Mercedes diesel, no glow plug logo

rugbyman

am trying to start a lying up 97 Mercedes 250 diesel,
it always starts even after months but today wont,
the Glow plug sign on the dash is not lighting up, so i am assuming that a fuse or relay neeeds attention,

I cannot locate a fuse that refers to it. and am not sure where the relays are,
have googled this but got no where, hoping theres a boardsie who knows

Thanks in advance

biko

Battery flat?

rugbyman

thanks for speedy reply, Battery fully charged, I should have mentioned that

rugbyman

just bumping this up.
went through a few hours of wondering does everybody hate me , then decided that all the heating coil/merc experts were prob at a late breakfast and missed my post.

anybody?

Rugbyman

Wheres My ForkandKnife

I had the same problem on a w211 320cdi last year.It turned out to be the engine ecu.It was intermittant and when I put the key in and got no glow plug light I knew the car would not start.It didn't turn over, just dead.Looked into it on various forums and came across it on W211's and w220's but not on a w210.

Have a look at this thread.It relates to a w211 but its the same problem.

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=79754

You need to get it on STAR and see if it can communicate with the ecu.If it can't ,there's your problem.I have found this site to be the best for technical knowledge on mercs.

If you search this site you will similar problems or if you start a thread you will get a lot more replies.However most will probably suggest the first thing you do is get it on star.This will be the cheapest and quickest route to fix it.

It took me two week to solve this and in that time I felt like putting a match to the car so I can feel you pain.However since replacing the ecu the car has run perfectly.Best of luck with it.

rugbyman

Wheres my fork and Knife
thank you very much for the info.

I had googled with some success and found threads of interest inc one linking the glow plug light to the fuel on/off supply.
a mechanic has suggested to me that i find the relay,which I think is in a box,lid screwed down ,where i believe also the ecu lives., he says bring a positive wire to this and it should work,thus indicating a faulty relay.

While in mood for typing,( oh by the way when googling this problem i found my own query on Boards!!!) i will blather on about this problem.

this car has been lying up for many years, it belonged to my late brother and i am never sure what to do with it.
Thieves were smashing at the ignition switch one day . My son came on them and off they went. Asd a result the ecu immobilised the engine. The ecu was sent to England to have the immobiliser disabled from the ECU. job done ,car started.

Last month I started the car , started instantly, heating coils working. went a mile and left it ticking over . It stopped, would not start, so rang nephew for a tow ,
One mile of towing ,no start(this to me clearly meant no diesel supply, i.e. injector pump had shut down ,as in turning off the ignition switch.)
Not sure why, and risking steering lock,I turned off ignition and re turned on immediately ,while being towed , engine started.
at home engine restarted on its own battery.

Today, no glow plug lights. have not tried tow , but I suspect that since the engine is not attempting to start, it has been told not to

will continue to prowl around

Rugbyman

rugbyman

Hello all, this thread is three years on and the car is still here/

I propose to spend a few hours on it . you may note , after the fork and knifes advice i mentioned that while towing, i turned off the ignition for a second and back on, the car started.. this piece of info may elicit a comment from someone

Thanks in advance