240d start up problems

hi all

I have a 1983 240d. I purchased her with 250k miles about 4 months ago, and she runs just fine (slow but fine:)). But I have had one problem which has gotten progressively worse during the time of my ownership.

I don't drive my car very often, but when I do, I always have a problem on the FIRST start up of the day. It takes a very very long time (average say 20 seconds) with the starter engaged for her to fire up. The starter motor works fine, it puts out lots of gas fumes before firing up. cough cough (luckily less polluting gas fumes :))

The funny thing is that any additional start ups that same day are no problem. She ALWAYS starts immediately once she has been started once. This doesn't seem to be due to the engine being warm, though, since she can sit sit for, say, 8 hours and still start up immediately the second time of the day.

I suspect that the colder it is the worse the initial start up problem is, but i can't confirm that for sure.

I changed the oil fuel and air filters and it did not solve the problem.

The only unusual thing that I have done with the car since I bought her is that she is running on 100% biodiesel. This is not the immediate cause of the problem described above. It happened after I did a test fill with petroleum diesel as well.

There is another slight problem that may or may not be related. I have to jiggle around the key a lot to get the glow plug light to come on. This is also a problem that was not there when I bought the car, and has gotten a bit worse over time.

Thanks for any advice!

It sounds like you may have one or more bad glowplugs. You should test them and if one is bad then it's probably a good idea to change all of them with winter right around the corner. I doubt the glowplug relay is bad but I wouldn't rule it out, check the glowplugs first.
As far as your light not coming on, the first thing I would check there is the ignition switch...not the mechanical part, but the electronic switch behind the tumbler. There is really no way to test it other than replacing it with a good one.

hi
thanks for the advice! i got my hands on an ohm-meter, and glow plug #2 is bad! the other 3 seem fine. I already placed an order for a new one.
Interestingly, when I disconnected the relay and turned on the ignition, the glow plug light came on immediately. So the problems may end upbeing related. We'll see when I replace that faulty plug.
Thanks again!

better way to check them is to mount one in a vice, ground the vice, and apply 12v from a battery to the terminal. Watch for the end to glow quickly.

during winter the starting trouble of your car may get worse and hence as told spark plugs needed to be replaced and also i recommend to service your vehicle and hence if there is any rust formation could be eliminated.
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sathyan

New Cars (http://www.freecarforum.com)

Bosch has a new type of glow relay and glow plugs that help this old dog start better. If your injection pump has the primer pump on it, try priming the pump before you start the car in the morning, if the fuel is bleeding down then the car will take longer to start. Last thing to consider, is the engine just tired? When was the last time the valves were adjusted?

Personal opinion- get rid of the bio, it will kill your fuel system.