Hi everyone,

Just when I was bragging about my '82 240 not having any trouble starting, its my turn. I'm still waiting to get a compression tester to see what the bottom line is, but all of a sudden, I've had an intermittant starting problem which has turned into a will not start problem. I changed out the glow plugs and still no start. I put a test light up to the plugs and they are getting current. Then I noticed a weird deal, while I was playing under the hood, for the first time, I heard the glow plug relay on the fender click on and off when I cycled the ignition. Is it possible that the relays sometimes act up? I did notice that the previous owner had duct tape around the top lid of the glow plug relay box and the box has silicone smeared over the heads of the mounting screws to the fender. Is this an indication of a previous intermittant problem? Well, I know what the determinant would be after I made this discovery: will the engine start now? Haven't gotten to try because before this latest revelation, I took the valve cover off to check the valve adjustment. Which brings me to the next question....

I checked the valve adjustment (cold, very cold) and the balloting is in. After three recounts, the intakes were .003, .005, .006, .004 inches. Exhausts were .013, .009, .012, .014 inches. I see that the book says .004 and .016 respectively. Here is the question, are these settings ball park good to run on a very cold morning or are they a little too tight on the exhausts? Also, is it typical for the exhausts to come out of adjustment before the intakes?

As far as fuel, I cracked open an injector line and noticed that it would drip when I cranked on the started so I'm not suspecting a fuel problem yet. I'm new to the diesel game and forgive my ignorance but I figure I couldn't ask these questions from a better source. Thanks, Jim