My "new" '81 240D makes a lot of clatter on start-up...
 

that my two '83s don't. The new car has a manual tranny and 138k on the clock. Smooths out when warm, but wondering if this is something to be concerned about. Car appears to have had extremely good care, but not used that often.

Thoughts? Thanks.

mine also makes more noise than other 300d i have heard,it pegs the oil pressure when cold and drops just below 2 at an idle when warm, but not too worried, as long as the valves are adjusted and regular oil changes are kept up, never had another 240d to compare too.

Cinderella had something of a rough startup that turned out to be a weak glow plug. I never really thought it was a glow plug because it smoothed out so quickly, but it was certainly rougher than expected at the instant of the start.

One day I just decided to test the glow plugs for the heck of it since they are so easy to test with a 20-amp amp meter. They are supposed to draw a lot of current initially and then settle down to around 12 amps steady-state when hot. I had one that would only pull about 5 amps. In this particular case it could also be found bad by its resistance reading - higher than the other three.

Replaced it with another used one in the garage and it starts smoothly now. The one that came out was the original manufacturer glow plug, dated 1981, Beru, with a Mercedes Star on it!

Ken300D

MY 80 does the same thing. Maybe the working of the tensioner is sticky when first starting up... (?)

DIESEL PURGE TO CLEAN THE INJECTORS>

my two cents