I have a 1983 300D. I drive it regularly (at least 4 days per week) - and it is in very good condition. I parked it (facing slightly downhill) in my yard and it has sat there for the past 3 days. I went out to start it this morning and it wouldn't start. It was 38 degrees F here this morning. It would crank and crank and crank, but it didn't even begin to fire. I glowed the engine at least 3-4 times and held the starter for at least 4-5 seconds - but it did not want to start.

Later this afternoon when I came home from work, I coasted it down near my garage to plug it up. It was around 32 degrees F then. I have a Kats - brand oil pan heater on the car and no engine block heater. I plugged it up and let it sit for 30 minutes. After that, no luck with starting - same issue, even after glowing multiple times, etc.. I let it sit for another hour with the oil pan heater on. I went back out to start it - and after much hestitation and a few starting attempts, it finally fired up and ran smoothly.

There is a little short hose that goes from the fuel pre-filter into some brass-looking component on the engine. That area had some diesel on it that I have never seen before. Also, the injector area where the fuel first goes into the engine had quite a bit of diesel on the outside - and it had run down the side of the engine as well.

I'm wondering if this could have been caused with the car facing downhill - or maybe when I was trying to start it while it was facing downhill. I'm also wondering if there was too much fuel in the engine - and that the cold temperature had nothing to do with the difficulty starting. I have started the engine before in much colder weather with no trouble.

Again - the car is fastidiously maintained. The diesel tank was probably 90% full.

Any helpful advice would be appreciated.

Thanks...

 

Thanks to everyone for all the helpful suggestions. This forum is awesome.