First I am a auto tech but not on Mb's. Only my own. I have a 91 300D 2.5 Turbo with the 602 engine.
Today I desided to do some maintaince and adjustments. I removed the injectors and checked the spray pattern and pop pressure. All were within 50 psi of pop pressure and all had a good spray pattern. Good, things are going great. While the injectors are out I desided to check the IP timing. Not having the correct equipment to time a MB diesel, i improvise.I found a procedure by Richard Easley which didn't require any special tools. Basicly, you remove the #1 injector line and soak out any fuel you can see where it was unhooked from the IP. You then turn the engine over (glad I left the injectors out for this procedure) until you see fuel just beginning to come up in the #1 IP port. After 5 trys, I averaged the readings and came up with 10 deg BTDC, which is very late. According to Alldate, this engine should just start at 19 deg BTDC. Well my other plan was to remove the timing plug from the IP and turn the engine to 15 deg ATDC and make sure the pointer was lined up with the hole. This is not the perfect way to set static timing but I figured it would be close enough. Well, the pointer in the IP hole was exactly in line with the center of the hole. Now I am confused, so I pull the valve cover and check the cam timing and it was within 1 deg of TDC. So, now I say to myself, What should I do? Well I desided to change the IP timing to as close to 19 deg BTDC as I can get it. When I started, the slots in the IP were all the way to retarded as they would go. I got the timing using Richards method as close to 19 deg BTDC as I could get it. Now the IP adjustment slots are just about centered. I then set the crank to 15 deg ATDC and the pointer was nowhere in site.
Now just some facts.
Engine 602.
Mileage 297,000 miles
Engine now has a little more diesel chatter (expected)
Engine now runs much better (a good thing)

Now my questions.
What am I doing wrong?
What is the best way to set the IP timing on the 602 engine? Remember, the drip method won't work on the 602 because it has no manual pump to pump fuel through the IP.
Should I put it back the way it was?
Should I leave it as is?
Why is there such a difference between the static method and the start of fuel flow method?

Thanks very much for any help or suggestions or hints or advice or comments (all welcome)

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84 500 SEL (307,xxx miles)