I was given a 1982 240D.
It is a project car.

My first question is about the battery.its been sitting for a while so the battery is completely dead and when it hooked up through jumper cables then engine wont turn over although all other things work fine.
Right now i am charging the battery but what are the chances i will need a new battery? Also i m new to diesel and im not quite sure about the starting process, if someone could explain what the process of starting the car is it would be greatly appreciated!

For long term i was wondering if i could swap in a engine from a 300TD.

UPDATE: Ive got the car running. I would now like to make performance upgrades.
Where can i start? I want to be able to be quicker then a stock 94 civic...(my goal in life)

 

First step: Turn the Fast Idle ****, let it glow until the little glow plugs are GONE completely, then you should be good to go. Also, if that doesn't work try the battery If that doesn't work PM me and I can give you some ideas on what COULD be wrong.

 

i am very young and have almost no idea what i am doing, this car is mostly to learn on.I feel really stupid asking this but what is the fast idle ****. i cant find it in the manual

 

thanks! trying that now

 

Tell us the results.

 

results for today:
i charged the battery for a little over a hr. After changing the idle i went to start it and nothing happened. I hooked it up to my brothers honda to try jump starting it. Nothing happened.


before i was jumping it off a subaru legacy and the engine would start to turn but fail and i would have lights. Is the honda no powerful enough? today i used a different pair of cables. is it possible that its the cables?

tomarrow my father is coming over with a fancy battery charger. Im going to try that and a better pair of jumper cables.

 

I doubt it's the Cables, Dude. Did you try to put in some new glow plugs?! Also, it don't really matter what car you use, it depends if the other is dead or not dead.

 

would a subaru legacy do better then the honda?

YouTube.com/Turbo617 about a hour of my day yesterday : P

 

today i got it started and drove it home..

it wont start unless it is hooked up to another car.
im charging the battery over night.
a small amount of white smoke is coming out of the engine what could that be?

 

Well, to tell you the truth I haven't touched anything except a Benz, haha.