Club 80-90 Forums

Hi there,

Was experiencing some starting troubles on my 1.6TD, needed to cycle glow plugs 3 times and pull cold start lever to get her going but she wasn't happy and the yellow glow plug dash light stayed on for ages.

I replaced all filters, glow plugs, glow plug fuse and relay, the LDA shaft seal on fuel pump (which was letting air in - as was the plastic valve on top of the fuel pump) {E D I T - sorry I meant fuel filter}
Battery and alternator both quite new.
I've put a new (glowplug) temp sensor in and I've cleaned the earth crowns. It's starting a lot better (still not amazing) but my yellow glow plug dash light STILL stays on for the full 50 (ish) seconds.

Was thinking about replacing the big battery to starter motor cable and gearbox earth straps. Would that help?

Any ideas?

Cheers, Bob

The relay is what controls how long the glow plugs stay on for. You can check they're all working with a multimeter easily enough. If they are, that's not your problem. Maybe your pump timing is out.

Glow plug temp sensor governs how long the relay stays on for - that most probably needs changing. The relay is the last link for the light.

Airhead - you're not the first to bring up the pump timing, excess blue smoke etc.... I'm struggling to find somebody local that I trust to do it. The last place I took it to said they were really busy and all I needed to do was "take it home, loosen off the pump, and as the timing is a bit retarded, push it down towards the head then tighten it back up. That should make it a bit better"!

I don't want it to be "a bit better" I want it to be BANG ON!

Once all the electrics and pump timing are sorted it should be starting better but the yellow light will still be there, taunting me!

OBG, thanks for the info, although I'm a bit worried that I put my new temp sensor in the wrong place:

I replaced the one with the blue arrow, please tell me thats the right one, not the green one