Thanks for the reply Tabetha. The engine is an Endura-DE, dont know if that means anything to you, means nothing to me, so dont know if this is the engine you refer to. When you refer to shims are these the cylinder shaped followers that the cam lobes hit. you say swap them around? Are the shims of different thicknesses? or are they all standard. Sorry but you have to be a bit patient with me.
I tested the glow plugs and replaced them a short while ago, I also changed the fuel filter but not the housing, it did start better but only for a short while. When I press the plunger on top it goes hard, so I decided it was ok hence not changed. It was terrible to start this morning, really cold temp outside but battery seems to be fine, turns engine over fine, just will not fire, white smoke once it does fire, also whilst turning over, misses really badly when it does eventually start and when pulling away when cold, gets better when warmed up but still doesnt run properly. It has always been low on power, almost as if the turbo is not fitted, I know it should be better than this and want to sort it out. It is really unhappy when it hits a hill, not even a steep hill, it will not pull up hill, it doesnt even sit at a steady speed, it rapidly loses speed, forcing me to change gears. The engine sounds noisy when 3500 revs are achieved, 4000 is like re-entering the earths atmosphere, but it doesnt go any faster, just makes more noise,this is what I meant by lack of power, very lumpy on idle all the time, it noticeably vibrates your whole body if that makes sense. Like it is unbalanced. I hope this makes sense.
I just want to get to the bottom of it as I cant afford another car.
Please,please help me out Tabetha