Thanks for all the help, guys! To address all the advice and questions at once:
- Jamie asked about the block heater. Great idea. It is an '87 so has the factory block heater, and I have the cable, just never bothered to hook it up. Right now the car is sitting on grass at an angle, so it's not exactly the best place to jack it up to get underneath and install the cable, but I'll see if I can tow it into my driveway and do that. - Jamie and Peter asked about holding the accelerator down all the way, and about repeatedly glowing while cranking. I'm doing both, essentially following a cold-weather start procedure. Hold the pedal down, turn key to glow position, make sure the glow light is on, wait until I hear the relay click off, crank for fifteen seconds or so, turn the key off, glow again, crank again, etc. If the glow light is on, doesn't that mean I'm getting power to the GPs? I will check for voltage there, regardless. What's the easiest, safest way to bypass the GP relay and power the GPs directly off the battery? Run a fat wire from the positive terminal to the GP fuse? - Loren and others mentioned air flow. The air filter's clean and there's no sign of mouse or wasp activity on either side of it. As far as the other end, I never heard of mice or anything else clogging an exhaust, but I'll have someone else crank while I feel at the tailpipe for air movement. There isn't any smoke coming out while cranking, but I can definitely smell unburned Diesel Purge (which is what I filled the new main filter with when I changed it). - Walt and Peter mentioned battery condition. The battery is new and it's been on a Schumacher charger which has both "slow charge" and "jump start" modes. I've been leaving it on "slow charge" mode overnight, then flipping the switch to "jump start" and leaving it there for half a minute before trying to start the car. I've also tried hooking up another running car with a healthy electrical system so that the two batteries are working in parallel. That didn't seem to make any difference. - Peter suggested a dying starter that isn't turning quite fast enough. The car sounds like it is cranking at the usual speed, but I could be deceived, I guess. What's a good way to tell if the starter is healthy, other than dropping $250 on a new one? Could I use a non-contact tachometer on one of the pulleys while cranking? Harbor freight has one for $30: http://www.harborfreight.com/digital-photo-sensor-tachometer-66632.html - Loren described a definitive test for air leaks in the fuel lines. I'll do that. Alex _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
