Around thanksgiving, both the people and weather of eastern kansas treated my SD most unkindly. First, it got down to about 10 deg F. The car refused to start. I didn't have the time to deal with it, so I had it towed to a shop. After a few hours, the shop got it running. They told me they had in the block heater and just recharged the battery and started it in the warm shop. Upon getting my car back though, I found that a piece of interior wood was broken off, my oil pressure gauge now pegged at 3 whenever there was power to it, and the crankcase vent hose from the top of the valve cover to the air filter had been torn in half and miserably covered over with some green hose that looked like garden hose. This enraged me, especially since the discovery occured in rural Oklahoma when I smelled oil while the heater was on. Anyway, the car drove fine for a week. It got cold again in Kansas and it stopped starting again. Mid-December I met a mechanical engineer/mechanic who helped me out (for a price). We replaced the battery, the starter (the old one tested weak), the secondary fuel filter, and even put a few more gallons of diesel in it, and it still wouldn't start.

Starting it got a little harder over the past few months. I don't know when the last valve adjustment was done. However, once she is running, she runs great, and doesn't smoke. Last time I tried starting her, there was some white smoke coming out the tailpipe, so she's getting some fuel. Tomorrow the mechanic is going to stop by and we are going to crack the injector lines. I'm already up to $320 that I owe him so far, and I'm not made of money. He doesn't have a compression tester for diesels. Does anyone here have recommendations as to what I should do next?

P.S.: It has been in the 40's and 50's around here during the day, and usually the car didn't have problems starting. I also had a few emergency situations over the summer (fuel leaks) that necessitated burning some canola oil. The secondary fuel filter looked ok though when pulled. Also, I would add a little bit of Phillips 66 Jet-A to diesel every once in a while...car ran smoother.

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73 450SL AMG "Millennium Falcon"
88 Volvo 740GLE B230F/M47
84 300SD Turbo (Sold, looking for new one)
86 300E (FOR SALE)
78 450SL (totalled by girl on drugs in SUV)
87 Volvo 740GLE wagon (totalled by Ford Expedition)