Hey Everyone,

A buddy of mine just purchased a 1978 300D for $1000, a great looking car for MI, it's even solid underneath!, here is the ad:

http://kalamazoo.craigslist.org/cto/1727262694.html

Anyways when purchased the car needed a starter, after talking with the fellow he seemed very knowledgeable about cars and diesels, and we trusted him that this thing just needed a starter. He stated that the compression was around 380 across all cylinders, should be plenty to start. He also did a valve adjustment himself a week before the starter went out, and he said after completing the valve adjustment the car sounded more like a cummins, strange I thought.

Well anyways we just got done putting a new starter on the car, and the first time after cycling the glow plugs it started only after stepping on the accelerator. We ran it for a good 3-4 minutes and the entire time it was emitting a whiteish smoke. As soon as I tried to put it in Drive the car died. I could not get the damn thing to start again, finally after killing the battery I jumped it off of another car and got it started.......and then the same thing happened, it died when I tried to put it in drive!

I also noticed that the oil pressure was quite low, around if not below 1. I really hope this guy didn't just screw us over, if you read the craigslist ad you will see all of the work he has done to the car, so he knows what he is doing (or so it seems).

My thoughts:

He just adjusted the valves himself a week before the starter went out, if he adjusted them wrong could he have lowered his compression to the point where it wouldn't start easily? He told me even before the valve adjustment he had not problems ever starting the vehicle.

Also with oil pressure this low should I be concerned? The lowest my 240 has ever dropped to is 1.5, and that is after a long highway drive. This is sitting at or below 1 and doesn't shoot up right away, although it does rise as RPMs increase.

Please let me know your thoughts, I plan on buying a diesel compression tester this weekend and checking compression, but I want to make sure I understand what can cause whiteish smoke, low oil pressure, and a no start/stall when under load condition.

Thanks for your help!

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1983 240D 4spd
1984 190E 5spd
1987 300D (sitting for a year or two)
1989 Toyota Camry 5spd (current DD)