Just thought I would update - been busy over christmas so I haven't been around. But:

I changed out my oil (needed anyway) to Rotella 5w40 synthetic. Also, I zip-tied the clear primary fuel filter on end so all the fuel in it would go to the bottom, where it is sucked out from. I have had NO starting problems since. Fires right up now even after a cold night. I am so glad that my old car is behaving.

That 5w40 seems to help quite a bit on cranking speed. I would recommend it to anybody running 15w40 below 30 degrees farenheit.

One last question: the car runs kinda rough after starting, misses quite a bit, as though one or more cylinders don't quite want to go. This continues for a minute or two, or until I start driving a bit. A decent amount of white/grey smoke comes out the tailpipe until it's running smooth too. Once up to temp, no smoke at all. Revving the engine seems to help but I hate to rev it very high at all when it's still so cold. Is this an injector issue?

Thanks to everyone for helping me out. This forum has saved me more time and money than anything else. I sure hope it keeps firing this well as it gets colder!

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'79 240D 4 speed manual 105k miles