And so begins the story of my baby's latest problem......

My E300 (OM606.962, W210) has difficulty starting on a cold engine every morning (~45F here in Sac), it doesn't really have a hard time, just that it stumbles a little bit.
Symptoms include rough running for 5-10 seconds and grayish-black smoke, all of which go away after about 10 seconds and then it idles perfectly.

My guess is a blown glow plug or two, which wouldn't warm the prechambers enough in one or more cylinders, causing those cylinders to idle poorly and thus affect overall idle quality. After the prechambers warm up the problem goes away.

Any thoughts?

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99 E300 TD -- sold
01 540i 6 spd