240D Restoration: Valve Adjustment Time

"TheDon" (TheDon) 06/08/2014 at 21:19 • Filed to: None

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I decided to adjust the valves today and attempt to start the car and see how well she would run.

The engine is a bit dirty from sitting for a long time and I plan on cleaning it up. I forgot to take photos of the progress but if you notice in my handy tool holding tray I have two bent wrenches and then a larger wrench to hold the valve springs in place. 6 out of the 8 valves were incredibly tight so I reset the lash and installed a new valve cover gasket.

Turning the engine over by hand was a bit hard, my friend said the cylinders probably have a little bit of surface rust in them so I should pull the glow plugs and dribble in some marvel mystery oil and turn it over by hand to coat the cylinder walls and lube the rings. We tossed in a battery and let the glow plugs warm up and cranked.... and cranked.. and cranked and got nothing.

I suspect the 20 year old fuel might be an issue so I plan on getting a small can of diesel and running supply and return to it to test it that way. No weird sounds came from the engine while cranking.

We also pulled all of the linkages off and lubricated all of the joints, they were incredibly stiff and not cooperating.

Hopefully this week I can get her started and see how healthy the engine is. The title should be arriving this week so I can get a VIN cut key and open the trunk. Fingers crossed it has a trunk triangle. My last 240D had one and that was an '82 model year.

Slave2anMG > TheDon 06/08/2014 at 21:40

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If the fuel system has dried out, you'll need to bleed the air out of the injector lines. And get a can of starter fluid aka ether. That will help...

desertdog5051 > TheDon 06/08/2014 at 22:22

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Change the fuel filter. After that long of sitting, it is no doubt clogged. All kinds of bacteria live in diesel and over that length of time they have probably built up enough to choke the thing to death. also, it probably has a lot of condensate in the tank. Drop it, drain it and inspect the interior if you can. Good luck.

TheDon > Slave2anMG 06/08/2014 at 23:25

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never ever ever ever use starting fluid in a diesel! I cannot stress this enough. It can and will damage the engine. These small Diesel engines were not designed to ever use ether.

TheDon > desertdog5051 06/08/2014 at 23:26

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yeah I plan on cleaning the fuel system. I've got all new filters and a tank strainer. Siphoning it all out Tuesday and will take a peek into the tank.

Slave2anMG > TheDon 06/09/2014 at 09:16

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OK, but I've watched it done many times on old Volvo/VW diesels...

TheDon > Slave2anMG 06/09/2014 at 10:57

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If you value your engine, you won't use ether period. If you do not disable the glow plugs the ether will cause a small explosion in the cylinders which is not good and in general its not wise to use ether in an IDI diesel. I know some old tractors have a special fitting for ether but those engines were designed to start on ether.

If your engine has low compression and you do not value it then by all means do whatever you want. The smart way is if you need some sort of starting assistance is to spray a small amount of WD -40 into the intake. Not a lot, but a little.

TheDon > Slave2anMG 06/10/2014 at 09:08

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It's like you eating 5lbs of bacon at each meal for about 6 months. It doesn't kill you at first but it will kill you slowly.

if you've ever been around these old diesels you would know to never ever use ether.

Philbert/Phartnagle > TheDon 06/24/2014 at 15:46

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Fill me in as to why you think this please?

As far as I know there are not any engines that are specifically "designed" to use ether for starting, but some may have specialized fittings or systems to make it easier to do so. Using ether or other types of flammable substances to facilitate starting engines has been done most likely since the first engine was built. Yes, it can cause damage if you go way overboard and fill up the cylinders, but used in moderation it won't really "hurt" anything and engine cylinders are purposely designed to contain "small explosions" hence the "internal combustion" designation, so I wouldn't be much afraid of that either. I have a small chainsaw in which I have used ether and other flammable fluids to aid in starting for over 20+ years and it has suffered no ill effects, along with the literally dozens of other engines of all types I have used it on. End results, ether or other starting fluids used with some common sense won't "hurt" anything IMO.

TheDon > Philbert/Phartnagle 06/24/2014 at 23:11

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by all means do whatever you want. I'm part of the anti ether in old IDI diesels crowd.

Philbert/Phartnagle > TheDon 06/25/2014 at 02:11

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I will of course, do exactly that, but I thought you might have a legitimate reason for not doing so and I wanted to hear about it and maybe learn something new.

TheDon > Philbert/Phartnagle 06/25/2014 at 08:43

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I did mention that in these engines using any amount of here will cause pre detonation when the ether hits the hot glow plugs and cause damage. When the ether gets in the cylinders it also strips the oil off the walls which further wears the cylinders ever s o slightly.

If you must use ether you have to disable the glow plugs in these old IDI engines or you will damage something

Using ether is like arguing oil types, it never ends

Philbert/Phartnagle > TheDon 06/25/2014 at 14:37

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Yes you did, but I have spent most of my life working on and around diesel engines, from the little ones found in cars to the huge ones used in power plants and on ships. I have never ran across any problems such as you described in any of those engines when using ether to start them. I have however seen issues when the person applying the ether gets carried away and uses way too much. Diesel engines are pretty ruggedly built to endure the cylinder pressures and power they deliver. I wouldn't be too overly concerned about a little bit of pre-ignition and if you are using enough ether that it strips oil off the cylinder walls, then you are using way too much of it. In the end it is just a difference of opinions and yes you are right, it never ends.

Thank you for replying and have a great day.