I just purchased a 1978 240D sight unseen for $500 - I pick it up tomorrow. We will see what shape its in - but when I spoke to the guy he said its a low mile car with a clean interior -

Said it was his driver until a couple months ago when the glow plug solinoid failed & it wouldn't start. He hasn't tried it but a couple times since.

Now - a couple months ago in Illinois we had a foot of snow on the ground - so I can see where a glow plug solinoid will be of use. I'm hoping to get it home & start the diagnostics & see just what it needs.

1) I'm guessing a couple of shots of wd-40 up the nose will get it started w/o glow plugs - anyone ever do this?

2) I've read you can create a simple switch & cheap starter solinoid conversion so you can control things that way from the inside. Anyone have a diagram of this?

3) Wish me luck! I figure worst case I can pull the engine & sell it on ebay - heck the fuel pump aught to just about cover my costs.

 

wd-40 dosen't burn very well anymore, try a little rubbing alcohol, or just plain old gasoline. I don.t have a diagram of that particular car, but I would use an old ford starter relay and wire the control wires to pull the relay in, through a toggle switch, and send the main wires across the switched side of the relay. Might be just as easy to relace the original relay.

 

Thanks for the advice - I drug the car home today & started checking it out. Couple things. First - it has sat a lot longer than he said. The fuel is NASTY - I started by draining the tank. That stuff was disgusting!

I'll put in new fuel filters tomorrow. The small inline filter looked like it was full of sand - little black specs. It didn't look like rust - it really looked like sand. In any case - I'm going to bet I'll be going through these pretty fast so I'm going to get some line & route the inline filter where its easier to get to.

The relay for the glow plugs is mounted on the inner fender. It looks like the wires from the plugs themselves are good & they are plugged into this relay. BUT - several other wires were cut. There is a large purple wire that looks like it was the hot - It was not cut - just the small tiny wires. If I can find the other end of those I may be able to work something out - or just wire a big switch into the large purple wire & get it to the glow plugs. In any case - I'm thinking this wont be too bad. Old ford solinoid will be just fine.

The car is a real contradiction. It says it has "061xxx" miles. The interior looks it. The body is a rust BOMB!

The engine bay is clean & besides the cut wires and a tapped vacuum line it all looks original and in good shape. Here's hoping!

The bottom half of the front quarter fell off the car as I was towing it home. Thats how rusty. The trunk sides are shot - but the spare tire well is very solid.

The exhaust looks new.

The power windows work but the roof doesn't. That's low on the list anyway.

When I had it on the dolly I crawled under & the suspension is tight all around. The oil pan & tranny pan are covered in grease though - but that was expected.

I may pick up a tranny filter & ATF while I'm getting my fuel & oil filters.

Oh - I am charging the battery because it was completely dead. Wont turn over dead. But after an hour of charging at least it clicks. I'll give it a crank in the morning & see what she does.

 

Update - I replaced the battery - cleaned the gas tank - replaced all the filters - installed a ford starter solinoid for the glow plug relay with a switch mounted to the panel just under the key. She cranked for a bit but eventually started up. Lots of smoke though.

I pulled the valve cover and adjusted the valves - now the car starts super easy. Just a crank or two & bang.

The front brakes are shot - they are dragging and preventing the car from building any speed. That - plus the motor mounts are squished - I have new ones - and the gas pedal sticks - once that is all done - I'll have a great running - very slow car! back from the dead!

So far I have about $750 in her not counting registration. I figure another $200 tops for front brakes and I'm good to go.

 

Cool, keep us posted.

 

Update - I finally got around to pulling the front brakes. I started with the drivers side. The pads looked brand new. They still had the break in compound on them.

I cleaned up the caliper and put it back on. I bled this one out and moved to the passenger side.

The passenger side was locked tight. I pulled it apart and again noticed the new shoes - BUT - I also noticed the caliper was not extended at all. So I remember reading somewhere that the early 79's came with 15mm thick pads and the later came with 17 mm thick pads and that only 17's were available for sale.

This was a 15 mm caliper. I pulled the pads out & locked them in my vice then proceeded to rub 1MM from each pad using a file.

I then re-installed after cleaning up the caliper and they work perfectly!

No leaking and no sticking.

I drove the car to work the other day - it is a real dog! But it made it.

I have ordered new nozzles and flex joints. they are next on the list. After that - maybe I'll paint a "01" on the door!