Valve spring replacement?

[fahrvergnugen]

'83 300 TD

I was speaking to a very well-seasoned mechanic friend of mine, about the fact that I keep having to adjust the valves on my OM617. After I do, it is pretty damn smooth; not perfect, but pretty damn good. But the longer I drive it or if I rev it at say 4K for a minute In Park, it will get worse. He suggested that carbon on the valve seats is not my problem, but that either my valve springs are broken, or weak.

I searched around and didn't see a whole lot of talk about this, and he approached it with the idea that it if they are weak, it is a fluke, but... He also suggested perhaps I did not lock the adjustment nut down properly, which I double checked, leading me to think that something is wrong.


I'm thinking I will need to replace the springs and valve seals all at once, which does not appear to be too tough a job; I Will inspect it again to see if something is broken, or obviously wrong, just putting out a feeler here to see if I can benefit from others' experience.