HOwdy i am a greenhorn to the whole forum gig, so bear with me. TO start out with i have an 81' 300sd with a OM617 engine and a w126 body . Now when i go out in the morning to start her i let the glowplugs cycle then if i crank her right after the light goes out it cranks for i would say about 5-10 seconds before fireing, if i wait for about 10 seconds after the glowplug lights go out it seems to fire right up most of the time, also when she starts i don't get much smoke. When i stop and say run into the store to grap something real fast i can come back and it will fire right up. My freind who lives a little bit away who know diesels says it might be algae in the tank and that may be so i still have to change the fuel filters and disect. Any other opinions would be greatefully accepted. She has almost 250000 miles on her with matenince logs till about 180000, and since i have gotten her i have logged all the matenince and fuel information. Also if anyone else could tell me what they adverage with thier cars would be appreciated too because the only two others that have diesels that are 300d's w123 bodies, one turboed (US Market) one nat asperated with a 4 speed (grey market to US). Thanks to all and i hope to learn more with being affiliated with this site, Thanks Trevor

Valve adjustment(low compression) would be a starting point!

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I have a set of valve adjustment wrenches availible to me but have not gotten around to doing so yet,is there anything else that might be done at little or no cost, or any other issue that might cause it to not start right up. Thanks again Trevor