Starting troubles, any advice?

[crawf]

I've had lots of passive help from the wealth of info in the archives here so thanks! but struggling to diagnose this based on my symptoms, I'm not mechanical as you'll realise...

Had trouble starting my imported '92 2.4, initially tried charging batteries and that seemed to help temporarily. However battery level actually seems OK (about 80% on the dash) and, after getting a tip, was managing to get it started with a bit of manual pumping on the fuel filter.

I also had a leaking injector pump to get fixed which I thought might be contributing and this all made sense. However, I've had the leak sorted and still had the same morning routine: try turning over a few times, no joy, manual pump, starts OK with a big puff of white smoke.

If I drive even a couple of minutes in the morning and stop it'll then start fine first time, if I leave it all day at work it'll still start fine in the evening.

This morning couldn't get it started at all and think have run the battery down now so back to square one

Would this be consistent with glow plugs needing replaced? I've acquired it only recently and they were allegedly replaced recently but can't be sure...

any ideas most welcome...

[crawf]

beep/clunk

OK, no replies but the forum helpfully suggested some similar threads i hadn't seen before.... Does the fact I don't hear any beep/clunk after the glow plug light goes out indicate anything?

[Albannach]

Hello, nice to meet you too.

Do you wait for the 'Ignition On' (20 seconds or so) beeper before you srart the truck? The timer for the glow plugs is about the same length as the one for that beeper, so the clunk and the beep tend to happen together.

The volt meter on the dash is gash.

Have you had both batteries individually checked?

Are the batteries the right ones?

[crawf]

beepless

hey! and thanks for the reply....

i have no beep or clunk whatsoever - i wasn't aware of this until reading the forum since other diesels I've known you just start after the glowplug light goes off and that's what I'd been doing....

starting to suspect batteries - I've got a download of the original handbook - I guess I could check them against that to see if they're right kind? My charger tells you its opinion of your battery once it's finished - the first time I charged both batteries it was happy, this morning it reckoned the second battery was "WEAK" after charging all night and I've got the main battery on charge today so I'll see what it says about that later...

wondering why no beep/clunk tho!

[Albannach]

wondering why no beep/clunk tho!

You're probably not waiting long enough. Ignore the light, it's a liar.

[crawf]

beep n clunk!

OK I waited and waited, now I get it!

Main battery charged and charger thinks it's "GOOD" but still feeling a major lack of power when trying to turn over and won't start. Should it be able to start off just the main battery?

Only the 2nd one seems suspect but will get that checked/replaced anyway I guess...

[crawf]

new battery

OK, replaced second battery and turning over much better but still no start, and of course now it's covered in snow

wait for better weather? glowplugs? check fuse??

[Wolfracer]

Batteries work in parallel, there isn't a main one, so a duff one will kill the other straight away. I swapped one of mine and the difference was amazing. Think if the pump is soft its losing pressure, so fuel drains back. Doesn't take a lot to stop it working. I changed the fuel filter on mine and it took an age for the fuel to get back thru.

[crawf]

fixed!

just wanted to thank everyone on the forum who's helped with this, it turned out to be the glow plug FUSE, although I'm sure one of the batteries needed replacing anyway, and removing those annoying plastic pads on the terminals won't have done me any harm either.

one thing I would say after replacing the fuse - after heating (ie 1st clunk and bleep), attempting a 2nd heat the relay clicks off almost straight away where it would do the full cycle before. I guess a clue that the plugs weren't getting heated at all...

got a slightly modded 70A fuse in now as that's what I could find locally - on a final note, anyone know if that's likely to last??

cheers!

crawford.