The man in the garage is sctratching his head, can anyone on here help?

[andycohen]

5 Weeks ago, my 2.4 ssrx overheated, culprit was a bust pipe, resulting in a cracked head, firstly the old head came off, defo the head, cracked in 2 places and gasket in tact, so I went ahead and ordered a new head, new cam etc... transferred injectors, new gasket set, while we were in there we got a new oil return from the turbo, new timing belt, water pump, belt tensionner, glow plugs and last week she was reasembled, water tight cooling system, but they had trouble starting her, oh dear. Once started, she runs like a dream, really quiet and smooth, very hapy mechanic. Only issue was that she takes a while to get started and this is where we are scratching our heads, fuel pump primer is sticking according to the mechanic, does not seem to work, so much so that they had to use a vacuum hose to get fuel up to the engine, so here we are 5 weeks later, car has been put back together, I've nearly paid the credit card buill off and I've still got no truck, what could be wrong?

It's only cold starts that are a problem

We've tested the plugs, they are good quality dnso items and we have tested them and all glow nicely off a 12 volt battery.

She had a fuel filter about 2000 miles ago

Runs on biodiesel but I don't think that's the issue as there's only derv in the tank at the moment

The hand primer isn't priming for some reason, is there any obvious reason for this, do they pack/stiffen up?

There has always been a pressure issue with the system (hissing when you take the filler cap off to put fuel in, could this be affecting?)

Any words of wisdom would be extremely gratefully received

Andy C

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Surf-less :-(

[BUSHWHACKER]

Could be a blocked fuel tank breather (on top of tank) causing a vacuum and sucking the fuel back into the tank overnight or when the engine is switch off for a while.

The fuel pump primer can wear out, replacements are available or give one of the members who are breaking Surfs.

Location of tank breather...

[Gamedawn]

Few things to consider:-

Fuel pump primer could have a split in it and be letting air in. This has a dual effect of preventing the primer from working and allowing fuel to leak back to the tank when the engine is stopped.

Hissing when you remove the filler cap could be a blocked breather. There is a flexible pipe that runs from the top of the tank into the chassis rail near the filler pipe and there is a non return valve in the pipe that gets clogged up.

Last thing to have a look at is the way the insulators are assembled on the glow plug 12v "rail". I think if this is wrong it will blow the fuse but it might be worth checking.

[andycohen]

Thankyou thankyou thankyou

I'll post a reply when we're back on the road, I have a sneaky suspicion it's the primer but will look at all these other points too and see whats what.

[new surf]

Hi, the symptom's you describe are exactly the same proplem's I had with my 2.4. Absolute oink to start when cold, but started and ran ok when warm/hot.

I had changed the coolant sensor, and to get at it I removed the two small vac pipes that fit on the inlet manifold, the ones that are on the bracket that bolts onto the manifold that has the small air filters on.

Seem's I put them back on the wrong pipes and hense the cold start prob's,
are you sure your's are on the right one's???

I reversed mine and instant fix.

Sorry. I can't find any pic's

[andycohen]

had a bit of a mare last night with this, mechanic dropped a spanner into the erngine bay when checking the heater plug circuit, blew the 80amp fuse, now have to wait for a new fuse before we can check anything else, I've ordered a new primer pump too just in case it's that.

Went in the boot last night to see if I had a fuse in the tool kit, window went down, but window would not go up, managed to pull it up mostly by hand, now that's fubar'd too, where will this all end? (probably the scrap yard)

thanks for all your help guys, lord knows I need it


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The mechanic tells me that after this he does not want to see my car ever again

[andycohen]

Anyone familiar with glow plug issues?

right then, hee we are, the fuse has come in, waiting for a replacement fuel primer but I'm not sure it's needed now as yesterday te mechanic did some investigative work on the heater plug circuit, aparently we should be kicking out nearly 100amps but we're only getting about 46amps, the car starts after 2 cycles of the plugs and once going it sounds really sweet, however, cold stars are a bugger and with winter coming around the corner I'm a bit concerned about taking it back with niggles.

We have checked the plugs and they are all glowing red hot but they don't seem to be getting the right draw, any ideas?

[MattF]

Get new glow plugs.

[Albannach]

Yep, get new glow plugs.

And ask your mechanic where he got the 100 amp thing from, remind him it's an 80 amp circuit.

[andycohen]

Thanks very much to all that offered help, especialy bushwhacker, I could not have found those fuel tank breathers without your picture post, top man! I did buy brand new glow plugs as I stated in my first post, brand new Denso ones, it was not the plugs. Here's what it was for those interested.

I had the truck back off the garage over the weekend albeit with a cold starting issue, got her home and parked up in the garage, left it for a bit to have a think, went back, massive puddle of oil under it, oh dear! A new problem.

Lifted the bonnet, and I was surprised to see that there was oil all over the firewall just under the ID plate, so I turned her over to see where it was coming from, behind the block facing the firewall there appeared to be a hole in my new cylinder head, oh dear, oh dear!

I had a feel about and it semed to be sucking air in and blowing air and oil out, when blocked with my fingers it seemed to alter and improve the sound of the engine? I scratched my head with an oily finger and thought to myself it feels like there's a breather pipe or something missing.

Then my attention was turned to the fuel primer, it had been completely bypassed and the top was broken off it. unimpressed I thought these two issues might be something to do with the problems but then I'm no mechanic so I waited for the fuel primer (which I'd been told to order by the mechanic) to show up.

New fuel primer appeared on Monday morning, I fitted it on monday night and waited for tuesday morning to see if it had rectified the cold start issue. Tuesday morning came and it still took a few goes to get her started, and even then ran lumpy for the first 30 seconds, I slowly drove her to the garage and showed them the newly fitted primer, no leaks, then I asked the fella if I could have a look at the old head, he said fine, I looked and in the old head there was a semi circular-metal thing, no idea what it's called but it acts as a plug, this had not been transferred to the new head hence my hole, oil etc.. he was not happy that I had found this instead of him and cursed someone called jimmy who hada aparently assembled the new head. I was told to come back at the end of the day...

I went back at 5pm, garage had replaced the semi-circular thingemy and voila a different animal, cold start this morning was as good as it gets, turned over instantly and no dodgy noises, lumpiness or anything, she's back to life and I must admit sounding pretty lovely!

Al in this debacle has taken nearly six weeks, £700 in parts and the labour bill is being negotiated, hoping to get it under £500, I'm not happy with that but I'm far from gutted.

Does anyone have any advice on 'running in' the new head, also my new fuel primer is a heated unit, (pretty swish!) Does anyone have any tips on wiring in the element, I can see there's a fuse and I have wires oming out of the primer cut off just past the connectors, any help gratefully received.

Cheers Lads



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I'm joining the 'I'm not selling my Surf' club!