As long as there is a gap between the rocker and the lobe the motor WILL start. Its really only when the valves are to tight the engine will fail to start because its holding the valve slighlty open during the compression stroke....

You say its harder to start cold. Does it ever start up?

__________________
1985 300TD Turbo Euro-wagon
1979 280CE 225,200 miles
1985 300D Turbo 264,000 miles
1976 240D 190,000 miles
1979 300TD 220,000

GONE but not forgotten
1976 300D 195,300 miles
1983 300D Turbo 175,000 miles

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...e485-1-2-1.jpg

Yes it does start, poorly. Then runs fine after a minute.
Seems to do better with no throttle at all while cranking which is a new phenomenon. My usual M.O. for years has been to leave it floored until its firing. It used to be started and running as soon as you had the first bit of cylinder combustion. Now you need to keep the starter motor going a bit even after you are getting hits.
There was one or two for sure that had a lot of carbon. Putting solvent in there may be a project for next time. I can imagine it would help the plugs be more effective. My hands are quite roughed up from all the glow plug fiddlin and im not about to pull them out again. Im kind of looking forward to getting the valve cover off again and seeing if I can perhaps do the valves better this time.
Any tips on being more accurate with my feel to the whole thing I'm all ears. Ive done valves many many times but apparently this last time I was doing something wrong with the amount of tension I was going for on the feeler gauge.

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84 300SD 274K
38K miles on flatplate heat exchanger and various diesel/veg blends. prior to that 4K miles on unheated veggie blends with kero and DinoD.

Here is the latest.
I went through the valves a 3rd time.
I took the next size up feeler gauge along with the proper size gauge out of the gauge set and put them on a loop of string.

With all of the exhaust valves I was able to fit a .38mm gauge in them. I adjusted them down so that a .35mm gauge would fit in but the .38mm could not be wedged in.
Two of the intake valves I was able to get a .13mm gauge in and I adjusted them down so a .1mm gauge would fit in but a .13mm would not.

The result is that it seemed to run a little quieter and more responsive. It was about 50f when I started that afternoon so it was hard to get a read on any starting improvement.

The next morning I would have to say that the starting wasn't much of an improvement. This morning it was as bad as ever despite it being about 50f outside.

The only thing I can think of now is to replace the battery. The battery does test "bad" at the parts store, but also reads as just under 600cca on their machine. I would think that this is still in a range that you would call adequate at these temps. Im I wrong in that regard? Should I be dropping $100 on a new one to see?

__________________
84 300SD 274K
38K miles on flatplate heat exchanger and various diesel/veg blends. prior to that 4K miles on unheated veggie blends with kero and DinoD.

You have to make the distinction between not cranking fast enough and not burning well enough or enough to fire before decissions like that can be made.

__________________
1996 s10 zr2 with a 6.5 turbo diesel
1996 c2500 suburban with a 6.5 turbo diesel
1981 300sd with a turbo 617
Monte carlo figure 8 car

What happens when that cylinder sucks first ?
It draws that into Where ? and how much trouble is it to get it out THEN ?

LOL

__________________
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

Try swapping in a known good battery or jump starting it and see what happens.

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Has a compression test been done on the motor?

__________________
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club group

I no longer question authority, I annoy authority. More effect, less effort....

1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
Other toys ~J.D.,Cat & GM ~ mainly earth moving

Use a go/no-go gauge. They have a .002 step up to the next size. You simply get the right feel on the correct size and note that the next size won't go without excessive force.

__________________
85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

If your battery is bad, you will get one glow & about ten seconds of cranking before it dies & needs a recharge. The fact that it runs so rough when it starts cold suggests the problem may not be the battery. How much blow by does it have?
My thoughts are you have stuck rings on at least one cylinder. A compression test will show what is going on.

I suggested stuck rings 24 posts ago. Having seen this chain of events so many times.
Bad starting when cold
GP's good
Valves adjusted
Starts ok when warm

This is a text book case of low compression from stuck rings. If not, I want to know what is causing it !!

__________________
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club group

I no longer question authority, I annoy authority. More effect, less effort....

1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
Other toys ~J.D.,Cat & GM ~ mainly earth moving

I think I have it licked.
Since I posted last I replaced the battery in a moment of weakness grasping at straws. That was dumb. I wish I had at least kept my old battery for a computer UPS backup project instead of turning it in for the core.

All the symptoms were just so consistent with a glow plug problem so I went back rooting into that system and started re-testing stuff. I realized that there was one plug that I did not pull to test externally. The second one from the rear.
Sure enough it was dead.

I replaced it and it started easily and ran quite smooth immediately.
Last night it was 26f and this morning it started without hesitation.

__________________
84 300SD 274K
38K miles on flatplate heat exchanger and various diesel/veg blends. prior to that 4K miles on unheated veggie blends with kero and DinoD.