I bought an 87 300d for almost nothing last week. Long story short, it ran strong last spring, sat on the lot until now, doesn't start.

Here is what I know:
6cyl turbo diesel, 227k
known glow plug problem (details below)
Sat all summer
fuel gauge reads 3/4, 2.5 gallons added sunday.
Ran recent and was traded in for a newer car.
I just changed oil and filter sunday, wix filter, lubrimoly 5w40
In line filter has a liquid in it.
Battery is 575ca and cranks at a decent speed but battery light is always on

The glow plug light does not light up when starting. The dealer drove for several daya when he got it, during this time he was hot wiring the glow plugs to fire the engine. I was told the mechanic managed to fire the engine on starting fluid recently but it did not stay running. I tried that a few times but was not able to recreate it; i have made no attempt to hot wire the glow plugs.


I am able to do pretty much any repair work on my rwd american gas vehicles but am new to mercedes and diesels. I understand diesel operating theory in great detail but have never repaired one.

I am thinking job one is get the glow plugs working. Where do I start?

 

Is there a way to test the relay prior to replacing it?

 

I am looking for a glow plug relay. I have been led to believe that Bosch makes a replacement unit but I can't find a part number, although a google search brought up #281003013, which is sold by several companies including autozone and amazon.com but I can not find any information on any of these sites for applications beyond "glow plug relay".

I have called all the salvage yards in a 25 mile radius and no one has a 300D.

There are a few relays on ebay for the 6cyl, all of which are used, 25 years old and are not cheap.

Any advice?

Edit- #281003013 brings up nothing on the Bosch websites.

 

Try Autohaus AZ they have a pretty good stock of parts and fair prices. Their parts system is sometimes hard to use though.

 

There is a lever on the side of the injection pump that says "stop", what is this?

I replaced the inline filter, fuel flowed freely from the line when it was off, how do I test lift pump functionality?

 

The lever on the side of the pump is an engine stop lever for when the vacuum system from the key switch dosen't work. The easiest way to test the lift pump is to disconnect the line that feeds the secondary fuel filter and spin the engine on the starter with the line's open end in a suitable container so you don't splatter fuel all over the place, if you have one put a fuel pressure gauge on the end of the line and see what the pressure is while cranking. I'm sorry but I can't tell you what it should be, probably around 10 psi is my guess