Hi,
MB Techs.
I own this 1986, 300 SDL for last 3 Years in very good shape, it a single owner, well maintained with 420,000 KMS and it had a loss of power issue from the first day. When you start this car it would throw puff of-black smoke in the morning and Engine will shake and hear the cling clang. I put all the new Hydraulic Lifters but you will still hear a single pinning noise which still exist till today it does not matter hot or cold. Black Smoke would clear after few minutes and when you go on the highway if you paddle the gas, you can see cloud of black smoke in the headlight of other cars in the night time and it would not climb small hills. You really have to paddle it to the floor and your speed will drop at least 20 to 30 KMS. This car had a loss of of oil at least a litter in 5000 KMS. I saw some evidence of external oil leak in the front of the Head Gasket Area and I replaced the Head Gasket 2 Months ago and car ran with good power for few days. Now it will throw white smoke at cold start. I had all Injector had it tested by the local Diesel Shop twice and they tested and was set equal pressure on all. I cleaned the vacuum lines at Intake Manifold at the Air Temperature sensor and the solenoid at the fire wall were cocked up with black stuff. It did not make any difference. It will throw white smoke in the morning seems like it comes out of one cylinder because it not consistence, it has intervals and in between it will throw black puff of smoke. There is no smoke out of tail pipe when it is fully hot and it looses power longer you drive and it has more power when it is cold. Once in while you feel shake in the motor as well. I have seen some time this car runs very smooth like a gasoline and lots of power and the other time it has no power at all. This car is great on gas. It came with oxidizer trap had been removed under recall in the past, now it has straight pipe. Cat is original. I have checked the Turbo for end radial play and the turbo is in perfect shape. I tried to find the Waste Gate, but I never found it. I believe there are two different type Turbo in this model. Head was tested for cracks, bot no cracks were found.
If you have any suggestions. It be will be a great help as I am not a Diesel Mechanic.

sounds like several issues, mostly glow plugs for the shaking and white smoke in morning.
air filter causing the puff of black smoke along with the alda being slightly strong.
also, you could have a partially stopped up fuel filter causing the sputtering and lack of power. get a pair of fuel filters, 6 new glow plugs, and a new air filter in there, and I bet it acts normal and you get good power from then on!
oh, and for the black gook in the intake, pull the aluminum gasket from the EGR valve and replace it with a flat sheet of copper. no more black gook in intake!

General stuff
There is several reasons for them; but white smoke is either Coolant or unburned Fuel and Black Smoke is partially burned Fuel.

If what vstech said does not help or work completely a compression test might reveal something.

Not said in the original post is if you had the Cylinder Head Checked to see if it was Flat and the same with the top of the Cylinder Block before the Head Gasket was replaced?
Is there any evidence of gasses or oil in the Cooling system that would indicte a Head Gasket leak?

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

VSTECH

I changed Air Filter, both Fuel Filters, with Mercedes Benz and has 7000 KMS. I recently replaced the O.E. Fuel Tank Filter. I checked the Air Filter seems very clean. I ordered the
Steel Gasket for EGR but local Dealer sent me the wrong one and I ended up installing the EGR face to face with Red Silicone. When I did the head gasket I tested the all the glow plugs and they all seemed heating up in same time frame. I replaced both the Fuel Tank Flex Hoses with new one. Pressure/intake ( breaded one)hose had evidence of leak. I have checked all the Vacuum Hoses cleaned every connector I could find had evidence of corrosion. The only thing I did not check the if the flap in the square box below open up, when it suppose to. I have noticed that if I use good amount of Diesel purge this car will have lots of power and it is a mystery to me and you have to use it quite often than normal.
Do you suggest anything should be changed or checked further ?

on the egr copper gasket, I meant one without a hole in the center...
power with all that changed, makes me think you have issues with IP timing, and timing chain slack/wear.

Diesel 911
when I did the head Gasket, the shop tested the Flatness of the Head and it was perfectly flat. I did not check the flatness of the block because it was Alloy cast iron and normally they do not move much as compare to Aluminum. I believe it is too late to check it now but I could see very clear honing marks in the cylinder Bores after 420,000 KMS.
I do not see the coolant level changing after driving 2000 KMS. I will look for the evidence of oil in the coolant. one thing I know for sure if I leave the the Expansion Tank Cap off it does not push the Coolant out even idle for good 20 minutes or more. that me and it does not have compression leak into the Coolant leak, but I will check for the Oil part tomorrow.
I have seen this car had run some time very smooth like a Turbo Gas Car and other time it is a disaster. I have been working off and on for 3 years to figure it out and I am very sure it will be a very small issue when it is discovered. That's why we are called Mechanics.
Do you suggest any thing else to check?

The classic symptom of worn valve stem seals is smoke upon startup after resting....
They are relatively cheap.. but tedious to install on 61x engines.. that probably applies to all engines....

__________________
1980 240d ,

chain elongation, cam marks reference:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?threadid=10414

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/305365-9-degrees-chain-stretch.html

evap fin cleaning:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=156207&highlight=evaporator

A/C thread

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/297462-c-recommendations-mb-vehicles.html

Vstech
You hit the nail. I read on the Forum on the similar problem, in this case fuel pump was rebuilt and it was not timed properly, caused same symptoms. it was suggested to time it with the proper timing tool, which rectified the problem.
In my case, my adjuster screw is adjusted to the max., which causes came sprocket to be pulled anti clockwise at least half a tooth or more, it may be enough for diesel engine to cause this problem because Diesel is very hard to burn.There is no timing Chain Slap
In my case, it depends if the previous owner changed the oil in time or not. I am an oil change fanatic. if, you do not change oil in time, it may cause pre mature timing chain wear.
I like to change the Timing Chain, instead fooling around with IP Timing because it has changed due to pre mature wearing of Timing Chain. I have the following issues before I change it.
(I) Do I have to change the Timing Chain with the cam and Crank sprocket or just the Chain itself ? should I buy the Mercedes Benz Timing Chain or after. market ?
(ii) I do have All Data, but the way it tells you to feed it through, I am afraid
to loose the timing of engine and the IP. if you guide me I should be able to do it easily.
When I did head gasket, I set the Cam Timing marks and after I checked the marks after installing the Head Gasket were perfectly located.
Thanks for the advise.