1995 W124 300D Smokes on Startup
 

I've just acquired a 300D with the 606 NA engine 124. It seems to run really well apart from when it has been standing overnight.

It starts easily once the glow plug light has extinguished but then runs pretty lumpy for maybe 30 seconds with lots of smoke. It looks/smells like diesel smoke. Not white as in water related.
I'm pretty sure it's not water/headgasket as it runs really well once it's past the initial lumpy running and the temperature is rock steady with no water usage.

Once it's running/past this initial 30 seconds it pulls well with no untoward noise. Even under full throttle and max rev's there doesn't appear to be any smoke.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Thanks for the reply. Yes that does sound exactly right, apart from that I thought that the glow plug light would stay illuminated after the engine was running if one or more had failed?

I'll certainly check them out with a multimeter though.

Hopefully it's nothing more drastic!

I've just tested the glow plugs and 1 and 6 are not working.

Looks like an inlet manifold off job but thankfully it's nothing too drastic.