Hey all! I'm stepping into my first diesel this weekend if all goes well. I have some questions for the experts.
First the stats on the rig:
1992 Chevy K2500
6.2L N/A
NV4500 trans
Here's what the guy had to say via e-mail.

"Engine wise besides the SES light the only issues I
have are with the glow plug inhibit switch and the
cold start pump advance output on the computer.
*The glow plug switch gets unplugged. Glows function
fine without it and I beleive they eliminated this in
later yrs anyway.
The pump advance has been wired to a switch on the
dash- that way you can control it if you want to.
The trans is a little noisy, but at 178k this is to be
expected."

What is the "glow plug inhibit switch" and what does it do?
What the heck is a "pump advance"?
What do you guys make of the above info?
Should I look for anything specific? Any hints? Should I run far and fast from this truck?
I'm an ASE cert'd mechanic so I can tackle the labor, just dont want to get killed by parts cost.
The cab corners are shot, but that's to be expected from a norther truck. These are pretty easy, right?
Thanks for all your help.

I'm pretty sure what he's talking about unplugging is actually a temp sender on the block. When the engine is warm, glowplugs, Cold Advance and Fast idle aren't used. Replacing the sensor, which is cheap and known to cause problems like this, will probably cure this.

The cold advance he's talking about is the green wire on the top cover of the Injection Pump. This is just a solenoid that dumps housing pressure to increase internal advance timing a degree or two to help the engine warm up.

These are relatively simple, common and inexpensive problems to fix, don't let this affect your decision on buying the truck or not.

Thanks TDG.