DJ wont start

[Ray]

After recently having my engine rebuilt it has been ok on the cooling system. Went out for short drive on saturday and noticed that the alternator light was on. As I wasn,to going far and had just had a new bosch starter battery I thought it would at least get me home. It started missing and running lumpy after a couple of miles until it stopped. I tried starting on petrol as well as lpg but no joy. The rac bloke came and wasn,t very interested as he said that they dont touch gas fuelled vehicles although they have done so before. Anyway he just towed me with a rope just up the road home. Today I changed the alternator and put a new coil on as there was arcing onthe ht lead but wont start on petrol or lpg. Have checked usual earth points and am half throug the bentley check list. thought it was a relay so checked both and changed one because I had a spare but still no joy.Will continue tomorrow checking air flow meter etc but getting cheesed of now - hope its not the idle control unit as I have checked the resistances and voltages to the connector and found nothing yet. Any help appreciated - going away in a 10 days time! Cheers

[Simon Baxter]

Power supply to fuel pump relay is on the back of the alternator.
Wire on back of alternator loose, got power to the relays?

[Ray]

No wire not loose. Checked power supply and petrol pump runs. The engines fires up for a few seconds then dies out.

[Simon Baxter]

Massive air leak? plug off AFM?
You say LPG, has it has a hissy fit and back fired? AFM vane moving okay?
Throttle valve bent?

[Ray]

Did have a backfire when trying to get home but after the misfiring started. I will check the afm tomorrow, I have a spare one if necessary. Thanks for the replies simon - hope you are all well up there and not flooded! PS Maybe backfiring points to no sparks? Just going mad thinking what to look at next .

[Simon Baxter]

Do you have a spark?

There is a check to determine if the dizzy knackered.

Remove king lead from dizzy and put near earth.
Crank engine and test for spark.
If there is no spark then leave the king lead disconnected.
Remove the 3 pin plug from the dizzy and earth the centre wire.
If you now get a spark then the rest if the ignition system works and the problem with the dizzy.
If there is no spark then problem lies with coil or module.
Reconnect everything. Put a test light over the 2 low tension connectors on the coil.
Crank the engine. Check that the test light blinks.
If it does then check primary and secondry resistance of the coil.
If it doesnt then you need to be checking wiring or the module.

Hope that is of some use.

[Simon Baxter]

Oh, and im fine thanks Ray.
Little bit of rain doesnt bother us, we're northern!
We arent made of sugar...

[Simon Baxter]

Oh, and we have had a few recent ly where the dizzy hasnt been pushed far enough into t he engine and have broken down.

[KINGPRAWN]

My DJ died on me on a roundabout... Shock was fun, turned out to be bad connections on the fuel pump!!

[Ray]

Going OK now - remade all earth connections and got started on petrol after putting some petrol in the tank! Now an quite conversant with the digijet system and thanks to all for your help and to steve gasure who led me along to get the lpg running too. I didn't think about the lack of petrol as I rarely use it and I thought it would run on lpg without petrol in the tank ?not.
Anyway going fine now, what would I do without 80/90 club members?

[KarlT]

You're not the only one, I had a old project that had been stood & went round & round in circles trying to work-out why it wouldn't run, till, two weeks later, I drained & changed petrol!!

A word to the wise, just having petrol spray at injectors, doesn't mean you have got good/enough petrol to run!!

[HarryMann]

All most interesting, one for the Wiki later tonight I think...

to all

[skippymoss]

I see a lot of these dodgy DJ threads (and keep an eye out as I have one!) and there's already a lot on the wiki which is very good. Imho it could be even better if in a logical step by step process so that us diy mechanics didn't overlook the easy or obvious.
My checklist is now; fuel, air, spark, earth connections, injection system connections, sensor testing, give up and ask around on here
Am I getting it yet?

[HarryMann]

Yup, you've about got it, and here you can digest Karl's modus operandi too... the 8th post down

[skippymoss]

I agree with Karl; Haynes? How very dare you!