Hi Gentlemen,
This is my first attempt so please bare with me. I have a 1984 300sd that I purchased close to 3 years ago. The car is in exceptional shape (my mechanic said "either you buy it or I will" after looking at it for 3 hours). Our issue is a slight hesitation, noticeable smoke, and a clanking noise coming from the engine compartment when starting from an immediate stop. At any other time the car runs perfectly as it did when I bought it. We completed a typical 30k mile check up, replaced glow plugs, and the little primer pump. Has anyone encountered this before or have an idea? My mechanics last suggestion is the fuel pump but I disagree b/c it runs so well after the initial take off. Thanks for the forum!