After FREEZING my nuts off at 10pm tonight i managed to replace 3 of the 4 glow plugs on my 300TDI Disco BUT am i right in thinking that i have to remove the AC pump to replace No.1 plug?
Cant believe ALL the plugs had failed!!!! too about 5 mins to start without them!
MC. Essex
Hi Mark
The Haynes book says remove aircon belt, unbolt compressor and move to one side without disconnecting coolant lines.
Remove compressor shield to improve access when removing and tensioning belt.
Mark direction of travel of belt and refit the same way.
To tension, slacken the three bolts on the tensioner. Fit a spring type torque wrench into the square socket on the tensioner, and apply 35Nm. Tighten bolts on adjuster. Rotate engine thru 2 turns. Reapply 35Nm torque, fully loosen and retighten tensioner bolts.
Hope that helps. By the way, when my Disco glow plugs went, all 4 were faulty. I suspect that this engine starts so well, the engine only needs one working to start. Therefore, we don't notice the problem until all 4 are buggered!!!
Cheers! Graham Carter Harare Zimbabwe
really? Are you SURE its the glowplugs thats causing starting issues? Over winter i regularly left my defender for several days whilst it was snowing and in subzero temperatures (usually catch the bus to work nowadays) and I never used the glowplugs to get it started, plus it would catch on about the second or 3rd revolution of the engine!
Nick C D90 300tdi Wakefield Yorkshire
Mark,
Yep , I removed the AC Compressor/belts when I did mine in sunny August last year :-) Not difficult, just be carefull that you don't loose the small washers on the end of the plugs.
Gavin
Hi Mark, I had this problem a while ago on mine. Replaced the plugs (which had failed) and it was still a bugger to start. I checked absolutely everything,including bleeding fuel system,new fuel filters, checking lift pump wasnt draining back to the tank, the list goes on............ ....until I found that if after filling the tank with some fuel I tightened the fuel cap until it started to click then undone it till I met resistance, the engine would fire straight away. Obviously the tank was under vacuum from the previous engine running.
Till this day I have done the same and had no problem with it at all. I checked the two way valve in the filler cap and all sounded fine.
Hope this helps
Alistair
Thanks for your advice guys! I fitted 3 out of the 4 and it starts instantly without even letting the light go out! (zero degrees at the mo) I'll give it a few weeks and fit the 4th.
It seems crazy that these engines start with probable only one glow plug working and dont even miss fire when started! Dunno weather this engines a 'good un' or if they are all like it. Its got 100k on it and is 7 yrs old
Thanks again!
MC.
As a test I tried starting mine this morning without letting the glow plugs do their thing, after all 300Tdi engines are supposed to start easily without them.
I've got one of those remote thermometer things and it reckoned it was
-3.7C outside. Switched the ignition on and tried starting straight away, it caught and ran fine immediately, no problem.
Mines 7 years old with 145k on it. I was impressed as I've had Citroen diesels in the past that ran like shit for 10 seconds or so under such conditions even with glow plugs being used.
Yeah , it seems really strange! like on new diesels EG - astra or Transit, the glow plug light flashes 4 about a quarter of a secone then the IGN is turned on!
On my defender with a montego TD engine in it i have the glow plugs on a seporate switch but even -2 outside i dont need to use the plugs to start it!
MC.
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