'92 2.4 Manual - still unhappy starting

[pauldean13]

Any ideas anyone? thought that i'd narrowed down the starting problem to the batteries. New batteries (700A each) now in (great - the starter's going at the right speed, and the windows go up and down with alot more enthusiasm).. the old ones really were nackered - car on charger every night for the past fortnight.

But it's still reluctant to start - takes quite a bit of cranking & there's loads of smoke for a few moments once it's going.

I've a question about the glow plugs/heating coil(?). When I turn the key the coil lamp only comes on for a tiny moment - about 1 second. A few seconds later I hear the relay click, then the bleeper to say it's good to go.

Other Diesels I've driven the coil lamp is on for much longer.

Anyone recognise this fault?

cheers, pd

[potif]

glow plugs not working will make a massive difference to starting. Even if 1 or 2 have failed it can make starting difficult.

Check the 80A fuse in the end of the fuse box. If it has blown check the insulators on the block post are correctly positioned and not allowing the cable/busbar to earth then replace fuse, check the resistance of each glow plug (disconnect from busbar and check individually) and replace if neccessary (I think they should be 0.1 ohms but if you search the site the correct figure will be there).

I re-assembled mine incorrectly after an injector change and had exactly the same symptoms.

I had a 200 series discovery before the Surf and didn't need to use the glow plugs at all as the compression was much higher. The 2.4s are low compression diesel engines and struggle to generate enough heat by compression alone to start the engine. The heat builds up after a few seconds of turning over but by then you have pumped a fair bit of diesel into the cylinder causing the smoky lumpy start.

[pauldean13]

thanks potif - that's helpful.

I'm now a bit embarrassed! New batteries - great. Couple of full tanks with redex added - life is good again.

Seems that all that was really wrong was dirty injectors. The engine's running sweeter than it ever has before - and all it cost was £3

Still - will replace glow plugs before winter.

Thanks for everyone's help in this and my previous thread - cheers!