'84 245 D24 M46 runs rough/white smoke.
 

I recently picked up a D24 245 for cheap. 301k on it. It's my first Volvo diesel. It takes quite a while to get started, and once it runs and warms up, it will hold an idle(barely), and it runs very rough and smokes white. Smells like diesel smoke, not coolant smoke. Once it gets up to speed, you can still feel the engine running rough. Smoke isn't really noticable at highway speeds. Gas pedal is basically an on/off switch. I knew these things were slow... but not this slow. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hey there. The engine could be very tired but it does sound like a possible fuel issue. Change out the fuel filter and see if the air filter is in good repair. The nice thing about a diesel is that once you get the fuel and air the ignition is all handled by the compression which makes it simple. Also check the fuel lines for any leaks as a very very small leak can make starting difficult and running after a start not much better because it will lose the prime that is extremely important for it to run properly.

Cheers!

Using water instead of coolant masks the smell?
Steady miss?

Thanks for the advise. The fuel filter looks very new, and I believe the previous owner said it was replaced recently.

It's not a steady misfire. It runs rough and nearly stalls, then the idle picks it up and revs high before stumbling again. Thanks for the advise guys. I'll be messing with it this weekend to try to get it to run a bit better.

where is a good site to find valve shims?

Anyplace that works on VWs.

Turns out IP was way out of time. Runs well now. Almost no smoke.