Club 80-90 Forums

All of a sudden, seems like 2 cylinders don't want to contribute on my 1.6TD when cold.
My JX has been a lovely reliable starter/runner since the Vege unit was fitted in Germany 5 years ago, starting immediately and cleanly from just one burst of glowplug preheat however cold it's been.
I've checked voltage, glowplug resistance, current at preheat, which are all in spec so I don't know what to try next.... mechanical issue?
Presently after 2 or 3 preheats she'll "half" start within 4 cranks but takes a few seconds and some accelerator to blast a cloud of smoke out the back and settle down to a clean tickover with all pots firing. Very unbecoming of a princess!!
A friend suggested thrashing her at 4000 RPM up & down the M1, another suggested a fuel system cleaner additive to dissolve suspected carbo. deposits.
I seldom rev above 3000 RPM and pootle along at 55ish so am I causing a slow death by being too gentle?
Any suggestions of diagnostic experiments would be very welcome.
Thanks.

Hi there,

My JX is a three cylinder starter with the forth coming to life after 30 seconds or so when cold. I put new glow plugs in a year ago and checked all the electrics which improved cold starting hugely but not the lost cylinder problem. My theory is this is to do with ignition in the cylinders and must either be a lack of compression (have not gone there...) or bad spray from the injectors. I have run a couple of bottles of diesel injector cleaner through but of no noticeable benefit and currently plan to replace the injectors (as i guess they are old). I have also had the injection pump timed correctly which improved the smoke on start up but didn't give life to the missing cylinder at start up. My money is on the injectors!

Not sure I have helped here, but hopefully good to know someone with the same problem and their thoughts!

Incidentally, my theory is this is linked to the other niggle i have where the engine needs the cold start lever to fire when hot....after stopping from a long run it will not start unless the cold start lever is used (as engine too warm for glow plugs). Would be interested to know if you have this problem too???

Good luck and let us know how you go.

Tom.

I know I go on about this but you will really notice the difference in starting if you fit a non return valve between the filter and the pump.