Club 80-90 Forums

I'm assuming you did try priming the system at some point in the 3 hours Glow plugs working ? not just the dash light but actually getting power at plugs? Worth checking the fuse, mine used to play up (sometimes start, sometimes not) and the fuse had a split in it but hadnt separated completely.

There is just the one way valve in the primer bulb.
Not sure if it is fuel starvation, as I tried to squeeze the primer as it was turning over & there was no space to get any more fuel in, plus there is still unburnt diesel smell & smoke as it turns over (but no sign of firing, not even a cough).
Tried spraying some easy start down the air intake but that just made it turn over slower.

Muttleypup I had a volt meter across the glow plugs & it was reading ok, and had the sensor disconnected to get the maximum glow time

When it does eventually run its just as if its been choked up, and slowly over a minute or so of continual spinning it slowly gets faster & fires progressively more regularly until it runs on its own. After that it is usually fine for the rest of the day.
Just been about 20 miles, stopped halfway for a couple of hours, and it behaved perfectly, after this mornings bad episode.

Volts won't tell you much on the glow plugs - you can have 12v across all of them and none of them working! (They are all connected together) You need to know the amps draw.

Here comes the little chart:

They were all new a couple of weeks ago (NGK brand) & I checked all of them before fitting, so can't see them failing that quickly!
All the easy stuff has been eliminated, its getting complex now

Well...when you have the injectors out ( to check the compression figures ) you'll be able to see the glow plugs glowing!
When I couldn't start my van I had two glow plugs open circuit!!

Thats a good tip, thanks.
Don't relish the idea of changing the glow plugs again but I'd happily do so if it cures my starting woes.

My daughter finds cycling ( sp?) the glow plugs two or three helps when her car won't start!
Ps,the glow plugs are a lot easier to replace when the injectors are out of the way!

Checked the cylinder compressions yesterday. 1 was at 400 psi & the other 3 were at 200psi.
Should be around 500psi so its pretty obvious now why its hard to start sometimes. Probably only one doing any work! Apparently 1 piston was changed some time before I bought the van 6yrs ago, when the cambelt snapped, so its probably the best reading one.
Slowly gathering parts now to rebuild the replacement AAZ engine

Bugger! Did you check the glow plugs?

Yes, with the injectors out you can see about a quarter inch protruding & they were all glowing nicely

It's not going to be any comfort I'm afraid but the compression thing makes it sounds like worn cylinders i.e. your engine is fubar.

Our engine died with fairly similar symptoms due to water in the fuel, probably over an extended period, corroding the inside of the engine, which led to severe wear of the cylinders, destroyed the injection pump and knackered the injectors.

Have you checked that there is 10 ish volts on the glow plugs ( and on the fuel cut off solinoid ) when the ignition key is in the start position( starter turning the engine over)?

Yes. Got a multimeter on them & slung it over the rear seat so I could see if the volts were there all the time whilst turning the key & all was ok. Even tried jumping them onto a separate battery just in case they weren't getting enough juice.
Think its fair to say 3 of the 4 cylinders reading less than half the ideal compression values is number one contender for the root of my starting problems

Ok...the only other thing I can think of is that the starter isn't turning the engine over fast enough!
What's the chances that the "AAZ" is ok ( considering the state of the big ends )?