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?
Just check for voltage at the GP terminals. If it is not 11.5V then
you have a problem. It is more likely on or off. If there is no
voltage, then change the fuse or relay.
- 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).
No smoke is a bad sign. Seems like lack of fuel. Back to checking
for bubbles on the discharge side of the fuel filter.
- 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
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_______________________________________
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