Dave:

We get some white smoke for a bit on both 603s -- not for long, but enough to see drifting past the car. Usually acompanied by rough idle for 20 sec or so, no more.

The 300D is VERY sluggish for the first half mile, and I don't push it. Normal after that.

This is typical behavior of diesels -- all of mine do this to some extent. The 220D would rattle terribly for that first half mile, then settle down. My brother's Jetta TDI is worse.

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

I dunno, my 603 doesn't do that, at least above 50F or so on a cold start. (I don't often get to drive it from a cold start below ~50F where I live.) If the power delivery is normal (0-60 in spec), after 30-60 seconds of running, power is more than adequate to pull out onto a 55mph road and get up to speed briskly. Still sounds to me like you might need a little ALDA adjustment, unless you're talking about REALLY cold temps (sub-freezing.) My VW diesel is more cold blooded, it is down on power when cold (running less than 2-3 minutes), even in summer mornings.

The slight smoke is more or less normal. The shaking is NOT. Might not be a bad idea to check your glow plug resistance. I had some shake & smoke for the past 2 months, and discovered I had two dead plugs! It starts smooth as silk now that I replaced them. Wouldn't hurt to check motor mounts too. My dad's 87 was shaking but new mounts cured that. You could hear something rattle inside the old ones if you shook them in your hands, off the car! The new ones were nice & solid. You also might want to glow longer, if you're starting when the light turns off, or soon after.