injection timing
 

hello i have a 1982 300cd, 200,000 miles, and can't get the "start of fuel" to the first cyl correct. i' ve tried the one drip per sec method and the blowing in the fuel delivery method described in these pposts, but the best i can tell,my injection starts at 18 degress after TDC, not the 24 BTDC my timing chain shows a little stretch at mabe 2 or 3 degrees , but actually it seems right on, i believe i have good glow (replaced the 5 plugs and even rteplaced rrelay with a good one) it was running, but took at least 6-8 secs of grinding to get it started for the first time each day, but also once warmed it took longer than i've seen other mb's do. that's why i started this whole thing - to improve the starting, because once warmed , it seemed to drive ok and ran out pretty well. i took off the injector pump (hassle!) and the timing mark on the injector rotor was off a click, so aligned that and thoght it would be the fix, but now i can,t seem to get it started at all?? could the previous owner (just got this car-no way of contacting previous owner) have moved that mark on purpose to adjust for something? is there any adjustments i can do to get the IP to 24BTDC i have it advanced(closest rotation to the engine) as far as it will allow, and get my bubbles (blow method) at 15-18 degrees ATDC (i'm assuming BTDC is to the right of TDC on the balancer, right?) i'm not the best mechanic in the world, but this thing is frustrating the heck out of me thism is myn first mb - i love it- but i don't want an early divorce! please help thanks so much