Alan Duff wrote: > My method is to first be sure you have clean fuel in the car. Drain, > refill and use the hand pump if necessary. Put a fully charged battery on > the car. Use jumper cables to connect another fully charged battery to it. > Spray a few shots of WD-40 into the air intake. Turn the glow plugs on and > be sure they are working, easy on the '80 model. Heat the glow plugs eight > or ten times. Turn the key until the engine starts or the battery drains. > Often the engine will fire the cylinders in succession and you may have to > hold the key on start until all five cylinders have fired.
I find, on both Mercedes and VW diesels I've driven, it's also helpful to hold the accellerator down part way while cranking. 1/4 throttle is usually plenty. The idea is to raise the idle speed enough to keep it from dying until all the cylinders light off, so you should back off as the engine picks up speed. I had a tired VW diesel for a while that would never start cold unless you held 1/2 throttle.
