Club 80-90 Forums

Leak offs have been replaced. glow plug fuse has been checked and glow plug relay replaced.

Are you pulling the cold start lever out?
Have you checked that you have 11ish volts at the glow plugs?

Okay. Still no joy.

Things I've done:

- added diesel to the tank (it's always worth checking the dumb ones)
- cracked off the injector pipes and turned it over a couple of times for five seconds each time - this resulted in a bit of diesel froth at each injector so they were tightened back up again
- checked fuel cut off solenoid is voltage - approx 11.5v
- glow plug bus bar is getting 10.65v and then the relay clicks and turns it off - I'm going to top up the battery just in case that makes a difference, but the block next to the glow plugs is warming up with repeated attempts.

When I turn it over now I'm not getting any signs of combustion - it doesn't catch at all even with the accelerator pressed. Cold start lever is out as far as I can get it

Presumably I'm getting fuel to the injectors - whether it is enough or not I don't know. Presumably this also means the fuel cut off solenoid is working? I could try cracking off the injectors again until I get lots of diesel, but where do you stop with that? Glow plugs seem to be heating things up. The starter is turning the engine over without issue.

What else can I try?

Fair go! ok,if you've got the fuel filter with a plastic un-skrewey bit under it un-skrew it and let some Diesel/water out..Try gain..

Do you know history/mileage of engine?

Is it worth doing a compression test if you've looked at fuelling, glow plugs etc?

My first van started doing this when rings started going

It shouldn't be that. This engine was pretty much rebuilt from the ground up about 3000 miles ago. The injection pump is one of the few bits that hasn't been renewed.

clift_d wrote: - glow plug bus bar is getting 10.65v and then the relay clicks and turns it off

Are the glow plugs switching off too quickly?
On mine they carry on heating for about 10 seconds AFTER the engine has started

Normally I wait for the glow plug relay to switch off before turning the engine over. Sounds like your relay is a bit sluggish.

Do you mean you wait for the light to go out?

Yes. If I understand correctly, the light goes out when the glow plugs reach the correct temperature, and then you're supposed to turn the engine over straight away.

AFAIK the glow plug light should go out, at which point you usually try to start the engine, but the glow plugs should continue to receive power for a set period after the light goes out.

There is a separate sensor on the head that checks the water temperature solely for the purpose of adjusting the time the glow plugs receive power. If that has gone faulty it could be the cause of your problem. You can remove the wire from the sensor as a temporary measure to see if your problem is cured.

Sounds like something else to try. Whereabouts is that?

Its on the heater outlet stub at the far end of the cylinder head, opposite the water temp sender. If you are not sure which sensor is which (its hard to tell) just take the wires off both.

Don't give it any throttle when starting but keep the cold start lever out.

Just checked the wiring diagram & its the brown/white wire.

Okay - got it. No. 2 on this diagram. I'll give that a try. Presumably you can't run the engine with the wire disconnected otherwise the glow plugs are on all the time?

I left mine disconnected for a few weeks when mine packed in. All that happens is you get more time on the glow plugs than you need when the engine is starting from hot, as the sensor isn't sending the message to say the engine is already warm.

Forgot to say the sender may be opposite number 3 on a Syncro, as there is an extra sender for the water pump which may be in position 2. Best check the wire colour?