'85 300TD starert not turning

Sep 17, 2006 3 Replies

OK, my good old 300TD was having difficulty shutting down and I determined that the vacuum system had a leak. In the process of trouble shooting this I had to restart the car multiple times. One time the starter just failed to turn - nothing at all, just a little click, like a relay closing, coming from the area of the glove box. Multiple tries and nothing doing. The battery and all connections checked good, and I could see that when turning the key to the start position that there was no load being put on the battery. After checking everything I could think of I gave up for a few hours and then this time the car started right up! I decided that there must be a thermal cut out on the starter, or something like that, and that life was good. When I went to start the car this morning, nothing doing, just that little click by the glove box, but no turning or sound from the starter at all...



HELP!



Don


Several possibilities, in order of cost and difficulty:

Shift the transmission to D and back to N or P to test the neutral safety switch. OK, that was a dream, on to the battery.

If the battery is > 4 years old it's suspect. My M-B battery failed within one week of 4 years, so don't dismiss it or....

A new starter is needed. To determine that possibility, the other two possibilities have already been eliminated, so hit the starter motor with a 2 x 4 whenever it fails to turn - eventually that won't work either but you'll know that the starter is the culprit!

On my 83 it was possible (and cheaper) to but the solenoid only. Pulling the starter itself was a bear because the damn thing was so heavy, but replacing the solenoid once the starter was out was straightforward. If you do it yourself make sure the cables and washers go back in the same way, and coat the terminals with a little dielectric grease.

No.. the selenoid way only delay the replacement of the starter. Twice the amount of work.

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