Mercedes-Benz 300 SD 1978, Owner'S Manual

Page: 66 / 79

Tow-starting and Towing the Vehicle
Towing eyes are situated underneath
the fro n t and rear end on the RH side.
Use a solid tow ing link such as a tow -
bar.
T ow -start vehicle only w ith the battery
connected.
Caution: R em em ber, however, that
until the engine is running, the pow er
steering and pow er brakes do not
offer assistance and con sid era b le
additional e ffo rt is required to steer
and stop the car.
Emergency Engine Start
(Tow-starting)
Turn idle speed adjusting knob
counterclockw ise to the stop. S hift
selector lever to “ N” and tu rn key in
steering lock to position “ 2” .
Have vehicle tow ed. Having attained a
speed of 18 m ph (30 k m /h ) — cold
transm ission — or 30 mph (50 k m /h )
— w arm tra n sm issio n — keep on
d rivin g at this speed fo r a p p ro x im a ­
tely 2 m inutes to ensure su fficie n t
fluid pressure in the transm ission.
To crank the engine, sh ift selector
lever to “ S". Touch the acce le ra to r
only when the engine starts firin g . As
soon as the engine has started,
im m ediately re turn selector lever to
“ N” . A d ju s t idle speed. It is im p o rta n t
to allow the engine to idle fo r at least 3
m inutes before starting o ff because
the preglow ing process starts when
the key is in steering lock position “ 2”
and is not im m e d ia te ly disru p te d after
the engine has been tow -started.
During this tim e the preglow ing
process is cu t out autom atically.
If the engine has not fired after a few
seconds, shift the selector lever from
“ S ” to “ N” to p ro te ct the transm ission
from dam age.
For a new starting attem pt, to w -sta rt
the vehicle fo r som e tim e again with
the selector lever in position “ N” and
repeat the starting procedure.
The sam e m ethod can be used to start
the engine in em ergencies when
ro llin g dow nhill.