BTW, it seems to happen after the engine has sat for awhile
(months) and during cold weather starts....
snip

Only an outside chance but... Have you been using a starter fluid on those
cold weather starts? They have a reputation for bending pushrods on many
deisels. Not seen it happen personally (yes, I've cheated when faced with a
no-start), but many manuals contain the warning.

Some good suggestions on care and feeding in the previous posts. Liked the
hammer diagnostic too!

surfnturf

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On Fri, 31 Oct 2003 03:42:27 GMT,
surfnturf wrote:

BTW, it seems to happen after the engine has sat for awhile
(months) and during cold weather starts....
snip

Only an outside chance but... Have you been using a starter fluid on those
cold weather starts? They have a reputation for bending pushrods on many
deisels. Not seen it happen personally (yes, I've cheated when faced with a
no-start), but many manuals contain the warning.

Some good suggestions on care and feeding in the previous posts. Liked the
hammer diagnostic too!

surfnturf



I don't use starter fluid (ether) on diesels, it's much better to use
wd-40, or at least, that's what an old and wrinkled diesel mechanic told
me, almost 30 years ago. He must have known what he was doing, he was
old.
Seriously, wd-40 works great, easier on the engine than ether. For
diesels anyway.


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--
Jim Richardson http://www.eskimo.com/~warlock
The reason the Irish are always fighting each other
is they have no other worthy opponents.

BTW, it seems to happen after the engine has sat for awhile
(months) and during cold weather starts....

Does it have hydraulic "lifters" like a US car? I had a couple of the
ones in a V8 Ford bleed down so far that the push rods actually came out
on two exhaust valves - this after a freeway run from LA to SD. When I
started the motor the next AM these cylinders filled and fired but then
the intake pushrods bent trying to open the valve against pressure. Went
back to the 20w40 Ford recommended (vs 5w30 Mobile one) and never
happened again. Of course it hadn't happened in 20,000 mi on the Mobile
1 either so prolly a coincidental set of freak conditions. Anyway, one
more thing to look at ....