So the GP relay fuse went out on my car so I thought they wouldn't have it at Advance, O'Reilly's, or Autozone (and I was right) but surely I would be able to find it somewhere.

My first idea was my mechanic. He said he doesn't keep in any stock because he doesn't work on as many older Mercedes diesels anymore.

So then my next idea was to check NAPA, none available at my store so I reserved some but then got a call today that they are in an out of state distribution center and I must go to the store to pay for them to ship it to the store (why can't this be done online?). The website says I cannot have it shipped to me directly because it is considered to be hazardous material (not sure how a fuse could be). Last time I needed to order a special order part from out of state, they also estimated a week or so for it to come in.

I assume the dealer could get them for me but as with recent orders from Mercedes, I haven't had any luck with diesel specific parts actually being in Georgia (and Mercedes takes their time with shipping), and I can't order the part through the Mercedes parts website, it shows up as being NLA. Also not being sure of if I have actually solved the issue of why it went (I'm guessing age, it looked bad before, but I misplaced my good multimeter to test stuff), I don't really want to be spending dealer price on a few, plus the closest dealer is 40 minutes away.

I can order it through Pelican but I don't really have anything else I need at the moment and I don't really want to do a small order and pay twice the cost of 5 fuses to have it shipped here.

I find it sorta funny that of all the things to keep my car stranded somewhere (thankfully at home) besides an incomplete job or me draining the battery, a simple fuse is the first thing to do it to me. Thankfully I have another car to drive but it isn't nearly as fuel efficient.

__________________
Current: 1975 450SEL, 83 300D, 88 Yugo GVX, 90 300D OM603 swap, 91 F150 4.6 4v swap, 93 190E Sportline LE 3.0L M104 swap, 93 190E Sportline LE Megasquirt, 03 Sprinter, 06 E500 4Matic wagon.

Hi there I actually suffered from the same issue. I have a amazing Solution. Go to advanced auto parts and in the isle where they have the add-a-fuseable link packages, they will have 80amp fuses that have a plastic box top and the copper out the bottom. Bend the two pieces of copper in opposite directions and bam you can screw it onto the relay. The cover might not fit but the car will start

.

__________________
ASE Master Mechanic
https://whunter.carrd.co/

Prototype R&D/testing:
Thermal & Aerodynamic System Engineering (TASE) Senior vehicle instrumentation technician.
Noise Vibration and Harshness (NVH).
Dynamometer.
Heat exchanger durability.
HV-A/C Climate Control.
Vehicle build.
Fleet Durability
Technical Quality Auditor.
Automotive Technical Writer

1985 300SD
1983 300D
2003 Volvo V70

https://www.boldegoist.com/

I'd have to look but I think I have a couple in the misc spare parts drawer in the shop.

__________________
Jim

When I shorted and blew the glow plug fuse in my VW a few years ago and couldn't buy one locally, I made a few using 1/8 dia plumbers solder, a hammer and acissors. I felt the fuse to make sure it is not too hot to touch and created a short to test that it blows. That fuse is still working fine today. Not suggesting anyone do this but just telling what I did in an emergency.

__________________
85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

When you buy one, BUY TWO and keep a spare in the trunk. I've had my spare fuse in the trunk for twenty years or so along with a few other spare parts that will stop you dead and never needed it. That's always the case.

__________________
Len
'59 220S Cabriolet-SOLD and living happily in Malta
'83 240D 351,500 miles original owner-SOLD
'88 560SL 41,000 miles - totaled and parted out
https://sites.google.com/site/mercedesstuff/home
'99 E300 turbo 227,500 miles
'03 SLK320 40,000 miles - gave to my daughter
'14 Smart electric coupe 28,500 miles
'14 Smart electric cabriolet 28,500 miles
'15 Smart electric coupe 28,000 miles

If your original Fuse actually burned you need to find out why. Otherwise changing the Fuse will result in another burned Fuse.

If you Fuse cracked (this happened to Me) it is likely safe to replace it.

It costs more but you could also use an 80amp Circuit Breaker with Female Spade Connectors on one end of the Wires to go on the Breaker and Eyes for the Screw Ends of the Wires.

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

if you go the circuit breaker route, DON"T get the automatically resetting one... it's good to know when it is tripping...

__________________
John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 560SL convertible
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
2005 Dodge Sprinter 2500 158"WB
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Thanks for the input. I am planning on getting 5 because they are cheap and I'm not sure why it went out. I just pulled it to give a good look (when I discovered it had gone it was at night) and it looks like it melted. I have new plugs in there and just pulled one that was reading different on the multimeter (from harness to battery) but it is fine. I'm wondering if there is a short in the harness itself as on that plug it was reading it as there is no resistance between the harness and the battery.

__________________
Current: 1975 450SEL, 83 300D, 88 Yugo GVX, 90 300D OM603 swap, 91 F150 4.6 4v swap, 93 190E Sportline LE 3.0L M104 swap, 93 190E Sportline LE Megasquirt, 03 Sprinter, 06 E500 4Matic wagon.

Pull the plug off the pre-glow relay that goes to the glow plugs, and measure the resistance to ground at each of the six contacts (should be ~0.7 ohms). I'd expect you have a dead short to ground somewhere. If you find one that is significantly less then the rest, you know which wire/plug you need to examine closely.

VW dealers have similar fuses for their diesel cars, I think the size is 60 amps. You could get one of those, then disconnect one or two glowplugs to bring the current load down, and you'd be able to start the car.

__________________
Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC

answer if you ever plan on being that car's PO:

__________________
1981 NA 300D 310k miles

I just had this same issue. I was able to stretch the spade to reach the the other screw. It looked like it corroded at one screw.

I bought the 80 amp fuse at AZ and cut down the tabs on the fuse to fit a female spade. I then added two four inch pieces of #10 THHN with a split spade connector on each end. I threw it in the glove box incase i needed it. The temp repair to the old fuse held up until my PP order came in. I orderd 3 because they are hard to come by.

The AZ guy told me Radio Shk sells them for electronic stuff. I did not check as they only seem to sell cell phones anymore.

Our local Radio Shack actually has a little bit of DIY stuff; but now it's usually regaled to an oasis of 2-3 drawer units of bins in the sea of cell phones. They have a pretty fair selection of switches, led's and relays; but I don't know about an 80a fuse...

Why would you go there, when all generic auto parts stores have them.

NAPA AUTO PARTS

.

__________________
ASE Master Mechanic
https://whunter.carrd.co/

Prototype R&D/testing:
Thermal & Aerodynamic System Engineering (TASE) Senior vehicle instrumentation technician.
Noise Vibration and Harshness (NVH).
Dynamometer.
Heat exchanger durability.
HV-A/C Climate Control.
Vehicle build.
Fleet Durability
Technical Quality Auditor.
Automotive Technical Writer

1985 300SD
1983 300D
2003 Volvo V70

https://www.boldegoist.com/

Really I only go there (RS) for led's, rectifiers (for old Honda CT 90's), and hard to find (locally) switches (e.g. DPDT-momentary, tactile, etc.). It seems all of the local auto parts stores want much higher prices for these items and/or have a poor selection.

Certainly for a high gauge fuse (80a) a generic auto parts store would be a better choice, but he mentions not finding them there. +1 for parts yard or get a few shipped online.