I hope that I am posting this in the proper place; there seems to be a lot of confusion to us about which class this car belongs in. It is either an '82 or '83. The car will not crank at all. The glow plug light comes on, but the car will not crank. Oddly enough, the car was towed to a mechanic and it started properly, without any real repair work being done. I have no idea what the issue may be, and the mechanic is not competent enough to locate it either. Does anyone have any ideas what may be causing the issue?

Thanks for the excellent info. I may try those bushings there seems to be some "slop "