 3 months 3500 miles. 1400 of that was for the drive home after purchase. Will probably put about 6K per year as I drive my 2001 VW TDI Beetle when the weather is bad. No winter salt for the Benz.

Still not just firing up as I have been troubleshooting the problems with my glow plug circuitry. As I've previously mentioned, when the GP's work, it fires right up. Have finally narrowed it down to the relay. Today I placed some small wires on the ignition input pins and monitored. Got voltage to the relay, but it does not pick up. I have new glow plugs and have thoroughly checked out the wiring, so that's it, time for a new relay. Only works about 10% of the time, I need it all the time. Get relay, it's fixed.

Next project is the cruise control. I like cruise control. The previous owner had informed me that it didn’t have this option. Well it did, but this is not working. It is the electric actuator type. Have lots of info for testing. More to come on that.

A/C works fine as this car came from Florida. Was unsure whether the Auxiliary Fan worked as I had never seen it run, and it seemed to have a little resistance when rotating. Could it be the fan, wiring, fuse, relay, refrigerant temperature switch, etc., well yesterday with the temperature in the 90’s, when I arrived home there was an unfamiliar noise in the engine compartment. Lo and behold, that fan was running it’ ass off. Check that box as complete.

Fluids in the manual transmission and rear differential are going to be replaced this year. Owners manual says 90W for the differential, and ATF A for the tranny. Any suggestions? I’ve found that 85-90W for the differential and Dex/Merc for the tranny to be a possibility.
Brakes are good, will be looking for some information some day for sure. Pad replacement, bleeding, replacing fluid, parking brake, etc.

Drive train. Need to inspect the flex discs, hope all is fine in this area as I don’t really like working under the car, or have the tools, lift, etc. More to come.

Would like someday to schedule my vacation during some MB 123 get together. Could learn a lot, and hopefully share something.

These cars are awesome! So glad I finally made it happen and purchased one! You all have a nice day. Keep those cars on the road! Carl

 

You were not far off on the Valve adjustment. From what I have read every 15K miles.

 

The relay has a strip fuse, Your Parts Search Returned 1 Part(s) make sure it doesn't have a crack.

 

I’ve got some interesting information to share on my 1982 240D. Recently I have been reading some posts about some cars that won’t start after running well…even if they have been running well very recently. Something that caught my attention was the fuel tank filter screen. Been looking at a lot of information about this part of the fuel system. Something to look into some day before it happens.

I baby my car, so I don’t take it out when the weather is shitty…right now that would be rain. So it’s been sitting in the garage since Monday. Today, Thursday 5-23, I just got the urge to start it up to see if the glow plug light illuminates…right now it’s 48 degrees, not the 80’s I’ve seen when driving it to work recently. Wanted to see if the relay might want to work when it’s cold out. It doesn’t seem to work with the temperature in the 80’s, just cranks a little bit longer, but no problem starting. When I purchased the car, it was driven from Miami, Florida to northern Ohio, and yes, I did see temperatures in the 30’s. Experienced no problems starting.

I have owned three diesel vehicles before my 240D. A 1991 Dodge 250 5.9 Cummins, a 2007 Dodge Mega Cab 2500 6.7 Cummins, and I still own a 2001 VW Beetle 1.9 TDI. On all these vehicles the glow plug light was a clear indication of the glow plug status. Light “on”, glow plugs “on”. Light “off”, time to start. The 240D I have is unlike all these. Light “on” momentarily, I sit and wait quietly until I hear the relay click off. Fires right up! No light, I think it’s a problem with the relay. Is it a problem? Don’t know. But if it doesn’t come on, it is always warm enough outside for the engine to fire up, but not as quickly if it’s cold out and I do see a momentary indication.

Today when I started my 240D, it was 48 degrees outside. I saw the GP light illuminate momentarily and waited until I heard the click of the relay de-energizing. Rolled it over and it wouldn’t start! Oh my gosh I thought!, is it the fuel tank screen! Can’t be, I just only read about it. Let’s try again.RooRooRooRooRooRoo…what the heck! Let’s run it through the cycle again. GP light momentarily “on”, wait for the click… RooRooRooRooRooRoo…this can’t be! Could it be the fuel tank screen? Really! No way, one more time…same scenario. My car won’t start. This is unreal ! Pop the hood, take off the GP relay cover and guess what I see? After troubleshooting the relay I had forgot to plug in the connector to the glow plugs! Put the plug on, go through the cycle, and the 240D fires right up!! Dumb ass!

Moral of the story:

1) Do a thorough check of your glow plug system. I have been through it all. New glow plugs (didn’t see a reason to ream them out at this time as the old ones were pretty clean. Saved them for a spare set), cleaned the connections, did a thorough check of the relay, wiring, input voltages. I’m finally figuring out the glow plug indicator light. If it goes on momentarily I wait, if it doesn’t I wait. I saw a good fix for this on Easy Glow Plug Relay mod: better dash indicator - PeachParts Mercedes ShopForum might try this. Because, if the glow plugs don’t work and it’s cold out, your car probably won’t start, even with a recent valve adjust which I just did.

2) Might want to read up on the fuel tank screen. These cars are 30+ years old. If nothing is known about the past maintenance on this part, might it be a area of concern down the road? Keep this in mind.

And a question for anyone out there. Is a diesel purge something that should be considered? Like I previously mentioned, I’ve owned three other diesel vehicles and never had a problem with fuel delivery. These things have two filters! My other’s had only one! Good day to all. Tomorrow is going to be a nice day! The 240D will be on the road. Carl

 

Yesterday I received then installed my new glow plug relay. This corrected the intermittent problems I have been experiencing with my glow plug circuit. Starts are immediate, glow plug light is an accurate indication of the "on" time of glow plugs. My starter motor has some help now!

 

Whoo Hoo!!

 

What circuit in the GP relay controls the illumination period of the GP light? I'd like to make my light accurate again.

 

^ M7C=Master7Chief.

 

Have you ohmed your glow plugs?

 

This ? is for M7C.

 

What circuit in the GP relay controls the illumination period of the GP light?

In the old relay there is a thermistor that controls the "ON" duration of the glow plugs. With this older relay, if the glow plug light illuminated...IF the lamp illuminated, only for a short duration, then I would wait until I heard the relay click "off". But, if the light didn't illuminate it was a sure bet that the glow plugs did not get battery voltage to warm up the combustion chamber. So there must have been a problem with the thermistor circuitry that would control the "on" time. I've kept the old one to further troubleshoot some day.

With the new relay I purchased, the glow plug light is an accurate indication of the glow plug "on" time. Starts are immediate after the glow plug light extinguishes. This new relay must be a solid state type as I do not hear any "clicks" of the relay going "on" or "off". I am very happy with this relay. With the old one I was consistently having starts that took 2-3 seconds. With this new relay, every start has been immediate when observing the glow plug light. "ON" wait, "OFF" start, every time.

Have I ohmed my glow plugs?

Yes I have ohmed the glow plugs. From the connector that goes to the relay, to the negative battery terminal. All are approximately 0.50 ohms. This measurement takes into consideration all the connections.

Glow plugs last a long time. Mine are good. I would think that people that run WVO may have to pay closer attention to carbon build-up that would require more frequent reaming of the glow plug cylinders. Carbon build up will shorten the life of the glow plugs. Normally, I would not see carbon build up as something to worry about, this takes a long time to accumulate.

Once when I left the glow plug connector off after troubleshooting, my car would NOT start, even thought the temperature was in the 70’s. When I reconnected, and this was with the old relay, it started right up.

If you’re experiencing intermittent starts with your old glow plug relay, and you’re sure that all else is well, I would recommend buying a new relay. I did, and all is well. Save that starter you rebuilt Master7Chief. If you don’t have immediate starts, good chance it’s the relay if all else checks out fine.

You all enjoy the day. Keep them running! Carl

 

I'm not sure what a M7C is. My GP's are the pencil type, not filament.

 

Ohh! 0.50 ohms for Rmac58's question. The thermistor circuit for M7C's question.

 

^ Good reading.