From: owner-diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net (diesel-benz-digest) To: diesel-benz-digest-at-krusty-motorsports.com Subject: diesel-benz-digest V1 #184 Reply-To: diesel-benz-at-digest.net Sender: owner-diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Errors-To: owner-diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Precedence: bulk diesel-benz-digest Saturday, August 7 1999 Volume 01 : Number 184 Forum for Discussion of Diesel Mercedes Benz Automobiles John Meister Digest Coordinator Contents: Story Re: Story RE: Story Re: Moving to Clackamas Diesel Benz Digest Home Page: http://www.digest.net/diesel-benz/ Send submissions to diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Send administrative requests to diesel-benz-digest-request-at-digest.net To unsubscribe, include the word unsubscribe by itself in the body of the message, unless you are sending the request from a different address than the one that appears on the list. Include the word help in a message to stag-digest-request to get a list of other majordomo commands. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 05 Aug 1999 19:58:43 From: Michael Frank Subject: Story Listening to the sound, I knew something was wrong. The parking attendant was gone several minutes, and now I could here the sound of a Diesel engine being crank, crank, cranked. I ran back into the lot, to explain to the poor fool how to glow a Diesel. "Have you ever started a Diesel before?" I asked "I wait for yellow light, but it never went on." He answered nervously. I get in behind the wheel. Sure enough, no glow plug light. I try to crank the engine to life, but the pervasive smell of Diesel tells me the engine is now flooded, on top of everything. It's been a long day, I'm tired, but I lift the hood and roll up my sleeves. When the relay goes bad, you can still glow the plugs by momentarily wiring the battery directly to the first plug (I have the old, series style plugs). Problem is, I have no wire. In the trunk, I find an umbrella, which I cut up with my pliers. I try to short circuit the glow plugs with an umbrella stave. It melts in the process, fortunately I'm not burned. What to do? I try to call AAA, but at 6:00 in Manhattan, I'm on permahold for 15 minutes with no response. I remember that there's a Mercedes number on a plate in the glove compartment, why not give them a call? It's a twenty year old car, there are six numbers on the odometer, I'm not the original owner...buy why not, maybe it will work. (One ring) "Hello, Mercedes Benz, how may I direct your call?" "I am having trouble starting my car, do you have a service desk?" I was amazed that this 20 year old phone number actually worked. "I'll connect you to Roadside Assistance, one moment" (Musak for about a minute) "Mercedes Roadside Assistance, how can we help you?" "My car won't start, I think I have a bad glow plug relay" "Year and model" "1979 300CD" "Phone number where you can be reached?" "917 xxx-xxxx" I give my cell phone number. "We'll beep a technician, you should be called within 15 minutes" Five minutes later, my phone rings. "Mercedes here, what's the problem?" "My car won't start: it seems to have a bad glow plug relay" "Diesel? I don't have repair parts in the truck, but I may be able to get you started" "That will be fine" I am very, very relieved. We would have had a 45 mile taxi ride to get home. Whatever the problem, I'm sure I can fix it in the comfort of my own garage. "I have one service call ahead of you, I can be there in an hour. Is that OK?" "Perfect, we'll have dinner while we wait" The wife and I have a nice Italian dinner. Just as the check comes, my cellular rings. "Mercedes. I'm on my way, should be about five minutes" Right on que, a blue and white ML320 pulls up just as we get back to the lot. I bring the technician back to see the car. The relay is fine, it's just the fuse. He shows me where the glow plug fuse is...I had no idea. Shorts out the fuse while I start the car. From the moment the hood was open until the engine was running: 5 minutes. We get home at a reasonable hour. Cost of road service: $0!!! Final tally: New fuse will cost $.50, and I may need a new glow plug or two. Why would you drive anything else? Mike Frank 1979 300CD 1999 E320T ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1999 17:12:36 -0700 (PDT) From: john Subject: Re: Story awesome. you're making me rethink my latest plan to a get another FSJ... :) john On Thu, 5 Aug 1999, Michael Frank wrote: >--> Why would you drive anything else? >--> >-->Mike Frank >-->1979 300CD >-->1999 E320T ---- - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- john-at-wagoneers.com **** Snohomish, Washington USA don't leave life without jesus, please... http://wagoneers.com - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1999 17:48:34 -0700 From: Farnes_Quinn Subject: RE: Story Nice to know about Mercedes Roadside Assistance. Reminds me of a similar experience I had re: the fuse. A lady at my work many many moons ago had a Datsun pickup with the Diesel engine. Must have been about 1985. I had a '79 Diesel Rabbit at the time. I walked out of the employee exit door at work to hear her cranking the engine while a dense cloud of aromatic white smoke wafted from the tailpipe on the evening breeze. I thought, "Hmmm, that's what my Rabbit did when my glow plug fuse blew a while ago." I offered to help, popped the lid, and she explained how she expected that she would have to have the truck towed back to the dealer for more work. "This is the third time in the past three months I've had it at the dealer, and they say they can't find the problem. The last time, they said it needed a new injection pump. Cost me over 750 dollars (that was, remember, about 1985). It never ran right since. If I crank it long enough, it usually starts if the battery doesn't run down." I looked around the engine and, sure enough, the glow plug fuse was blown. I shorted the terminals with a wrench, waited about 30 seconds, and when she cranked the engine, it immediately started. I explained to her how her problem was with the glow plug fuse, not the injection pump. She drove home and her husband installed a new fuse from the dealer. I think Datsun got something like 12 dollars for the fuse. VW had an open 30-amp or 50-amp fuse mounted on the firewall with a removable plastic cover to protect it. The fuse was simply a strip of lead or zinc about 3/4" long strung between two terminals, and after a while, vibration evidently fatigued the metal, creating a high enough resistance to cause it to blow. I replaced the fuse twice in the 180,000 miles I had the car. Later, I had similar symptoms which I traced to blown glow plugs. Apparently at one time I had only one working glow plug. When the last one finally blew, the engine wouldn't start unless I could roll it down a hill. The problem with series-wired glow plugs is that when one plug blows, you can't start the engine. The downside of the newer parallel wiring scheme is that you may have blown plugs, and you may not have any indication until the last one goes. Something to think about if ever you find yourself cranking white smoke with an intact glow plug fuse. Cheers! Quinn ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 00:24:17 PDT From: Daniel A Jacobs Subject: Re: Moving to Clackamas Clackamas isn't bad, just make sure you don't buy next to a run down nieghborhood. The traffic int he area is just like any other part of fairly close in suburbia in the Portland area, Bad twice a day, busy while the suns up, and moderate on the weekends. I get my fuel -at- Pacific pride, they are _all_ over the great NW, easy to find and relatively easy to use. So, thought you'd ask a truck driver about traffic, huh? Did you think you were consulting a professional ;-) Dan kc7nol-at-juno.com On Sun, 25 Jul 1999 21:36:39 -0700 john writes: > >On the Portland subject... I'm giving some thought to >a job down that way... how's traffic down by Clackamas? >Diesel fuel availability and prices? (housing??? :) > >the german auto salvage place in Gresham doesn't deal w/ MBz, >so where do y'all find parts? > >john ___________________________________________________________________ Get the Internet just the way you want it. Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj. ------------------------------ End of diesel-benz-digest V1 #184 *********************************