[jtoma878]

Well fellas I think that over the past 48 hours I have explerienced my first "gelling". I drove her On the 26th until about 730PM. Turned her off and she wouldnt start the next morning. It was well below 32 that night and hasn't climbed above 22 since. Cranked over, but wouldnt start. Then I wound up wearing my BRAND NEW WEEK OLD battery out. Tried her again today and same sh*t. Used my uncle's jeep with a battery of 950CCA's to jump her. Turned over, but nothing again. I ma figuring my fuel has oficially been gelled. Tomorrow it's gonna get up to a balmy 34 dergees, so we'll see. I would love to plug her in, but I live in a urban area and the car is about half a block from my building, so that is impossible.

I love this car but this sucks. Needless to say that when I get her started, she's getting 30% kerosene. I had to call out of work today due to this.... [!]


Joe T
'84 300D
'01 CLK 320

 

[MB-Owner-in-ind]

I don't think the fuel will gell at that temp unless you still have summer fuel. I would suggest checking the glow plugs.

 

[MBeige]

Or the glow plug relay, easier to check first than the plugs themselves. Driverside inner fenderwell, slanted rectangle box just behind the headlight and near the tach sender (round vertical cylinder). Open the rectangle box cover and you'll see a strip fuse. Is it intact?

 

[MBeige]

Or the glow plug relay, easier to check first than the plugs themselves. Driverside inner fenderwell, slanted rectangle box just behind the headlight and near the tach sender (round vertical cylinder). Open the rectangle box cover and you'll see a strip fuse. Is it intact?

 

[84300DTurbo]

agree i doubt the fuel is gelling. the fuel you get in nj is already treated at the pump. throw in some power service white bottle for xtra insurance. look to the glow plugs. i bet you have one or more out.
do a search. there's plenty of info on how to check them

what kind of engine oil are you using? as a comparison i'm using normal chevron delo 15/40 here and i guarantee you we have colder temps here in mass than you have in nj right now.
i can start down to +3 deg F sofar with no block heater, running a 4 yr old die hard & 5 new glow plugs.

 

[sokoloff]

When you pull the cover to check the strip fuse, it will take you five minutes to check the glow plugs while you are there. Pull of the glow plug connection and check each glow plug at the contact with an ohm meter. A good plug will read 0.6 ohms.

Last valve adjustment was when?

Len

 

[jtoma878]

dont know about the valve adjustment. as for glow plugs, i will check them this weekend. Any other way to check them w/o a ohm meter? Also, can you buy new ones at Pep Boys / AutoZone? I don't want to have to order them and i'd rather just replace them.

I was able to plug in at my neighbor's house so i;m gonna try to start again around 9PM.

Thanks!!!

Joe T

 

[jtoma878]

anyone have a how-to post on valve adjustments??? i'd like to do it this weekend... it dosent include removing the head or springs does it???

 

[MB-Owner-in-ind]

Try this:
http://skinnerbox.steaky.org/Service/W123/w123CD2/Program/Engine/617/05-210.pdf

 

[84300DTurbo]

jtoma878 - 1/28/2005 7:09 PM

dont know about the valve adjustment. as for glow plugs, i will check them this weekend. Any other way to check them w/o a ohm meter? Also, can you buy new ones at Pep Boys / AutoZone? I don't want to have to order them and i'd rather just replace them.

I was able to plug in at my neighbor's house so i;m gonna try to start again around 9PM.

Thanks!!!

Joe T

a cheap multimeter at radio shack will check ohm's. you can get bosch glow plugs at autozone for 10.99 a piece

 

[ndcv]

Valve adjustment is not too hard (I just did my first one ever a few weeks ago, took about 2 1/2 hours). But you need special wrenches to do the job. I got the ones from mercedessource.com, they're about $45. I think the official mercedes ones are more like $80-90.

 

[jtoma878]

ok so far this weekend im gonna do glow plugs, oil change, and front brakes.... not too sure about this valve adjustment thing. maybe ill have a shop do it. wonder how much they'll want.

i just saw those special wrenches... any way to get them at a local store? i dont have time to order them

 

[84300DTurbo]

sounds like a good plan.
you should be able to get a local indy to do the valves for about 80 bux.. but make sure they know about mb diesels.
so it's been heating up for a while.. i bet she starts after about 3 hours on the block heater. good luck

[8D]

 

[MB-Owner-in-ind]

jtoma878 - 1/28/2005 6:39 PM

.

i just saw those special wrenches... any way to get them at a local store? i dont have time to order them

I didn't use special wrenches but it probably will make the job easier.

 

[jtoma878]

Going to try her again, after 2.5 hours of being plugged in.... WISH ME LUCK!!!

 

[jtoma878]

ok, i just had a big a$$ ford f-450 pickup diesel with 2 batteries try to jump this thing.... STILL NOTHING. My battery is just dead. Not even a week old and its sh*t. That's what I get for buying a walmart battery.

I am going to Sears first thing to get a DieHard.

Any suggestions??? The one I ha ve now is only 850CCA's. I;m gonna try to get a 1000.

Joe T

 

[JR_Rider]

This sounds exactly like what has been happening with me and my diesel over the last few weeks. 3 fridays ago, would not start to save my life, had car towed to repair shop, thinking starter had gone. Car spend week in shop, after they charged the battery, they said it started fine the rest of the week. Picked car up on Thursday. One problem free week. The next sunday, it was cold outside, about 20 degrees at night. I tried and tried to get the car started, but would not start. Tried my battery pack, jump start with over 30 minutes of charging, with no luck. Went and bought a Optima battery with 805 cca. Installed battery, still no start!! Took Optima out, but old battery back in. Plugged block heater in for 3 days. Wednesday tried to start car, no luck even after the block heater had been plugged in. Had car towed again to shop, but this time diagnosed the problem as 2 faulty glow plugs. I am assuming that one of the plugs was bad (gp light was still functioning) then a second plug went out (no gp light). Dropped off 5 new pencil style plugs, with a new fast glow relay at 2pm. Car was ready to pick up at 5pm. Battery was depleted while at the shop so they also charged battery. Drove car to school. When leaving Chick-fila battery was dead. Called AAA for the third time in three weeks. Jump Start successful. Drove car for an hour that night, trying to charge the battery. Today, car started fine this morning. Did some shopping, dead battery AGAIN in Marshalls parking lot. Jump Start. Straight to shop, new Interstate battery installed within 15 minutes, no problem since. Just don't give up, TRUST ME I know what you are going through, but there is always a logical explanation! P.S. diesel fuel doesn't gel at 22 degrees.

 

[jtoma878]

JR_Rider:

thanks for the reply.

it does sound exactly the same. here are my sequence of events today:

2PM tried to start, bearly cranked over. got my uncles jeep and charged with jumper cables, trying to start every 10 minutes or so. did this for an hour. in the bottom half of the hour, she would turn over for about 15 seconds or so, and sometimes she sounded like she was gonna fire up, but eventually did not.

6PM plugged in block heater

9PM unplugged block heater because some moron tripped over the power cord I had going across the sidewalk and b*tched.

915PM tried to start, battery had no juice. bearly cranked over once, called AAA

930 believe it or not this is when the tow truck showed up. now this guy was in a rush but i know if i had been able to keep him around for maybe 30 mins i bet the charging of the cabkes coming off that big a$$ diesel wrecker he had would have given me enough juice. ESPICALLY being that I just unplugged.

945PM I'm back in my apt keeping warm and dammin this car to hell. I wish I had my CLK. stupid me for leaving it in my garage at my shore house.

the thing that sucks the most here is I was so happy with the 5 days I drove it and it gave me no problems. now i have a new battery that is dead, and a 2 ton paperweight. i know it is some routine stuff that has to be done to fix the problem, but it's just dissapointing. i mean, i understand the car is 20 years old and will need some work, but it was ALL GOOD for 4-5 days solid. no problems even poking out. now all of a sudden it seems to be a good idea to do the glow plugs, relay, valves adjustment, new battery (AGAIN) and some other stuff.

what really sucks is I dont have the time or resources to do it here. i have to drive 75 miles to get to my tools and garage. if she dont fire up sunday morning fo me to get her home she's gonna get a nice visit from the AAA guys and that's gonna be it till spring, at which time i will probally not even want to drive her in lieu of my beautiful CLK, which at 94K has never given me ANY problems.

i was so excited with the W123. i really hope i can rectify the problems this Sunday because she really is a pleasure to drive. i'm just gonna chalk this experience up in the "i havent figured out diesels yet" column.

thanks for all the feedbak & help guys.... i'll let you all know how i make out


Joe T
'01 CLK 320 94K
'84 300D 76K

 

[N0RT75O]

bet if you used block heater would do the trick, mine is automatically plugged in for 20 min. now if it goes below 20f. was -6 here yesterday when l got up and took almost 2 hrs for heater to warm it up! just my .02
n0rt[8D]

 

[84300DTurbo]

joe why don't you call mercedes roadside assistance. they would stay around for you. they give jump starts for free. (1-800-367-6372) but tell them you have a diesel so they come prepared