My 75 240D has developed a weird problem.
When I turn my key into the on position, my instrument cluster comes to life, showing battery indicator light on, fuel gauge etc. When I put a load on the electrical system it just dies.
I.E. I depress the brake, turn on the lights or pull the starter into the detente position to activate the glows plugs, my instrument cluster shuts off and nothing happens. If I return the key to the off position and then back to on the dash comes right back to life but repeats when I try to start it normally.
I put the Battery on a voltmeter and it tests at 12.65v (resting since I can't start it).
Just prior to this the car was having difficulty starting, I was starting to think that the GP's were malfunctioning so I tested the connections at the relay box on the firewall right after the battery.
Placing the positive end on the relay box and negative end on the battery terminal I got 83 ohms resistance from plug 1 and off the chart on the rest.
It looks like my car some time in the past (before I owned it ) had it's series wired GP's replaced with what looks like parallel wired GP's with a ground strap at front (last/first closest to radiator) cylinder lifted. Is this correct? I haven't taken any GP's out to examine them to see if they pencil style or loops yet. Also 240D's don't have the same GP relay system as a 300D right?
Is there a fuse in the GP system that would cause this behavior and prevent the starter from turning over or should I looks elsewhere and if so where? My old Chilton's/Pirated Polish website wiring diagrams are hard to understand. I also am having trouble figure out where these things are located as most docs are for W123 cars.
I have pics of my engine compartment that show the ground strap lift. There is also a thing that looks like a GP in between Glowplug 1 and
3 what is that? There is a wire that runs from that piece which is broken, could that be significant? I have pics of that tooMy Ohmmeter and Flashlight await......
thanks, je