Greetings fellow diesel inquisitors:

1) how can I tell if injectors are working properly- not sure but the '83 300D turbo sedan may be missing a little

2) must the valves be adjusted

3) if yes on the valves, what would be a reasonable price to get them adjusted



Many thanks for your assistance

(Max) 1983 300 D turbo 422,000 mi
(Moritz) 1985 300 CD 256,000 mi

 

The Valves do need to be adjusted and the price is going to depend on where you live.
Over the years I have read of prices from $90-$150.
The only way to know for sure is to get on the Telephone and ask some places what the charge.
The best way to check the Injectors is to remove them from the Engine and send them to a shop that has a Diesel Nozzle Tester.

To see which Injector might be causing a problem (After the Valve Adjustment is done) you could do the Injector Cut Out Test.

While the Engine is running at Idle Speed you loosen one of the Fuel Injection Line Nuts (keep your Fingers away from it so you do not get Fuel Injected into your body). If the Injector is working there will be an obvious drop in Engine rpms.
If the Injector is not working well when you loosen the nut there will not be much change in the Engine rpm.
When you are done with one Injector tighten the Fuel Injection Line Nut.
You do the above to all of the Injectors.

However, the above test tells you if there is a problem on a specific Cylinder.
To see if it is an Injector that is a problem swap the positions of the suspect Injector with one that you believe is OK.
do the Injector Cutout test on those 2 Injectors. If the problem follows the suspect Injector you have a faulty Injector.
If the problem stays on the original Cylinder you have a problem inside of the Engine on that Cylinder.

In order to te