Mitch - Actually I have a very simlar problem on my '81 SD. I'm afraid I gave up trying to figure just what is going on months ago, so I just put my charger on it every few days. I did put an indicator on it for a while. I went to Radio Shack and bought a 12V Sonalert. I extended the wire lengths and squeezed them through a wiring harness grommet by the master cylinder booster,to get access to the passenger compartment. I grounded one of the lead wires and hooked the other to the terminal on the #1 glow plug. Whenever the glow plugs were on, the Sonalert started beeping, and yes a couple of times after driving around for over 20 minutes the thing would randomly start beeping. I finally took the Sonalert out 'cause I got tired of listening to it. Never did find out just what was resetting the glow plug relay. One day I plan to add a temporary wire from a temporary switch, to be mounted inside, to the terminal on the glow plug relay that gets its' signal from the ignition switch. This so that the glow plugs can only come on when the switch is on. I will only turn the switch on for starting, then off. It seems to me the problem must be an intermittant open in the wire that serves that purpose and it keeps resetting the relay. Why else would my battery go dead only while the car is running? It can sit unused for over a week and still be charged so it isn't a load dragging it down while it sits, only when it is running. BTW, new 70 amp Bosch rebuilt alternator now with a Transpo adjustable regulator set to about 14.2 volts, load tests says it puts out plenty of current. Third new battery in two years, meaning this is the fourth battery since this happened. I replaced a three year old interstate with a new one. Interstate dealer tested that one and pronounced it bad. Installed the second new Interstate. Went to a Bosch Service Center, when that one kept going dead, thinking it had to be the rebuilt alternator, where the guy swore that it had to be a bad battery, and that he had seen multiple bad Interstate batteries in a row. That replacement did last almost a month before it repeated the cycle of low batteries. So much for his credability. New afterglow relay and glow plugs, New ignition switch (in case that was my intermittant connection). Verified clean connections in the glowplug circuit. It is just fine on a long trip even with my Euro headlights (with 100/130 H4s)on at night even with long periods of high beams. After a few days of wifes' errands around town, it will just refuse to start caused by a low battery, but will quickly start with a jump. What have I missed? I guess I should try my switch experiment sometime soon. The re-charging routine is beginning to get rather old. :^)
Barry -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Mitch Haley Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 7:41 PM To: Mercedes mailing list Subject: Re: [MBZ] wierd SDL charging problem. "Kaleb C. Striplin" wrote: > > yea, I had thought of that. Not really sure of a way to tell without it > sticking on while Im looking at the thing. > I wonder if it's feasible to temporarily change the hookup of the indicator light to the relay so the light glows when the plugs glow instead of going out when it's time to start. _______________________________________ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://striplin.net/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_striplin.net
