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Old 10-16-2017, 08:07 AM
v8volvo v8volvo is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Montana, USA
Vehicle: '86 745, '83 764
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Timing is a good place to start. If the cold start lever was not fully retracted into the "warm" position (all the way to its stop with noticeable free motion in the lever) when you set the timing, that would result in a false high reading on the dial relative to where the static timing is actually set. If in doubt you can check it fairly easily, either get the cold start cable fully released or if the cold start thermostat is functional, just check the timing when the engine is warm and the cable has retracted automatically.

Other common remedy for slow starting is incorrect valve lash, good to check this as well if you are not sure.

Otherwise, compression would be your next area to investigate, but for it to be unable to start at all when warm, the compression would need to be so poor that you would probably see other symptoms as well, eg high oil use, blowby and related oil leaks, smoke, difficult starting when cold, etc. If you are not observing these then the bottom end is probably OK, but if the above checks don't get you anywhere, then a compression test would be useful information.

Final critical area for good starting is cranking speed. Are the battery/cables/starter all healthy? Sometimes if the starter is slow, the glow plugs causing a quick start masks it when cold but it becomes an issue when warm.
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86 745 D24T/ZF 345k lifted 2.5"
83 764 D24T/M46 155k
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