I agree. It takes a lot of force to bend a pushrod. But, valves rusting to the guides seems highly unlikely in Denver's dry climate. I assume it would take even more force to bend the valves. It's hard to fathom that bad gas would leave a deposit thick enough and strong enough to resist the force of the cam and bend the pushrod.
I'm going to take a prybar and see if I can get the valves with the bent pushrods to move up and down.
I've considered the possiblility of the timing chain skipping a link or something like that but it doesn't seem likely in that engine.
I never would have expected that an engine with 7 non-functioning pushrods could even run.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13